So sleepy

On Thursday, Nick put Ella in her highchair to have lunch, he walked into the other room for a minute, and was curious because Ella was being so quiet in the kitchen, which is not like Ella lately. He walked back into the kitchen, and this is how he found her...

Apparently Princess was exhausted from running around doing and saying everything her big brother says and does. She is like a little parrot lately, and she loves to be with her big brother. Sometimes it drives Jax nuts because she repeats everything he says and has to do everything he does, but for the most part, he loves his little sister and he loves it that she looks up to him so much and wants to be with him so much. Sometimes when we are driving in the car Ella will say the same thing to Jaxson over and over again, Jax will play along until about the tenth time she says it and then he will say "ELLLAAAA, I don't want to keep saying the same thing over and over again!" She even has to sit at the counter and pretend she is doing her homework when   Jax is doing his. She is getting so big and she is so much fun.

 Of course after she had fallen asleep in the highchair for a few minutes, her princess batteries were fully recharged and she had very little interest in taking a "nappy time in Ella's bed." However she didn't have a choice in this matter, and after singing and jabbering in her room for 20 minutes, she finally gave in and fell asleep.

Kindergarten update

After many tears and many days of taking Jax to Kindergarten and having him hang on my arm and cry because he didn't want to be there, Jax now LOVES Kindergarten! He is excited to go every morning, he loves his teacher and he has made a lot of knew friends. One night, while he was still not liking school, he said "Mommy, do you think dat I could ask my Heavenly Father to help me to be a brave boy at Kindergarten, and to make me feel better when I get sad because I miss you while I'm there?" Talk about breaking Mommy's heart! We would also put special kisses from Mommy in his pocket and in his hand before he would go every morning, I would kiss his hand a bunch of times and then that way he had some for when he got sad. Guess what? He doesn't need the special kisses anymore, which is bittersweet for me. But I do love that he is loving school. In fact, he is loving it so much that he is rather upset that it is UEA weekend and that he had thursday and friday off and also has monday off. Everyday he asks me how many more days it will be until he gets to go back to school, he is literally counting down the days! It makes me feel good when I drop him off at school knowing that he is so happy, instead of sad. Such a big boy!!

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.

Lake Powell

Nick and I took Jaxson to Lake Powell over the weekend. My Mom, Colby, Dani, Derek, Gabe, My Aunt and Uncle and some of my cousins had already been down there since Monday. We decided that Ella was still too little to come so Nick's Mom was nice enough to come all the way from Chicago and stay with Ella...and spoil her to death! I have to be honest, I wasn't looking forward to leaving my little girl for the weekend, I knew I was going to miss her like crazy, which I did. But she had so much fun with her Grandma and I knew that she was being very well taken care of.
Jax couldn't wait to get there and see all of his cousins, this was his first trip to Lake Powell so he didn't know what to expect and he was confused when we told him we would be staying on the houseboat since he had never seen it before. He didn't much care for the long drive and he constantly asked "are we there yet?" luckily he had some DVD's to watch. It was late when we got down there so he really couldn't see the lake, but he did walk all around the houseboat looking at everything. He spent a few minutes playing with his cousins and he was upset when we told him he needed to get to bed so we could have fun the next day. He was a unsure about swimming in the lake at first, but after a little while he was like a little fish! All the kids had fun riding in the tube, taking turns on the waverunners, playing in the sand running around the houseboat like monkeys. They all had to live in their lifejackets, they only took them off to sleep but they didn't seem to mind them much.
We surfed behind the boat...actually everyone else did...I just looked like a giant spaz when I did it. We even got Nicky doing it and he had a lot of fun! I got to do the kneeboard for the first time in several years, I had forgotten how much fun it is. The weekend went by way too fast and we were sad to have to go home, but we missed our little princess and we couldn't wait to get home to see her. It was so much fun to be down there with family and we had a blast!

Birthday Princess!!

Our little princess turned two on Friday! Where does time go? I can't believe my little girl is no longer a baby! NO that does not mean we are going to be having another one any time soon!!! We had a 'Princess Party' for Miss Ella Jo on Friday with some family and friends. Ella loved all of the princess decorations and she especially loved being the center of attention! She also loved opening all of her presents, she even enjoyed the cards, which most kids don't really get into. She wouldn't even let me read the card to her before she ripped it out of my hands and said "Ella's card!" I was surprised princess let some of the other kids help her open the presents. In addition to turning two...she also developed what someone referred to as the "2-tude" as if she didn't have enough of an attitude when she doesn't get her way! But for the most part she is still our sweet little angel and we don't know what we would do without her. Happy Birthday Princess Ella! Mommy, Daddy and Brother love you so much!