Ryan thinks of others

This last week we went to see Santa (yes I WILL get caught up on my posts and get to that, but here is this to ride you over). I have been racking my brain for gifts for Ryan. Ryan... Well... You see, he doesn't really like 'toys'. He gets them, plays with it once or twice, then it goes into the never never land of his closet until Lilly pulls it out and drags it everywhere. The only thing he consistently plays with are action figures, and cars. Like those hot wheels. He still has toys in his closet in the BOX from LAST Christmas for crying out loud! We will ask 'Ryan do you want to play with X?' and he will say 'no'. Every time.

Anyway, so I asked him what he was going to ask Santa when we took the kids down to see him. Know what his answer was? 'a dirt bike (which his step dad has already told him he is getting him) and money'. I ask him 'why money? What will you buy?' his reply? 'I want to buy Noah a bike, and I want to buy Lilly some dolls'. Is he not the sweetest kid you have ever met??? Absolutely adorable.


He is such an amazing child. Here is a picture of him and his gingerbread house he made at school! Didn't he do a great job? Such a fun activity they had them do!

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4th of July

4th of July this year was spent like the majority of my 4th of July's have been spent for the past 10 years. With my second family. Jen has always graciously had me spend Independence Day with her family every year since I've lived her. This year, was no different. We had a really great day of spending time over at her parents house. The babies wore cute 4th of July outfits, we swam, ate some really great food, and did some fireworks.

 Ryan loves his goggles that I got earlier this summer for him. He wears them in the tub, walking around the house, oh and of course, the pool. Haha. Lilly has taken to the pool like a fish. She is just like mommy! She loves to swim. I would put her on the edge of the pool and I'd count to 3 and she would JUMP off into my arms. She was laughing and having an absolute ball. (Like my emerald green pregnancy swim suit?? Sexy, isn't it? hahahha!)

We FINALLY have a kid who likes fireworks!! Ryan has always HATED fireworks. We got him CLOSE last year, but he was still deathly afraid of them. He would only watch them from indoors. He doesn't like the loud boom noises. Well, after a little coaxing this year, he actually was LOVING the sparklers! He was running around asking for more before the ones in his hand had even gone out. Yay! Finally! This year was a blast. We had a great time, Independence day with the Martin clan is always a great time.

Water Park Summer

Thank GOD for the splash parks available at most parks here in LV. This summer would have been way more difficult than it was had it not been for the cool water parks here. Ryan got to run around and have fun, Lilly played a little bit, and I got to relax while my two crazy kids tired themselves out. The heat and being pregnant wasn't too much fun, but I at least got to sit and relax. Well, a little. Lilly is actually walking a bit more now, so having to chase after her if she got bold and got too far away from me. Ryan loves the water, of course. He's a pisces just like me. The ultimate water sign.

Um, isn't her bathing suit the cutest darn thing you have ever seen? I thought so...

Yup, there she is, about to take off. Cutest baby ever right there.

Lilly's First Birthday

My baby girl is a whole year old. She has been the most happy baby I've ever seen. Everyone who meets her is captivated by her infectious smile and her all around charming disposition. I am so blessed to have such an amazing child. She is almost walking unassisted. She does sign language for about 15 words including please, thank you, apple, milk, eat, and all done. She loves her doggies and gives them open mouthed kisses every chance she gets. She loves her big brother and doesn't leave his side. She crawls all over the house following him everywhere he goes. Lilly bear crawls like a champ. She points to everything... always pointing.

For her birthday Bobby and I got her a splash table for the back yard. She is absolutely in love with it.

I had been planning her party for months before she turned 1. I came up with a 'Lilly in ONEderland' Theme. Everything was centered around that. I know she doesn't care and will never remember... but I wanted it to be perfect and extra special. I attempted to make her cake. That was a bit of a mommy fail righ there. It tasted great though!

The pictures are a bit out of order... sorry. Blogger makes it kind of difficult, so you're just going to have to get a jumbled account.

This was after the cake. She had it everywhere, so we plopped her in the sink. That didn't go over too well with her. She loves to take a bath, but she isn't used to the sink and I think it scared her. My poor girl was so sad.

And this is after the sink bath. All squeeky clean and in a new outfit. My dad (Papaw) got her this adorable outfit. I just love it.

I got a cute cupcake piniata for the big kids to play. We relied on the honor system in keeping your eyes closed.

I made a croquet court, where you hit the hedgehogs through the giant cards with blow up flamingos. Just like the movie....

We had silly hats for all

Giant cards all over the place

I made this really fun welcome sign by the front door. I worked really hard on this. Marvel at my awesomeness for a minute...

Ah, now we are to the cupcake part.  She loved her cupcake, but she isn't a baby that likes to be messy. She was really upset once she realized she had all this stuff all over her. The tears started before she actually got in the sink. She is her mothers daughter that's for sure.

her birthday was a huge success. I couldn't have done it without the awesome help of Lisa with getting the cake done. It turned out much better than I had hoped. Everyone helped me with decorations, as I was pooped being 36 weeks pregnant and trying to get this all together. Lilly had fun, although she won't remember it. I certainly will. She ranked in on clothes that lasted her all summer long. Her brother had fun, and I am pretty sure everyone had a nice time. I hope this next year slows down a bit... she is getting too big too fast!

Lilly and Mommy's Adventure to Texas Part 1

Ah, Texas. So many emotions run through  me when I think about Texas. My daddy, and brother and his family live in Dallas. So we don't get to see eachother too often. But boy, when I do get to see them, nothing makes me happier. Lilly and I made a trip down there in May, just a few weeks before Ethan made his appearance. Bobby was stuck working, so it was just me and my baby girl.

I lugged that girl through the airport, through security, through the terminals and on a 3 hour plane ride TWICE, all while 33 weeks pregnant. I felt like superwoman. Seriously though, it wasn't an easy task, but I did it. Lets start at the begining. Oh, by the way, I labeled this part 1, because I don't know how far into this trip I'll get in this one blog post (I have a lot of pictures to share) and I don't want to leave anything out of this adventure we took. Not sure if there will be a part 2 or 3, we will see how far I get :-)

I had a 'baby in lap' ticket for Lilly. I was hoping to maybe not be on a booked flight, and then I'd ask someone to switch me spots so I could put her in the seat next to me so she could play. No such luck. You know how small airplane seats are, right? Well, picture me, 33 weeks pregnant, with an 11 month old squirming on my lap. My purse, and diaper bag were stuffed at my feet with her bottle stuff and diapers and toys. Oh, I promise you, that was the longest 3 hours of my life. She was actually great on the plane. My back was just not too

Lilly LOVED her Papaw! And I think it's safe to say he really enjoyed her. I would be in another room and hear him talking to her, laughing with her, and just genuinely enjoying her. It warmed my heart so much. I wish he could be closer so he could watch her grow and develop, see all the funny things she does on a daily basis.

She took her first real steps while we were in Texas. They all resulteed in quick falls, but my dad was delighted to see her trying so hard.

My amazing niece and nephew got to meet her finally. I love them so much! They are such great kids. I miss them all the time. I wish my whole family lived in one place so we could all enjoy one another.

It was my nieces birthday while we were visiting, so we had a small impromptu party for her. She had a FaBuLouS cake that my amazing sis in law Ashley got for her. She is an amazing step mom to these kids! My brother even got to come home from his job for a while! I was SO happy to see him!

My little Lilly bug was tired from our long trip. She passed out pretty quickly. Look how tiny she is in my dad's bed!

We had a great few days there, I'll finish this post with all the rest of our fun adventures another day!