Potty Training!

 

 

On Saturday before Christmas I woke up and decided it was time to potty train Ella. We had tired before, but nothing serious...this time I was determined. Ella had only gone potty in the potty chair once before and that was after sitting on the potty for about an hour. I was bound and determined to get her to go. I knew that once she went a couple times she would get it. Another reason I wanted to train her right now is because right now we are on break from everything, school, MOPS, Taekwondo and watching Logan. I knew it would be a great time for me to focus on her. Right off the bat I took Ella to the bathroom with me and wanted her to sit on her potty while I went. I also asked her to listen to me going potty. She still didn't want to try, but then when I was finished I started praising myself. "Mommy went pee pee in the potty....mommy went pee pee in the potty and now I get a sticker!" I clapped and did a little dance and then I got myself a piece of paper and wrote 'Mommy's Potty Chart' on it and I picked out a sticker. I also put a chart up for Ella and that's when she said, "I want a sticker!" Then she put pee pee in the potty!

 

One week later and she's doing great! We still have to ask her and she never says yes, but I know that if I tell her to go potty and she doesn't argue than she's got to go. She still has accidents, but she's also really good at holding it for a long time. I'm so proud of my big girl!!

Another One Bites The Dust!!!

 

On Friday December 28th...2 weeks after he lost his first tooth Owen's second tooth came out. This one was wiggly, but no where near as wiggly as the first one. In fact it was actually causing him a bunch of pain so he wasn't wiggly it very much. He was also having to eat on the side of his mouth since it was bothering him so much. When Michael got home on Friday night they were playing and Owen flipped over the recliner and came up with his tooth in his hand. He said it got snagged on the chair. I'm not sure how that was accomplished, but maybe he was trying to bite the chair during his flip...who knows!!!

Christmas Eve Night!

On Christmas Eve night we went to church for the candlelight service and then it was onto Jon & Becky's for the Martin Family Christmas. Unfortunately we were a little short on people this year. Michael's brother Steve and his family couldn't make it and neither could his Mom and Dad. It didn't feel the same without them.

 

 

Owen and Jack are in heaven whenever they are with Avery and Cooper. They love to wrestle and play with older boys.

 

 

Zeke Man got loved on by all sorts of people and as you can tell...he just hates it! ;)

 

 

It's just crazy to see how big these kids are...Paige is 8 years old now and Avery is 13!!!

 

 

Owen was seriously excited about getting a rocket. There is yet again a Berenstain Bear book where Brother Bear flies a rocket so Owen has been wanting to get one. All we have to get is the launch pad, controller and a nice day and we'll be setting this thing off.

 

 

Jackson got a couple Star Wars ships.

 

 

Paige passed her bike down to Ella. They also got her a new basket and training wheels and Paige through in one of her baby dolls. Ella loves that the baby dolls eyes open and close.

 

 

This cutie was so good, but around 8:30 he thought he was going to turn into a pumpkin so it was time to go. It wasn't until the next day that I remembered we didn't take our annual corny Christmas tree pictures....I'm so bummed!!

Christmas Eve Morning!!

Because of the way Christmas fell this year and we were spending the night at my parents we decided to open our presents on Christmas Eve morning.

 

 

Ella woke me up around 6:15 and laid in bed with me for a while. Then I got Zeke man up so he could nurse before we headed downstairs. We had to wake up Jack and Owen if you couldn't tell by how tired they look.

 

 

Early in the month Michael read The Berenstain Bears Meet Santa Bear to the kids and in that book Sister Bear learns that it's her and Brother Bears job to get presents for their parents. After reading that Owen was insistent on getting us presents. A few days later Ga-Ga & Pa came and took the kids shopping for us. In the book the bears get Papa a brush so Owen was sure Daddy needed a hair brush. When we got downstairs on Christmas morning all the kids grabbed the presents they got us and they wanted us to open them first. It was so sweet!

 

 

Daddy got a hair brush, Corn Pops and Turtles. Of course I didn't get a picture of me since I'm the picture taker....I got Sour Cherry Candies, Cookie Crisp and Beef Jerky.

 

 

Owen checking out his Battleship game. He also got Jenga, Remote Control Car, a Duplo Blocks Set and the Imaginext Space Shuttle Set.

 

 

Ella got Candy Land, Musical Princess Book, Rapunzel and Maximus Dolls, Barbie Hugs and Heal Puppy and a Duplo Set.

 

 

Jack got Star Wars characters, Lego carrier and dinosaur Lego set, Bucky (pirate ship), Perfection and a Duplo Set.

 

 

Zeke Man got a tug boat tub toy.

 

 

I don't know about you, but we are always forgetting our stockings. We are so busy having fun with the toys we opened that the stockings just get pushed aside. This was when we realized that we hadn't opened them yet.

 

 

Michael and I haven't actually given each other gifts since before Ella was born. This year we decided to buy stuff for our stockings. Michael got my new diamond earrings. I love them!!!

 

 

I got Michael a Seahawks hat, 2 movies, tickets to the King Tut exhibit, Carmel Kisses and a mouse pad with pictures of our family on it.

 

 

Once we were all done opening presents it was time for Zeke to get to play with his new toys!

Merry Christmas!!!

From Our Family...

 

 

To Yours!!!

 

 

Merry Christmas!!!

 

 

Family Christmas Pictures!

The Sunday after Thanksgiving we traveled up to Snoqualmie Pass to have Family Christmas pictures taken by my friend Starr. She had been scoping out locations to get the best pictures and she found a great place that had a cabin and some snow.  

 

 

Getting 4 kids - 5 and under to all look a the camera and smile can be tough. Ella was also in a bit of a mood so she was trying to not cooperate!

 

 

My parents and my brother Ryan and SIL Stephanie joined us. Since Zeke is our last child it's fun to know that this is the Grant side of the family!

 

 

Owen loves his Pa!

 

 

Auntie Stephie and Uncle Ry lovin' on Zeke Man.

 

 

The boys!

 

 

The girls!

 

 

My love!!!

 

 

I bought this Blessings sign while on vacation in Wyoming. I wasn't buying much since we were flying and I didn't have the room in my luggage for anything big, but this sign I just had to have it. Anyway I had this idea of a picture with the sign in mind so I brought it with me. After explaining what I envisioned to Starr she set up the shot and nailed it. It turned out EXACTLY like I wanted it to! 

The Tooth Fairy Doesn't Visit Here!

Look who has a wiggly tooth!

 

 

So wiggly in fact that Daddy tried to get it out.

 

 

But...it just wasn't ready yet.

 

 

It was really, really loose though. So loose that on Friday December 14th Daddy was able to get it out.

 

 

It's so cute to see the gap in his teeth. The funny thing is there isn't another tooth growing in yet so I'm not sure why it was wiggly in the first place. It also seems young to lose a tooth at 5 years old. I didn't lose my first tooth until I was 7.

 

 

As for the title of this post...Michael's family didn't do the whole tooth fairy thing they put the tooth in water and it "grew" money for a week. Once the week is over the tooth "disappears" and it's all done "growing" money. It's fun for the kids...they love coming down in the morning and seeing how much money it grew overnight.

After a week Owen's tooth had grown $4.17!!

 

Owen's other bottom tooth is already wiggly so I'm sure he'll be "growing" more money within a month or so!

7 Months Old!!!

My Zeke Man is 7 months old today! Seriously...what is going on!!! How can that possibly be???

 

So what is Zeke Russell up to...

 

- He is eating like a pro. He eats 3 meals a day and will eat almost a whole jar of baby food at each meal. He knows what he likes and doesn't like though. He could eat peas at every. single. meal! He can not stand bananas. If he doesn't want to eat what I've made for him he will just lower his head, cry and not open his mouth until I get him what he wants. We are SO in trouble!!!

 

- He is nursing about 5 - 6 times a day. He gets distracted really easily so it can still take up to 20 minutes to feed him. Sometimes he thinks that sucking his thumb is more important that nursing and that gets a little annoying!

 

 

 - He has discovered his feet! I love this stage! He will just grab them and try to rip his socks off or bite them. It's so cute!

 

- He is FINALLY rolling over from his back to his belly. He still won't do it when he's in his crib though so one of us has to go in there and flip him over to his belly.

 

 

- He is teething like a mad man! All that acidic drool has made his poor face all red. I've tried putting cream on it to see if it will get better, but nothing really does. It's hard when he's drooling all day and then when he sleeps he drools and his face lays in it.

 

- He is the only one of our kids to still have a concave chest like Michael. Ella had it when she was first born, but it slowly faded. The Dr thinks Zeke's is here to stay.

 

 

- He is starting to babble a lot. He makes squeaky noises and fake laughs and then sometimes I swear he's telling off his toys. The other night he was babbling and he was saying "Da da da da da"...we've also heard him say what sounds like "Ella" before. I love hearing his little voice.

 

 

- He is really starting to get into toys. By far his favorite toy right now is one of those infant Tylenol containers with the dropper. He loves to chew on the part you squeeze for the dropper.

 

- He is a good sleeper. He goes to bed around 8 and then is usually up around 6:45. Before daylight savings time ended he was sleep from 8 until 7:30 though. He still takes two naps a day. His morning nap is from 9 - 11 or 11:30 and his afternoon nap varies, but on a good day he'll sleep from 1:30 - 4.

 

 

I can't believe he's been in our arms for 7 months now. It's crazy how time flies! I love this little boy to bits and I can't wait to see him grow and develop even more!

Books, Books...Wonderful Books!

 

We love books over here at the Martin residences...Berenstain Bears are our favorite! What books do your kids like??? What are your favorite books for early readers?

Twins...4 Years Apart!

I know I've talked about how Jack loves Zeke before, but he really LOVES Zeke! It's so cute. He's always wanting to snuggle him and he says things like, "Oh my baby bubby...I need a snuggle!" He's so mushy and lovey with him it's adorable!

 

 

 Most everyone that knows our kids in real life have said that Zeke looks like Jack. I agree! In fact we have a book for Jack that has baby pictures of him in it and if I didn't know that the pictures were of Jack I would seriously think they were pictures of Zeke.

 

 

Jack - October 2008

 

Zeke - October 2012

 

I wish I had a more similar picture of Zeke, but for some reason I can't find my all my Halloween pictures. I just recently got a new laptop and I'm still working through the kinks of moving everything over from my old one. The point is it's fun to see the similarities!

Family Christmas Craft Day!

Since I've been putting the blog on the back burner I'm going to be catching up over the next few days. Here goes...

 

On Saturday December 1st we took the kids to our churches family craft day.

 

 

 

First thing on the agenda was making candy houses. Jack and I did this last year and Owen and Ella stayed at home with Daddy. This time all 3 of the older kids got in on the action.

 

 

Well...Daddy worked on Ella's house while she worked on eating handfuls of frosting!

 

 

Owen focusing on decorating his house!

 

 

 

Zeke Man got to hang out with Isaac (Our friends the Meyer's oldest son)...he has 4 younger brothers so he's great with kids. Doesn't Zeke look cute in his reindeer outfit!  

 

 

Towards the end Owen realized that he was going to be able to eat the candy when we took the houses home so he just loaded up the front yard...he's a genius!!!

 

 

Here is Michael's...I mean Ella's masterpiece!

 

 

After doing a few more crafts we had a potluck with the other families. I brought these cute Christmas tree sandwiches.

 

 

Zeke sat in his Bumbo and ate some peas.

 

 

When we got home the kids got to eat their masterpieces!!

 

 

Ella is being all dainty by picking each piece off, but once the candy was gone she literally licked the frosting off!

 

 

Jack just dove right in!!!