Happy Birthday Elijah!

I just can not believe that our little guy is already turning 1! Wow where did the past year go? It seems like just a few months ago were were bringing home that 10lb bundle of joy. It has been a wonderful past 12 months watching him grow and develope his own little personality. Anyone who knows him will say he has to be one of the happiest babies they have ever me! He is truely a JOY to us and we are very blessed to have been given him! So as I tearfully glanced through our last year of pictures I thought I would share!

November and December in Our House

So I know it's been almost a month of no posts, but I had come to realize that the Fall had swept me over with all the major events we had/hosted and something had to give. I had to take a bit of a step back and re-prioritize things...which included my limited free time and how I spent it. Well sorry for all of those who follow me on here..but you guys were one of the things that got put on the back burner for a while. But now that things will be starting to slow down after Christmas I am hoping to get back into a regular posting habit again. After all the whole reason I started blogging was to keep a sort of online journal for my family and friends, but also to have a place to keep all of those memories together for me to print out and save for the kiddos. So back to blogger land it is!

The past month has been pretty busy with another the girls being flower girls in their uncle's wedding, another craft show, Elijah's 1st birthday party, Christmas and Birthday pictures, and now preparing for our 1st Christmas Open House! Jeremiah and Emily's wedding was of course gorgeous and she made a stunning bride! :D The girls were too cute in their flower girls dresses and having their hair done in up do's and I personally thing the best man was HOT! (Okay yes I do happen to be married to him so I was kinda partial!) I don't think the girls could have stood anymore glam! It was also great to spend time with family from out of state and of course we had to get a 4 generation picture with the Martin men. This was the first time that Grandma and Grandpa Martin had met the one that will be the first to pass on the Martin name. An awful big responsibility for such a tiny little man huh??

Elijah's party went really well and I was for sure the poor kid was going to bust at the seems with all that chocolate cake he ate (Gluten Free of course!) It was so cute seeing all of those "boy toys" he received. We definitely are NOT used to those! Of course the pictures form the party have not been downloaded on to my computer yet? We have said since last year that when the house was finished we wanted to have an open house to invite all of our friends and family as well as neighbors on the boulevard to see the house. We did not know then that it used to be the big thing up and down the boulevard too see all of these grand Victorian houses done up for Christmas. So the timing of our house completion was perfect fr us to have our open house just in time for Christmas. If anyone is local reading this you are more than welcome to stop by our Christmas Open House Saturday from 4-7 or Sunday from 2-4.

I thought I'd also share a few of our newest Family pictures we had taken. I will have to post Emma and Elijah's birthday pictures tomorrow since it is getting so late.

Missing the Warm Sunshine of Texas!

So after a cold and windy day here in Ohio I am longing for the warm sunny weather of Texas again! Oh so sad that I can only revisit the memory with pictures. I thought I'd share a few that I took on the last trip for my fellow cold weather firends who are preparing for a cold shift in the weather. Enjoy the sunny pictures of Elijah at the Alamo!

Texas, Bows, Surgery, a Wedding, and a Chirstmas Tree!

So I figured that I was long past due time for me ot update what we've been up to. As I mentioned before this Fall is just swamped with activities so my free time is stretched pretty thin and well...I just forget to post what we've been up to. The first week in November we visited San Antonio with just huby, Elijah, and I/. My dear in=;laws kept the girls for us (yes I have amazing in-laws who are willing to take my children for a week at a time to let hubby and I spend some much needed time together, aren't you jealous??) San Antonio was just goregous and of course warm. I was so nice to break the capris back out and ont have to bundle up Elijah everytime we went out. I did lots of shopping both trying ot get the kids outiftted for Winter and to find outfits for Jeremiah's wedding this week. We of course also went and visited the Alamo which even though I'm not a big Wild West fan..I thought it was pretty inspiring and was surprised at the sense of awe and respect there was at the exibit. Elijah couldn't leave without a coonskin cap...at daddy's insiting of course. He left it on just long enough for pictures and that was it.

We returned home last Saturday and life quickly began again. I had to start getting things together for my craft show with my hair bows. I had been working on them for some time but it was crunch time which menat tryign to get all the bows that I ahd been working on in stages finished and ready to go as quickly as possible. My show ended up going really well and I was so greatful to have my grandmother-in-law help for the day. It made it somuch easier to have a helper along, besides chatting makes the day go so much faster!

Friday Miss Maddelyn had her tonsils and adnoids taken out. She had endured 4 cases of Strep Throat this Summer/Fall so it was time to get them out. She was kinda nervous about it but she did really well. She of course was just miserable after coming out of surgery. we did find out though that Maddelyn is especially sensitive to the pills they give kids to relax before a procedure. She had the same meds before her filling in her tooth and had the same results. The kid is hilarious after the meds kick in. She is giggly, asking dad why he has 4 eyes, seeing things that aren't there, trying to blow up her blood pressure cuff with her mouth, and just plain goofy! She sure was a totally different child coming out of surgery though. Poor kid! She has done pretty well the last couple of days but today her steroid they gave he during surgery wore off and she was feeling pretty bad. She's been living of a diet of pudding, jello, popsicles, and such but today she just wanted to snack on them all day. that's a good sign that her appetite is coming back and she must be getting a bit better.

Some good news is that while we were in Texas, our carpet was installed into our master suite on the 3rd floor! Besides the little bits of trim needed and the touch up paint we are able to move in! Now if I could only find the time to get all of our bedroom stuff up there I would finally be in my master bedroom suit and Elijah in his nursery. Hey if we waited this long...another week won't kill us.

We are trying to get our house ready for company this week since we will be hosting at least 11 students form Lee University's Campus Choir this weekend. The choir is coming to sing at our church and the students needed housing for the night. Unfortunately we will be out of state for Jeremiah and Emily's wedding but my aunt volunteer to house sit for us the the students could stay here. We have always said that we wanted to use this house for ministry and we knew that us getting this house in the way that we did, this house was meant to be used for Him. With the house being so large we have plenty of extra room to put up several students. The last I had heard there were at least 11 and maybe more staying at the house while we are gone.

We leave on Wednesday for Pennsylvania for the wedding. Thursday are the Bachelor and Bachlorette parties, Friday is the rehearsal and dinner, and Saturday is the actual wedding. Nathan is the best man and Maddelyn and Emma are the flower girls in the wedding. The girls are all so excited about it and have been counting down the days since they were asked early in the Summer. It should be a really nice time this weekend and we are excited to be able to see family from out of state as well coming in from Texas and Missouri. And hey...I had a reason to buy a new little black dress!

The next week we will be hosting Thanksgiving in our house for all sides of our family. We will have close to 40 people in our house for the day and a few staying overnight. It will be nice to host our first big family event in our new house. We certainly do have the room for it ...and since we are partially to blame for the growing family that is getting snug in our old locations....I guess it's only right of us to offer to have it here! I just hope our Thanksgiving guests don't mind eating their turkey and stuffing by the Christmas Tree???

10 Months

I can't believe that our little man is already 10 months old! He is changing so quickly nowadays and becoming my little toddler instead of that tiny (okay never tiny) bundle of joy. He has finally gotten the full crawl down instead of his normal army crawl. For the longest time he could do both, but he knew if he wanted to get somewhere fast he could do it much faster on his elbows with an army crawl. It seems that the very same day he got the crawling down he began to pull up to his knees around the coffee table. He also had realized that crawling means freedoms and discovering his world. He has also began being our mini "vaccum cleaner" by picking up and eating whatever he can get his hands on form the floor or such. I would hate to know how much he really swallows with me having no idea. Oh well, the other 3 lived doing it. Little Man has also began eating a more normal diet this month with trying lots of new gluten free foods. Becasue he has 2 sisters with gluten problems, we have decided to keep him gluten free as well for at least the first 12 months to see how he reacts when we slowly introduce it. Some recent new foods were: pancakes, scrambled eggs, gluten free bread, frozen peas, spaghetti with homemade sauce, dry cereal, and thanks to Uncle Carl a bit of coffe on his lid. He also learned to FINALLY say Mom! Yeah! Each of the kids has learned to say "Dad" first, but he has been the slowest at saying that second word of "Mom." He also is becoming so much more playful and wanting to interact with other people. The girls just love playing with their baby brother and he and Dad have begun playing catch with a rubber baseball. He can't throw it yet but he will hand it back to you. It's way too cute! I just can't believe that we will soon be planning a 1st birthday party for him. How does the 1st year always go by sooooo fast....but then that the 2nd-3rd years with potty training go so much slower??? Or maybe the potty training jsut makes it seem to drag on??

Busy Fall....and a Funny Farm!

We have crazy busy this Fall and I'm not really sure how it happened to end up that way but it did. We literally have some event every weekend and most of them are pretty big items. So here's a brief look for all those out there who's like where on Earth is Mandi and why is she majorly slacking on posts lately??

Oct 10 - Emma's Tea and Family coming in to say for the weekend

Oct15-19 Annual Family Campout (froze our pattoties off!)

Oct 23-25 Penn to host Emily's Bridal Shower

Oct 26-Nov 1 Getting ready for Craft show and Nathan TN for part of that

Nov 2-7 San Antonio

Nov 13 Maddelyn's tonsils out

Nov 14 Lexington Craft Show

Nov 18-22 Jeremiah and Emily's wedding

Nov 26 Hosting Thanksgiving in our house for close to 40 people

Dec 5 Ontario Craft Show

Dec 6 Elijah's 1st b-day party??

Whew...can I take a breath yet???? Just typing all of that makes my feel tired! So basically every week has to be assigned to a certain topic and I have to focus on that topic ONLY that week. This upcoming week is BOWS BOWS BOWS for the upcoming craft shows and packing Eli and I for TX (girls will be in PA.) Of course this is on top of the normal homeschool lessons, dr appts (since there seems to be at least 1 sick person in our hose from mid Sept to mid April), unpacking from the previous weeks events and trying to get it washed and hung back up before it gets packed in another suitcase for the next week, and the day to day running of living with 4 small kids. Oh and did I mention Nathan is r-e-a-l-l-y wanting a puppy???? Yep just sign the papers now and go ahead and commit me to the funny farm. I know it's only a matter of time! HA! Just thought you all might get a good laugh out of our calendar for the next couple of months. I'm just glad I am a organized/planner kinda person. See...God knew my life would be a tornado of chaos so He made me a super planner/list maker/clean freak! HAHA! I'm not OCD....I'm equipped. That's my quote of the week. I'll be back tomorrow night with more pics of camping, Elijah's 10 months, and the bridal shower but that's it for tonight.

Fancy Nancy Party

So I am finally taking a few minutes of out a crazy month to update my blog. Yes...I am also finally posting our Fancy Nancy pictures since I have had so many people asking to see them...who have probably by now given up on me! HA! We did have a wonderful time at Emma's 5th Birthday Fancy Nancy Tea Party. We had 12 little Fancy Nancy's attend our tea and I think each one of them had quiet a memorable experience. As each guest arrived in their most Fancy Like Nancy outfits, they received a necklace, ring, feather boa, fan, and a tutu puff hair bow to add to their ensembles. We then had the girls sit around and read one of the Fancy Nancy books, just in case any of our little party guests was not familiar with her and her special way of making life fancy. After this we discussed different secret messages that we could say by using our fans and practiced each one. The girls also each had a turn at trying to walk with high heels and a book on their heads. After this they were all seated at our Fancy Tea Table for their big girl tea party. We served them finger foods such as pink candied popcorn, apples and caramel dip, cookies, tea pot shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cupcakes and of course hot tea (and lemonade for those who preferred it.) We also had a parfait making parlor to match where Fancy Nancy went to have parfaits ( a fancy word for ice cream Sunday's.) Each girl was given a cute dessert bow filled with ice cream and she could pick her own toppings to fancy it up! After opening all her presents ( I had no idea there were so many Fancy Nancy items out there in the stores) the girls played upstairs in the playroom for a bit before their parents arrived to take them home. I twas a wonderful tea party and a great way to celebrate that our sweetie is no longer out little toddler, but has officially begun her time as a little girl. Oh my! Two tea parties down and so sad to say that before we know it we will be doing the 5th birthday tea for Miss Caroline as well. This just happens way too fast!