New family member

Yes, that's right, the Martin family has a new family member. Her name is Phoebe and she is little and furry and sweet and absolutely adorable. Obviously I'm not talking about a person, Phoebe is our dog. We were lucky enough to be able to adopt her from my best friend Janelle. Janelle and her hubby are getting ready to have their second baby, so obviously they will be very busy, and Jax, up until very recently has been deathly afraid of dogs. So Nick and I thought that getting a dog of our own might help him get over this fear but I didn't want a puppy that we had to train. Which is why Phoebe is perfect for our family. She is almost 6 and obviously fully trained, not to mention the fact that she is so great with the kids. We have had her for a little over a week now and all 4 of us are extremely attached to her! The night she came, Jax wouldn't get off of the chair because he was afraid of her, even when he woke up the next morning he was still afraid and wouldn't get down and play with her. We told him that if he didn't get use to her, then we couldn't keep her. This upset him because he was already attached to...even though he was afraid...go figure. One second he was crying because he was afraid and the next second, he got off the chair, walked over to her, and picked her up. He looked at us with tears in his eyes and said "Now I get to keep Phoebe because I decided I'm not afraid of her!" It was so sweet! Ever since then, he has been absolutely in love with her! He loves to take her on walks and both of the kids love to play fetch with her. We took her to Petco last week and Jax picked out some doggie treats for her, which he would give her all day long if I let him. Phoebe is my little buddy, she follows me all over the house, and when the kids go to bed at night, she snuggles up between Nick and I on the couch. She sleeps right next to me all night long and I love it. We are so happy that she came to live with us. Thanks Janelle, Keith and Gavin for letting us adopt sweet Phoebe!!

Best Buds!!

Isn't she precious??

First day of Kindergarten

Jax started Kindergarten on Thursday. I can't believe my baby boy is getting so big! When he woke up that morning he couldn't wait to go to school. He kept telling Nick and I that he wished Kindergarten was all day instead of half day. He couldn't eat breakfast and get dressed fast enough because he was so excited. He got his backpack all ready and was standing by the door, waiting to leave. As soon as he got in the car, he got quiet, I asked him what was wrong and he said "I might be frustrated at school because I don't know any of da other kids." I explained to him that on the first day, a lot of kids don't know anyone else and that he was going to meet a lot of new friends. He said ok, but he was still really quiet on the drive there. When we were getting out of the car, he asked me if I was going to stay with him. I told him that I was going to stay while he played on the playground but that when the teacher rang the bell, I was going to give him a kiss and hug and he was going to go in to the classroom and that we would be back to get him in just a few hours. He was happy while he was playing and he came running up to me and told me that he had met a new friend, he was so excited. Then the teachers came out and rang the bell for the kids to line up to come inside. He got a nervous look on his face and told me to stand with him for just a minute until it was time to go in. When it was time to go inside, I gave him a big hug and kiss and told him we would be back soon, when I started to walk away he yelled MOMMY and came running over to me. The teacher said I could walk him inside and tell him goodbye there...yeah right! When we got inside he was even more upset and he had a death grip on my hand. He was crying saying he didn't want to be there. I tried to talk to him and get him to settle down, which wasn't working. After about 15 minutes of me being in there with him, I had to go out and let Nick take over because it was breaking my heart and I didn't want him to see that Mommy was upset too. I handed him to Nick and told him that I had to leave, he was crying for me to come back saying "I want mommy" which made me cry because mommy's don't like to see their babies upset. Nick finally got him to calm down and told him he would sit with him for a few minutes in the classroom. Fortunately, they started coloring and Jax was distracted enough for Nick to sneak out, he told the teacher we would be outside for a few more minutes in case Jax got upset again. The teacher came out to set up some things for their treasure hunt and told us that he was having fun in there and it was ok for us to leave. When school was over, he came out with a smile on his face saying that he had fun. Yesterday when I dropped him off he still got a little upset so the teacher said to come inside and sit with him for a few minutes. I was able to sneak out after a few minutes and after school he came out with a grin on his face again. His teacher said that I can plan on coming in with him for a few days, until he is a little more comfortable. He has made some new friends and he says that Kindergarten is fun, I think it's just a little bit intimidating for him right now but I know he will love it! I'm so proud of him and he is growing up so fast!

Colorado

We went to Vail Colorado last week with Nick's parents, needless to say, we had a blast! We did so many fun things. We did some shopping, ate yummy food, went on a cave tour, swimming, Jax and Nick rode on a mechanical bull, Jax and Ella got to go on a pony ride (Ella didn't like it at all!) Jax got to jump on one of those trampolines where they hook you in to a harness and you can jump really really high...he loved every minute of it! It was beautiful there and it was actually warmer than we thought it was going to be. One of Jaxson's new favorite things to do is play 'Go Fish' we played several games and it was really fun! The kids loved that they could wake up every morning...EARLY...and go out to the family room of the condo and see Grandma and Grandpa. Of course they were also spoiled by grandma and grandpa all week. We were sad to have to leave and come home to reality, we had so much fun! Since there were so many pictures I decided to save time and do a collage again, I just didn't want to leave any of the pics out! Click on the collage to enlarge the pictures.