So close

Little miss Ella is so close to walking! She can now stand all by herself for several minutes at a time. Several times she has gone to take a step and then she gets a little bit scared and sits down. Today she was standing and tried to take a step, and when she went to sit herself down her big brother came over to her and took her hand and said "brother will help you walk sissy" she looked at him and grinned and took his hand, then he looked at me and said "mom, im such a good brother huh?" he was determined for his sis to take a step all by herself today, and after holding her hand for several minutes and standing her back up when she would sit down, he finally looked at me and said "dis is wearin me out mom." At this point Ella had lost all interest in trying to walk, she decided that it was much more fun to stand up in front of the tv and put cute little handprints all over it, after I had just wiped all of the previous handprints off of the tv. Im sure she will be walking very shortly, and then she will REALLY be all over the place!

Homework

Jaxson had to miss a couple of days of preschool last week because he had a cold, so when he went yesterday his teacher gave him all of the stuff that he had missed so that he could do it at home. He took this homework task very seriously, even though it wasn't stuff that he actually HAD to do he worked very hard on his homework. There were a couple of papers that he had to practice tracing the letters and numbers, he did very well on these papers. Then he had two other projects which were his favorite, one was a turtle and he had to color the shell green and the other was a stoplight, and he had to glue the paper lights on to the paper. I tried to take a picture of him while he was working on these because his face was so cute, you could just tell that he was concentrating so hard, unfortunately the picture was blurry. When he was done working on them, he looked at me and using his "grownup" voice said "Mom, I worked so hard on my homework dat I think now I should have a treat. Mom, did you know dat I did homework like uncle oobey does? Hey MOM, im getting big JUST like him!"

Snowbird

When Nick and I got home from Park City we decided to take the kids up to snowbird, it's octoberfest right now, and Jax loves going up there because it's in da mountains. When we told Jax that was where we were going he was so excited! When we were driving up there Jax said "When i am bigger can I climb dis mountain?" He is always talking about climbing mountains when he gets older. However, if he even thinks about climing Everest or some other crazy thing like that, he can think again! When we got up there Jax was less than thrilled that we had to park so far away and walk 100 miles just to get there, ok that might be a little bit of an exaggeration but that's what it felt like! I think all of Salt Lake was up there, it was so crowded! We had some lunch and then Jax spotted a guy making fun balloons so he went and stood in line with his money in his hand to give to the guy. When it was his turn to have his balloon made the guy asked him what he wanted and Jax said "a race car!" the guy said that he couldn't make a race car, but he could make him a sword. Jaxson's face lit up, the guy asked him if he waned a ninja sword or a pirate sword, and Jax told him that he wanted a pirate sword. The guy made him a cool sword with a holder around his waist for the sword and a pirate bandana! Jax thought this was just about the coolest thing and he had to show everyone we passed!!

Pretty cool huh?! Nick and Jax tried to ride the alpine slide but it was closed by the time he got done showing off his balloon. He was pretty bummed about this but daddy promised him that we would come back soon so that they could ride it. When it was time to go Jax said "how come we only stayed up in da mountains for 30 seconds?" Little did he know, we were up there for several hours, but to a little kid having so much fun, the time goes by quick!

Anniversary

On the 23rd it was me and Nick's two year anniversary, since it was on a weekday we didn't really do anything to celebrate, we both gave each other a card and he gave me some really pretty flowers, awwww tender. Last night was our night to celebrate, Nick had it all planned out and it was a surprise for me. We went up to Park City for the night, my sis and her hubby came over to stay with the kids. Nick wouldn't give me any details for last night, just that we were going somewhere overnight, he loves to plan little surprise things! We went and had sushi at the flying sumo in park city, which was SO good! I had been craving sushi lately so I was really excited when we walked into the restaurant. After dinner we went back to our hotel room and got to have a fun evening just the two of us, which is very rare for us with two kiddos. We got to sleep in this morning and then we went to breakfast before we headed home. It was so much fun to have a night all to ourselves, even though we missed our little rugrats. I know how much Janelle hates it when there are no pictures with posts, so even though I HATE this picture that Nick and I took ourselves last night, I decided to post it just for you Janelle.

I dont want to go to sleep!

The other night princess decided that SHE was going to decide what time she wanted to go to bed, not mommy and daddy. I was so proud of myself for getting the kids bathed, teeth bushed and into bed right on time too. After listening to her scream and say no no on the monitor for 30 minutes, her daddy finally gave in a went and got her out of her bed, he brought her downstairs to give her some milk to see if that would calm her down and make her sleep. Nick and I had been watching Dancing with the stars, Ella started watching the tv and couldn't take her eyes off of the show. We just sat there watching her laughing because Ella usually doesn't even look twice at the tv, she has better things to do. When they would get done dancing Ella would smile at the tv and start clapping, then turn around to Nick and I and grin at us. It was the most adorable thing to watch. Even though Ella could hardly keep her pretty little eyes open, she was determined to watch, and she would throw a fit when I would try and turn her away from the tv to try to get her to sleep, she would look at me and say "no no" and start trying to squirm out of my arms. Apparently she thought she was in charge!

Party!

Last night was Jaxson's friend Brock's birthday party, to say that Jax was excited to go to his party would be an understatement. All week long Jaxson has been asking me if it was time to go to Brock's party, yesterday could not come fast enough for Jaxson. Jaxson took picking out Brock's birthday present very seriously, and after he had narrowed it down to two presents, he finally sighed and said Mom, I just cant pick between these two presents, could you just pick for me please? When Jax woke up yesterday morning he immediately asked me if it was time to go to the party, he rolled his eyes and sighed when I told him that the party wasn't until later. When it was finally time to get ready to go to the party, Jaxson couldn't get out the door fast enough, but first he had to make sure he had on his sunglasses so he could make sure that he looked extra cool for the party.

Jaxson was very happy that Brock lives pretty close to us so that he could get to the party super fast. Im not even sure if Jaxson waited until the car came to a complete stop before he started trying to unbuckle his seatbelt. There were all kinds of powerwheels cars for the kids to drive, Brock's mom had even set up cones for them to drive around, but I think they had more fun trying to run the cones over rather than weave around them. We took Jaxson's escalade to the party for the kids to drive to, but Jaxson's favorite thing to drive was Brock's new powerwheel Harley. He told his dad that he felt like a dude on the Harley, he even kept his sunglasses on for the entire party so he could look EXTRA cool driving around in all the cars. Jaxson had a blast at Brock's birthday party and couldn't stop talking about it on the way home. Little miss Ella even had fun sitting in a golf cart powerwheel, even if she didn't get to drive it.

Is that really necessary?

Why is it that as soon as I put a cute little bow in Ella's hair she thinks that she needs to rip it out and replace it with a banana that she has squished between her fingers? Probably the same reason she has this uncontrollable urge to reach down and grab the poopy diaper I have just taken off of her and swing it around like a toy, and then look at me and tell me "no no" while pointing her finger at me like im in trouble. Why does she have to throw a fit when I put food on her highchair tray, and then two seconds later start shoving it in her mouth like she hasn't eaten all day? Why does she have to throw a fit when she doesn't get EXACTLY what she wants right when she wants it, even if it is my cell phone that has already taken enough of a beating from her? Then when I give her a toy to distract her from my cell phone, she has to scream and throw it on the floor and act like she doesn't want it before she crawls over to it and starts playing with it like it's her favorite toy in the world. Why does she act this way???
I will tell you. It's because she is a girl and she knows she can get away with it. It's common knowledge among us girls that we can get away with this behavior, to some extent. Any girl who denies doing these things is a liar. All girls have acted similar to this at some point in our lives, some more than others. We know that someone will eventually give in, and give us what we want. In Ella's case, she knows that mommy will eventually get tired of this behavior, and that her daddy cannot resist the cute little innocent look she gives him in the middle of throwing a fit. Even when we dont get our way by acting like this, it's still fun to do from time to time, and it's a good way to let off some steam. However, I just wish that Ella would reserve this behavior for her daddy ;) Little stinker.

"Tenter tantrums"

Jaxson thinks that he has a free pass to do and say whatever he wants today. Im not sure why he thinks that this is ok today, and im sure that some genius may even have a perfectly good explanation for why my 4 year old is acting this way today. They would probably tell me that the way I handled Jaxson's last "tenter tantrum" is not the way to handle this situation. I wonder if these experts have kids of their own? For the majority of the day, Jaxson's ears have been turned off, and when they haven't been turned off, I wish there was some way for me to turn mine off. He has done everything I have asked him not to do, and thrown a fit about everything today. When Jaxson decided to throw his most recent "tenter tantrum" today, I decided to join him....

Jax: Mooommmmyyyy!!!!!!!!

Me: What Jax

Jax: waaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhwaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!

Me: What is wrong now?

Jax:waaaaaaahhhhhhhhhwaaaaaaaahhhhh!

Me: Stop acting like this or your going on time out.

Jax: NO!!!! (back to screaming)

Me: Fine (i throw myself on the floor and start doing what he is doing)

Jax:Mommy! Stop acting like dat!

Me: No, im throwing a tenter tantrum

Jax: Why?

Me: Because you are. Why are you throwing a tenter tantrum?

Jax: BECAUSE!!! I want to!

Me: Fine. But im going to throw one too.

Jax: But mommy's dont throw tenter tantrums.

Me: Why not?

Jax: Because dey just dont mom.

Me: But im grumpy, and I feel like throwing one.

Jax: (laughing by this point) but mommy I dont want you to throw one!

Me: Well I dont want you to throw one either. How about we both stop throwing one?

Jax: NO! Im still grumpy!!

Me: That's fine, but be a quiet grump because you are going to wake your sister up.

Jax: (sigh) FINE! Can I just watch a show den?

Me: Yes, if you promise to stop acting this way.

Jax: (in his sweet voice) ok Mama, I promise!

Thank goodness these temper tantrums stop as quickly as they start. For anyone who thinks that this was not the way to handle this temper tantrum, feel free to see if you can do a better job at it. I dare ya!!

Cute even when he is acting like he's from another planet.

4wheeling!

Yesterday everyone but Ella and I, went 4 wheeling. I figured Ella is still too little to go and she wouldn't really have fun, and since I just had lasik done a week ago, I didn't want to risk getting dust in my new eyes. So Ella and I decided to stay home and make dinner for everyone, she was my little sous chef. I was actually looking forward to having some time by myself when she took a nap, but instead of loving this time I had all to myself while she slept for 3 hours, I was bored out of my mind! I didn't know what to do with myself and I couldn't wait until she woke up. When Jax came home he told me all about 4wheeling, and about how much fun he had once he figured out that there was nothing to be afraid of. He even told me that he got to drive the 4wheeler all by himself (with daddy on the back of course) he was very proud of himself for doing this! I was sad that I didn't get to see Jax having fun on the 4wheelers, but Nick took a couple pictures on his cell phone and sent them to me. Hopefully next time I will be able to go with them.

Ahoy Matey

When the kids and I woke up this morning it was thundering and raining, I was hoping that it would stay this way all day. Unfortunately it didn't last more than about 20 minutes, even though I was rather disappointed, it was a good thing for "pirate Jaxson" that the weather cleared up. Otherwise it would have been a very rough day at sea on his pirate ship (aka the balcony off of my room) fortunately for "pirate Jaxson" and his crew (mommy) it was smooth sailing aboard our ship, despite being chased by the "grumpy pirates". Pirate Jaxson even had a treasure map, although it very closely resembled an acorn, Pirate Jax assured me that it was a treasure map, and that it would eventually lead us to the treasure. Pirate Jax got a little side tracked by a bird flying by our pirate ship, and then decided to take a break from sailing to come inside and watch a movie, but the day is still young and hopefully we will be able to locate our treasure. Johnny Depp's got nothin on this handsome pirate!!

Never ending day

Today seemed to be a never ending day, which is very unusual for a mom, usually we dont have enough hours in the day. Today was different though. Jaxson started off the day by waking up at 7:15 which for most people is not early or unusual, but at the Martin home that is a little earlier than normal. The kids usually wake up at about 8:00, and NO I am not one of those moms who gets up before my kids and has the house all cleaned and breakfast on the table, as well as being showered and ready for the day by the time my kids wake up. I am NOT a morning person, and I dont wake up before I absolutely have to. So at 7:15 my handsome little alarm clock woke me up, which was fine because we got to snuggle in my bed for a while before Ella woke up. When Ella woke up we went downstairs and had breakfast, which went very smoothly. Then we got dressed and left to go to the bank and the grocery store, I pulled up to the bank and started filling out my deposit slip and quickly realized that I did not have the actual check with me. This is kind of an important item to have when making a deposit. I start dumping out the contents of my very un-organized purse, while the teller is looking at me like im crazy, and finally decide that I must have left the check at home. Unfortunately for my husband, he happened to call at that moment, so then the fact that I had left the check at home automatically became his fault. After I had said a few silent bad words, we went to the grocery store, let's just say that Jax has a hard time not touching EVERYTHING in the store. After Ella's nap Jaxson and I decided to make muffins and cookies, im not sure why I decided to make both muffins and cookies, but Jaxson loves to help me cook, or in this case bake. While we made our treats princess sat in her highchair and had a snack and repeated her favorite new word "NO NO" over and over again, until Jax and I were laughing our heads off. This got Jaxson all wound up and he kept getting in Ella's face making the most obnoxious sound you have ever heard. This did not make princess happy. She began screaming back at him and telling him "NO NO" which made Jax want to do it more. Then Jaxson got out his toy weed whacker and began chasing his sister who was innocently pushing her shopping cart, this both scared her and made her mad, NOT A GOOD COMBINATION!! After I took the toy away from him Ella decided the only safe place was in mommys arms while trying to unload the dishwasher. So Jax decided to pitch in and put the silverware away for me...

After Jax was done being my big helper and Ella had decided it was now safe to get down, Jax came out of his playroom holding some sort of weird looking squirt gun contraption and told me that he was going to go outside and call for birds...

He came back into the house grinning and told me that the birds had heard him and now he was going to go get his toomataka (aka harmonica) and play it for the birds and see if they would come to him...Meanwhile, Ella took munchie for a ride in her shopping cart, on his head. She kept herself quite entertained taking all of the toys out of her shopping cart,and then putting them all back into the shopping cart, all while her tongue was hanging out of her mouth. I think the tongue hanging out of the mouth is what she does when she is really trying to concentrate.

After Jaxson had been outside, he came in the house and said "Mama, the birds heard me again and one even came to me!" he thought this was so cool, however his attention was quickly diverted from his interest in the birds, to making his obnoxious sound in his sister's ear when she came crawling over to him. Which then resulted in her throwing a princess tantrum. I would be just fine if I never had to hear that sound again, but im sure that I will get to hear it plenty tomorrow. Now that my munchkins have been bathed and are sound asleep, I miss them, however it is nice to have a quiet house right now.

3 year olds and 4 year olds

Yesterday we were at my mom's house, she was watching Gabe while Dani was at work so I took the kids up there so Jax and Gabe could play. They had been playing outside when Jaxson came in the house with a very distressed look on his face, and Gabe trailing behind him. He looked at my mom and I and said...

"Gabe and I are going to have a little talk about 3 year olds and 4 year olds. Gabey just threw a TENTER tantrum, and he even GROWLED at me. So, we are gonna go upstairs to da playroom and we are gonna have a little talk."

I followed them up to the playroom to hear this little talk....

"Gabe, im 4 and you are 3, and 4 year olds are da boss of 3 year olds Gabe. We dont bite, and we dont hit, we dont scratch and we dont take toys away from each other. OK GABE!"

Little shopper

I am so very proud of my little girl! Not only is she learning to say a few words such as Dada, Mama, brother, munchie (the name of her favorite teddy bear) night night, and her new favorite NO NO. But she has also started walking behind her toy shopping cart, I am proud of this for two reasons, the first is obviously because she can stand herself up to it and walk while holding the handle, and the second reason is because I now know that she is officially my daughter (not that there was any question before) because just like her mommy, she likes to shop. However, lack of money has prevented me from doing much shopping lately, which is probably a good thing, but that doesn't change the fact that if given the chance and the money obviously, I find great pleasure in shopping. However I do not find grocery shopping overly enjoyable, that is more like a chore for me, unless I have the rare opportunity to go grocery shopping without my two beautiful children, then it becomes a chance for me to listen to my music in the car at a much louder volume than if my munchkins are in the car with me. Now I know that Ella is not actually shopping when she pushes her grocery cart, but she shows great shopping potential, and that makes a mommy proud. Although im not sure what Nick and I are going to do when she really does want to shop, we may have to sell our house in order for her to shop... OH WAIT!! It's not our house to sell! I guess we will have to figure that out when the time comes, which hopefully wont be too soon, I don't want her growing up faster than she already is.

Abra cadabra!

Jax: Hey Mama, I got a great idea!
Me: Oh really, what is your great idea?
Jax: I want to have a bowl of cereal, and I want to pour da cereal in da bowl, and pour da milk into da bowl. Mama, if I spill it's OK because ACCIDENTS HAPPEN AND DATS OK!
Me: Ok buddy, but I need to help you a little bit with the milk
Jax: Ok Mama.
The cereal was poured into the bowl successfully, as was the milk. However, after the milk and cereal were in the bowl, Jax accidentally bumped the bowl....
Jax: OOPS! Uh Mama, I spilled a little bit but remember, accidents happen and dats OKAAAAY!
Me: It's ok, it's just a little spill and we can wipe it up.
Jax: Hey mom, wanna come see my magic trick!?!
Me: I would love to!
Jax: Ok, see how da milk in da cereal is white right now mama? Now watch dis! ABRA CADABRA! What color will we get today? (this is all while stirring the cereal around with his wand/spoon) TADA!!! See how da milk is pink now?
Me: I do! How did you that?
Jax: (huge grin) Cause im MAGIC mama!! Isn't dat cool?!?