It's a ????????

Well as you can probably tell by the photos, yesterday was the day to find out what we are getting for baby #3! We had our ultrasound yesterday...

and......

the nurse said.....

that we.....

should probably .......

buy P-I-N-K!!!!!!


Yep, it's a girl! Man were we surprised! I think just about everyone who knows us was expecting a boy! Not this time! So we are going to be the proud parents of 3 girls! WOW! We were so surprised that I spent this afternoon sorting through boys clothes to put on ebay and retuning a few outfits to Children's Place. Ok, so maybe we were jumping the gun a bit, but hey what's the chances that we would have a girl 3 times in a row? HaHa!

Maddelyn was not too happy! She actually cried when we told her! See, she wanted a girl originally, but then she realized that all her little friends at church have baby brothers. She says she already has a sister so she wanted a boy. When we told her, all she kept saying was "But I wanted a boy baby!...again and again! Poor thing. She was not happy until I told her that everyone we knew who was pregnant was also getting girl babies, so she was ok with that. My little girl is such the conformist! She has to be like everyone else!

Fall is Here and Emma Loves the Potty!!!

We had a wonderful time camping last weekend, eventhough it rained. Yes, typical fall weather...cool...and wet! Friday evenin we spent in the camper watching movies, but the girls did not mind that at all. Saturday morning we got up and went to Amish Country. We did some shopping at Lehman's hardwear store and a bulk food store and then had lunch at he little resteraunt we always go to in Kidron. We all had hamloaf...YUM! That is the only place I ever get it and I love hamloaf! Saturady afternoon Nathan came in and we spent the afternoon outside. I was muddy but not raining. It was nice to sit around the fire! It started raing Saturday night, but that did not stop us! We took a walk with umbrellas! My dad wire tied a HUGE golf umbrella onto the wagon and to the girls had their own tent! (Emma's newest word is brella.) Sunday was beautiful! My grandparents came down for the day and we celebrated my grandma's birthday with a cake. Nathan and Maddelyn really worked on riding her bike as well. My brother also came down for the day and spent the night with us. Monday was goregous, but of course that was the day we packed up and came home! That evening we had some friends over for a cook out and then a movie. What a nice holiday weekend.

**Note - I have cute pictures of camping, but blogger wont let me load them up??? I'll try again later.

Yesterady my mom took Maddelyn back to Willard, and Nathan was busy all day trying to meet a deadline, so it was just Emma and I. I figured that was a good day to try the ....learn to potty in one day method. So, we did. She did not get it quite a swell as Maddelyn did when we did it with her, but Maddelyn was 2 1/2 when we did her. Emma went three times in a row in the potty with no accidents! Well, after abotu two hours she had had enough potting and needed a nap...as did I! So we had to take a time out. After naps she was dry, but would not go for me. She ended up having an accident, as well as another one before bed? So I have no idea how it went....but I do know...she loves the potty!!!!!

Well, today is the day......we go for our ultrasound today to try to see what we are having! I will try to get some pictures, but I am not sure if they will let me or not. I'll be on later tonight or in the morning to let you all know...pink or blue??????

Bubbles Galore!

I am getting ready to head out the door for camping, but I thought I would leave you with a few pictures of the girls blowing bubbles with daddy a couple of weeks ago. They just love chasing the bubbles to pop them after daddy uses the big bubble wand.

Have a great Labor Day Weekend and try to take some time off to spend with the family!!!!

I'm a child of the 80's!

We are just settling in form spending several days at my parent's house, so this will be a short post tonight. We had a busy week with spending time with my Aunt Donna while she is up from Kentucky. We also went to Joanne Fabric's since they were having a huge sale and got the pattern and material to make the girls' Halloween costumes for camping. They are both going to be Fairy Princesses and wear they huge green tinkerbell wings that we bought them this summer. Today Maddelyn helped her grandparents out with the "Fill-a-Boot." Drive by the firefighters in Willard. I have some cute pictures of the drive that I need to download into my computer. I got this forwarded to me in my email and laughed at how many memories it brought back! Man...this makes me feel old at the ripe old age of 24!



1. You've ever ended a sentence with the word "PSYCHE."
2. You watched the Pound Puppies.
3. You can sing the rap to the "Fresh Prince of Belair"
4. You wore biker shorts under your skirts and felt stylish.
5. You yearned to be a member of the Baby-sitters club and tried to start a club of your own.
6. You owned those lil Strawberry Shortcake pals scented dolls.
7. You know that "WOAH" comes from Joey on Blossom .........
8. Two words: M.C. Hammer
9. If you ever watched "Fraggle Rock."
10. You had plastic streamers on your handle bars.
11. You can sing the entire theme song to "Duck Tales."
12. When it was actually worth getting up early on a Saturday to watch cartoons.
13. You wore a ponytail on the side of your head.
14. You saw the original "Teenage Mu ta nt Ninja Turtles" on the big screen.
15. You got super-excited when it was Oregon Trail day in computer class at school.
16. You made your Mom buy one of those clips that would hold your shirt in a knot on the side.
17. You played the game "MASH" (Mansion, Apartment, Shelter, House)
18. You wore a Jordache Jean jacket and you were proud of it.
19. L.A. Gear...
20. You wanted to change your name to "JEM" in Kindergarten.
21. You remember reading "Tales of a fourth grade nothing" and all the Ramona books.
22. You know the profound meaning of "WAX ON, WAX OFF"
23. You wanted to be a Goonie.
24. You ever wore fluorescent clothing.
25. You can remember what Michael Jackson looked like before his nose fell off...
26. You have ever pondered why Smurfette was the only female smurf.
27. You took Lunch Pails to school.
28. You remember the CRAZE, then the BANNING of slap bracelets.
29. You still get the urge to say "NOT" after every sentence.
30. You remember Hypercolor T-shirts.
31. Barbie and the Rockers was your favorite band.
32. You thought Sheera and He-Man should hook up.
33. You thought your childhood friends would never leave because you exchanged friendship bracelets.
34. You ever owned a pair of jelly shoes.
35. After you saw Pee-Wee's Big Adventure you kept saying "I know what you are, but what am I?"
36. You remember "I've fallen and I can't get up"
37. You remember going to the skating rink before there were inline skates.
38. You ev er got seriously injured on a Slip and Slid e.
39. You have ever played with a Skip-It.
40. You had or attended a birthday party at McDonald's.
41. You've gone through this list occasionally saying "Totally awesome"
42. You remember Popples.
43. "Don't worry, be happy"
44. You wore like, EIGHT pairs of socks over tights with high top Reeboks.
45. You wore socks scrunched down.
46. "Miss MARY MACK MACK, all dressed in BLACK BLACK BLACK"
47. You remember boom boxes Vs. CD players.
48. You remember watching both "Gremlins" movies.
49. You know what it meant to say "Care Bear Stare!"
50. You remember watching Rainbow Bright and My Little Pony Tales"
51. You thought Doogie Howser was hot.
52. You remember Alf, the lil furry brown alien from Melmac.
53. You remember New Kids on the Block when they were cool.
54. You knew all the characters names and their life stories on "Saved By the Bell," the ORIGINAL class.
55. You know all the words to Bon Jovi - YOU GIVE LOVE A BAD NAME.
56. The only rapper you knew of was Vanilla Ice

My Dancing Divas!

Ok, I promised some pictures, so here they are. ....The first two are of my dancing divas! Grandma Bobbie found these dance costumes on clearance somewhere and the girls just loved them! Maddelyn of course had to stike a dramatic pose for me when I said say cheese. She is such a ham. I know that she would just love taking actual dance classes! Maybe someday. Emma had no idea what she was wearing but she was so cust in her little pig tails and how her belly stuck out right above that pink tutu!!!

The next two are of Nathan's Family Reunion in Indiana last weekend. This first one is of his Great-Grandma Smith who will turn 100 in January of 2007!!!! She is such a sweetheart.

This next one is of Nathan's mom Carla and her sister Gayla with "Great."




Well, that is it for tonight! We sat for some friend's children tonight and took them to the Bucyrus Bratwurst Festive. So we had 2 three year olds, a 22 month old and a 9 month old all there with us tonight. It went well, but of course we are all ready for bed a little early tonight. We have another family reunion tomorrow for my Grandma Hamons side, so I will update you all later!

I'm back!!

Sorry for the delay in posting! Life around here has been pretty crazy! Let's see..... a sum of of the past couple of weeks...

Nathan did return from South Carolina and he ended up meeting us at the Ohio State Fair that day. We spent a lovely day with my parents and nieces/nefew. Maddelyn's favorite part was that Smokey the Bear knew her name! How cute!

That Friday we spent the night with Nathan's Grandmother and Pap (GREAT FISH! YUM!!!) We then left Willard at 6:30 Saturday morning for Indiana. It was the Smith Family reunion that afternoon and it is a 4 hour drive. The reunion was great and of course seeing the in-law cousins was nice too. Maddelyn made off like a bandit at the family's charity auction, thanks to Grandma Carla and Daddy.

Sunday we went to church and Grandma Carla came along. We then had lunch with the Miller's at Fazoli's afterwards.

Monday is when things got kinda wierd on my end. I began having contractions! Yes, I am only 17 weeks, but they were still contractions. I have then been having them off and on all week and lately I am having them all day long. It is much worse the more I move around and especially if I bend over or lift something heavy. So, we went to the OB today to get checked out. He said baby #3 had a good heartbeat and I had not dialated any. He had me get an ultrasound as well and the cervix has not thinned out any yet either. So, good news there. He did say that I have a history of preterm labor (for anyone who doesn't know, we started preterm labor with Emma Grace at 24 weeks and went on until her delivery at 36 weeks.) Anyways, since I have a history, they are going to start giving me a progesteron (sp?) shot once a week until I am 26 weeks. This hormone helps to relax the uterus, keeping it from contracting. I then go back on the 28th for another check up.

So, needless to say.....I haven't felt too up to blog'n this week! Sorry guys for the no pics as well. I have to find my digital camera's cord to load the pics. I do have some nice ones of the reunion and such to share though. Have a great weekend and I will check back in soon...I promise!

About Me Thursday.....

I had my first OB appt. today. Yeah, I know that I am 15 weeks along and I'm just now getting in, but my Dr. had to cancel the last two because he was delivering babies. Anyways, I need all of my brother's and sister's in Christ to be in prayer over the next 5 months for the baby and I. I had an ultrasound yesterday that said that the baby might be placenta previa, which means that the baby's placenta is blocking the way out for the baby and it would result in a c-section. Woo-hoo...not looking forward to that! I mean how "natural" and following God's plan can it be for someone to just cut the baby out? LOL! Oh well just be in prayer that the ulrasound was misleading. We will have another one in about 6 weeks. Also I have been having some irregularities with my heart beat and the Dr. said that it is not an uncommon complaint for pregnant women and that I need to start monitoring my pulse until the next appointment. He said that it has to do with the electrical pulses of the heart acting up and that the extra stress of a pregnancy can make a women start having these irregularities. He said that if it continues that they would monitor me at home for 24 hours and then send me to a cardiologist for testing and a possible catherization. Please just be in prayer about this as well as heart conditions do run in my family, and the Dr. said that the condition may or may not leave after the baby is born, but is treatable with medicines.

Ok, enough depressing mediacl news! I fellow scrapbooker from 2peas gave me this idea.....thanks Denise! Questions Two by Two:

1. Two places I hate going to.......the dentist and the GYN

2. Two foods I couldn't live without........popsicles and chicken salad

3. Two places I want to visit before I die.......Hawaii and Alaska

4. Two silly habits I have....making the bed through the night and pitching everything

5. Two stores that would wreck my world if they closed......Walmart (what family can live without them?) and Old Navy

6. Two things I worry about: the future and making people happy (yep, both faults of mine!)

7. Two things that scare me: Snakes and trying new things

8. Two of my favorite movies: The North and South and Pride and Predjudice

9. Two dreams I have......opening a bed-n-breakfast and seeing my daughter's wedding days.

10. Two things I wish for my daughters.......for them to find a spouse that love God and treats them as their father does me, and for them to become the women of God that I know He has instore for them

11. Two little known facts about me......I get embarrassed easily (not so hot for a politician's wife) and I LOVE PICKLES!

4 Years Already!

A family member asked me for a copy of my wedding photos for an album she's doing, so I pulled out the old album. Man, it's been four years! Actually it seems like a lot longer than that! I mean, hello we've had 2 children, another on the way, an 18 month deployment, 2 undergrad degrees and a masters, 4 homes, 4 cars, 2 cats, 1 dog with 6 puppies, 2 campaigns, and of course 4 wonderful years of marriage.

It's so funny to look back at how much we have gown/changed, as well as how much our love has matured as well. I mean you think you could never be as much in love as the day of your wedding, but then you you hold your first child minutes after she arrives. Then you think, well this is as deep as it get and baby number two warms your heart just as much as the first does. It's so amazing how much a couple's love can grow and mature with each and ever step the family takes. So I think that I was wrong. Your wedding day is not when you are the most in love with your spouse. It is only after a full long life that your love maxes out. So I admire those sweet old couples we see at Walmart because only they know what it means to be more in love than they ever will be. They have seen babies, children leaving the nest, harships, true joy, fears, and hopefully a life of faith in God together. That's what I look forward to the most......growing old with Nathan and falling even more in love with him with each turn in our lives.

Ebay Queen!!!

LOL! That's what I feel like today...an Ebay Queen! Have been listing my but off the past two days and have a total of 34 items on right now! I have a few scrapbooking items on, like a custom album and a custom layout, but most are clothing items. You can check it out if you want to at my ebay.... http://my.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?MyeBay

Besides Ebaying, Nathan went to his Bible Study tonight and Maddelyn had a friend from church over tonight. They had a blast, but Emma doesn't do well playing 3rd fiddle. I guess we need to work on that one.

Not too much to write about tonight, so I think I'll do some random things that make me smile:

1. Spending time with my hubby!

2. Eating anything with fruit and ice.

3. Sitting back and looking at one of my layout after I just completed it.

4. Knowing that I am raising a little girl who is just as big as a perfectionist as me...Maddelyn!

5. Falling asleep while listening to it raining outside.

6. Seeing the first snow of the season.

7. When the man and women get together at the end of romantic movies.

8. Finding new ribbon to buy or my scrapbooking collection!

9. Seeing our new baby for the first time in the ultrasound.

My very own B&B!

Well yesterday was quite a busy day for us Martins. We spent the entire day moving bedroom furniture and re-organizing. Sounds like fun huh? Well it was for the crazy perfectionist/organazional freaks like me!! See, when we moved from Tn to Oh I got rid of our old matresses. So, when I left my parents house to move here, we had a bed, but no matresses for the new house. My parents said we could just take their guest room bed until we bought our own set. Well with the campaign and now Nathan working on the presidential campaign...we hadn't been shopping yet. So, we finally bought our new matresses...they are sooooo comfy! They were delivered yesterday, but in order to have a place for them we had to set our bed frame up and make a new place for it since the headboard is so tall. The bed itself was given to me as an heirloom. It is a cast iron bed with the big brass knobs on each bed post. The bed was what my great-grandparents set up their household with when they were married. So I now have my beautiful antique bed back with new comfy matresses to match!! The most exciting part is that I finally have my room organized as well. See when Nathan started traveling so much on the campaign trail I said that I wanted his office for my scrap room and he could have the studio area in our bedroom for his desk. It all worked out fine with trading rooms...and I now have a WHOLE ROOM to scrap.....but he ever re-organized the mess of office supplies that came upstairs. He is gone so much that he just never got around to it. Well he finally set up his office yesterday and I love it!!! I took a couple of pictures of our new little B&B room! Isn't so cute! Very "Mandi-ish" huh?

Well we are off on the road again tonight. I am attending a 24 hour crop at the store and Nathan is meeting up with some old college friends for a guy's night out. The girls are headed to their grandparents house to play with the twins, so everyone should have a pretty fun evening.

It was so funny, last night at Dinner Maddelyn was so heart-broken when she discovered she wasn't a twin. She was talking about her daddy being a baby inside her grandma's belly....with baby #3 on the way this is a common subject - who was in whose belly. Anyways she then said "like when me and Emma were twins in Mommy's belly." We of course corrected her saying that they aren't twins and she was so upset and determined that they were! I told her that I only had one baby in my belly at a time and that Aunt Thelma and Aunt Cathy had two babies in their belly and that the girls are both twins because they are the same age. It still did not satisfy her. She wanted to be a twin just like her "friends" - cousins are! Nathan and I thought it was hilarious! Only in a family like ours.....(Maddelyn has 2 sets of twin girl cousins, both a year older than her) can a child be heart-broken when she learns that she isn't a twin! Too funny!

My First CHA!!!

Well we are back form our week in Chicago. We are all a little weary from our travels but the show went well. A2Z did quite well with new orders as well as making an appearance. We had so many new people stopping by and commenting on both the booth itself and our 8 paper lines. You can see some pictures of the booth by visiting Heather's blog at http://heatherpreckel.typepad.com/ My pictures look very similar to these so I figured since hers were already loaded up I'd just direct you there. I did upload pictures of some of the layouts and projects I made up to display in the booth. The altered items are in the new Carefree line from A2Z. The layout of Emma is in the new line Giggle and the layout "cousins" is in the new line Wish. I just love the photo of Lil' Emma Grace on that layout. It captured her true self...silly and full of life! What's so funny is that the color version of the photo shows her with a snotty nose and a big bruise on her forehead, but all of that blended in when I turned it to b&w. Isn't it funny what you can hide in a photo!! LOL!

My first experience at CHA was a blast! There were a total of 6 of us in the A2Z booth including Heather Preckel, Heidi Lacy, their mom Ronda, Judith who is on the design team with me, and Amber who designed two of the paper lines. We had so much fun together while of course selling paper! I was a bit overwhelmed with the whole experience though! LOL! There were 3 different covention floors all filled with craft booths, most of which were scrapbooking. I think I got burnt out on seeing all of the new products! Mandi admitting that she was ever burnt out on anything scrapbooking related??? HaHa! I saw tons of new products that I can't wait to get my fingers on once they arrive in stores! I would have to say that my favorites of the week were (A2Z's new papers of course!!!), the American Craft Rub-ons, Bazzil Flowers, 3 Bugs in a Rug Papers, Lil Davis Flocked Ribbons, EVERYTHING in the Maya Roads Ribbon Booth, Heidi Swaps new Bling circles, Crate Paper's new line...I think I may have not been overwhelmed as I thought! I remembered more scrapbooking products than I thought I would! Good for me...bad for Nathan and my scrap'n budget! LOL!

While in Chicago we did get to do a little sight-seeing as well. We went down town on Monday and did the Michigan Ave. shopping thing. It took a lot of will power to walk out of American Girl empty handed! I think we'll wait until Maddelyn is a little bit older? While in Chicago I did get to meet Sarah Cox...Nathan's boss' wife. We stopped by their condo to meet her and their daughter Julieann....adorable little girl! The amount of hair she had put little Emma Grace to shame! :D Sarah was so sweet welcoming us into her home. She and John have a beautiful view out of thier living room windows. I have always said that the city was not for me, but I understand how one could fall in love with it with a view like that. Sarah said that she is interested in beginning to scrapbook, so maybe I can convince her to become a fellow Pea? Wouldn't be great to have a First Lady on the 2Peas board??? LOL!

Life here is trying to get back on track now that the girls and I are home. Maddelyn and Emma are very excited to see Daddy tomorrow afternoon when he returns from his trip to Iowa. I have spent the day trying ot unpack and relax a bit before another busy weekend. We have the final sessions of our bible study/marriage retreat this Saturday and the store is having a 24 hour crop night on Friday to celebrate Heidi's birthday. So basically by the time Sunday rolls around...I should be a happy camper! LOL! I don't do well without sleep. I'm one of those totally non-morning people who doesn't talk until AFTER my shower!!! Ask Nathan, when I'm tired it's best to just leave me be. I know it's not the most flattering fact, but it's me!

I'll try to get some pics of my ultrasound tomorrow and post those. I keep forgetting. Until the next time.....

Off to CHA!!!

Just a super quick update on the family.....we arrived home safely last night from our week in South Carolina. We all had a blast but the highlights of the trip were swimming for Maddelyn, visiting Boone Hall for me ( where the movie North and South was filmed) and meeting up with my college suite mate Erin Bailey. Sure there was a lot more that went on between all of that but for lack of time that is a sum up of our travels. I posted a few pics of visiting with Erin. It was so nice to see her agian and I can't believe that she is entering into her 3rd year of Medical School!

I leave in the morning for CHA!!! The girls are going ot PA to visit the grandparents and Nathan is off to campaign again. I will be spending a week in Chicago with A2Z Essentials setting up, working the show, and tearing down again. I am so excited as this is my first CHA. I also have 5 altered projects and 2 layouts going up as displays in the booth....so very awesome!!!! I will post pics of them when we get back as well...for lack of time!

We had our first ultrasound today of Martin baby #3! He/She is doing great and posed just perfect for us! I will take some pics of the photos with my NEW DIGITAL CAMERA and post them when I get back. Such a cutie.

Like how I threw in I got a new camera! Yep, hubby spoiled me with my anniv. gift this year! I got a Canon SD450! Woo-hoo!!! So, you'll be seeing many more pics than ever! Remember to thank my hubby for that!

South Carolina

Well we made it to South Carolina safe and sound...well sorta. The safe part for sure, but sound???? We left Mansfield at about 2:00 pm Sunday afternoon. The trip totalled about 11 hours so we arrived in McCormick, South Carlina between 12:30 and 1:00 am. All was going fine. We were quite tired but ready to settle into the lake resort that we had reservations at. One problem...there was NOBODY there? Yes, there were cars around from guests, but there was no one around at the main desk for us to check in at? What were we going to do? We were all exausted and needed to find somewhere to sleep for the few remaining hours that night because Nathan had to be back on the road for his first meeting the next morning at 9:00. So, we decided to go down the road and see what we could find as far as a hotel. McCormick is a VERY tiny town...Willlard has more to it if you can believe that!!! So we find the only hotel in town and decide that since we are in the middle of no where and it's 1am we will just get a room there for a few hours and in the morning go back to the resort. Nathan goes to check in and I think...hmmm...that's wierd he paid for the room at a sliding glass window to the office, maybe it's just a southern thing? Then, I know we are in trouble when he comes walking back with the room key and the TV remote!!! Yep, they keep them in the office! Well we soon found out it was because the remote was pretty much the only thing in the room that was possible for you so steal. There was one queen bed, a sort of night stand, a TV bolted to a TV stand on the wall, One towel and wash cloth, a sink, and a tiny bathroom. That was it, no kidding, it was AWEFUL! As I told my mom, the best way to sum it up on the kinda place we stayed at is that in the bathroom there was a window in the wall...mind you the walls were all concrete blocks painted white. The window's curtain consisted of a pillow case that had a rope strung through the top and was nailed to the wall. I am not joking you!!! I am almost ashamed to tell everyone of our no-tell-motel! The worst part of it was that after we left that morning at 7am...the earliest we could get into the resort....Nathan told me that they charged us by the hour to stay the previous night! UHHHH! That made it even worse! We stayed at a by the hour motel! Nathan said we laugh someday about it???

So, then the saga continues at the resort. The front desk lady said that we were not to come in until Monday...great...so they didn't even have our townhouse ready for us yet. She said we could stay in one of the resort hotel rooms until our town house was ready. The maids got there at 8:30 and would start with our house. So...we all marched upstairs to the temporary room and slept a couple of hours since needless to say we didn't sleep to much at the no-tell-motel. So finally we got into our actual townhouse at 10:30 Monday morning. Uhhhh! What an experience. As soon as our bags were in the door Nathan took off for his first meeting. the girls and I started unpacking and then spent the day around the resort checking out things and swimming that afternoon.

Yesterday Nathan had meetings in the afternoon and was back at the resort that evening so we once again took the girls swimming. Maddelyn was as usually apprehensive about swimming and Emma was fearless. She almost worries me because she just jumps in whether you're there or not. We would be climbing down the steps to get into the pool and Emma would just keep on walking down even though she couldn't touch! She isn't afraid of anything compared to Maddelyn who the whole time she is in the water has a death grip on you. After we got out of our suits, we went to the resorts resteraunt and ate outside. It was so nice to sit and look out on the lake during dinner. We finished the day with a drive around the lake community and milkshakes at Hatdee's. Maddelyn said that she had a fun day and that the best part was swimming...even though she wouldn't let you let go of her!

I posted a few pictures of the resort from their website. I hope they turn out. If not you can check out thier site at http://www.savannahlakesresort.us/fishing.html Of course I forgot my digital camera so these will have to do for now. When we got home I will try ot scan in the layouts I have been woking on for CHA. We have some very cute papers out this show from 4 GREAT designers! It's amazing what talent these ladies have! I know that Heather Preckel...the design team coordinator has been posting some sneak peaks on her blog if you want to check them out. http://heatherpreckel.typepad.com/blog/

Happy Late 4th!!!

Hey all, sorry for the late 4th post. We spent the weekend with my Mom's sister...Aunt Donna and Uncle Clyde...for the weekend. We had a great time with my parents and nefew Austin as well. Emma ate up time being spoiled by her grandpa of course and Maddelyn had so much fun playing with Donna's dollhouse and Wizzard of Oz Dolls. Donna told Maddelyn this weekend that when we buy a house the dollhouse would be hers. I don't think she quite understood, but I know that she will love it. My aunt and I spent several summers decorating it with wallpaper, carpet, hardwood floors and furniture and it has always been a favorite of mine. Even now I still sneak upstairs to rearrange the dolls. I wouldn't quite say that I still play with the 3 story white pillar mansion, but I do love to look at all the pieces each time we visit. I just hope that my two girls have as many great memories with it through the years as I did.

I finally got back the pics from my cousin's Kaytie's graduation. I kinda stole these off her blog...thanks Kate....because I have not taken the time to scan mine in the computer yet. The pics are of her and her parents, her with my grandparents, and with Maddelyn and my twin cousins Morgan and Cathern. Doesn't she just look so cute in her cap and gown! Congrats again Katers and have fun at Lee U!! p.s. If you bring home a guy with a ring...make sure he isn't a southerner! LOL! Just Kidding!

Nathan arrived hom form NH last night and we are spending the next few days trying to play catch up around here and pack for SC. We will leave Sunday after church and come back the next Sunday. As I had mentioned before the campaign is getting Nathan a condo/townhouse there instead of several different hotel rooms across the state. This way the girls and I can go with him. It is getting to the point that if we don't go with Daddy, we don't see Daddy. The townhouse sounds really nice though. It is in a resort community, so we will have the normal swimming pool, lake, and such there to entertain us while Nathan travels around the state campaigning for Mr. John Cox.

Once we get back on the 16th, I have my first OB appt. on the 17 (I'm 10 weeks now!!!) and then on the 18th the kids go to PA and I go to Chicago for CHA! While we are gone, Nathan will be in Iowa and NH. So basically we are pretty packed for the month of July!!!

Well I will check in agian soon. Sorry for the delay between posts, I guess that is what summer does to me blogg'n. Off to a BBQ with some church friends!!!

June ..... Here and Gone Already!

I can hardly believe that the month of June is already almost gone! Wow! How did that happen? I guess that is what happens when life comes at you full force? This month was a busy one: Graduations, Vacation, Our 4 year anniversary, Nathan traveling, Strep Throat, An ER visit with Emma, Scrapbook Deadlines, A trip to Penn., and so much more!! I am sure that next month will end up going just as fast! It's not even here yet and there is alot already on the calendar! I will be traveling to Chicago for a week to help A2Z Essentials at CHA, while the girls will be in PA visitng thier grandparents. Nathan has several trips slotted for the campaign he's working on, and there is a chance that all 4 of us will be spending several weeks down in South Carolina while Nathan campaigns down there. Details on that are yet to come though. This week has been pretty busy getting ready for our annual garage sale at my parent's house. We always do really well with all the baby/girl items that we have. We actually have regulars that watch for our sale! Mom had a lady doing other buisness at he Police Station the other day ask...when is your daughter going to have her garage sale? How funny!

Let's see some random thoughts to end this busy week....

1. I have a hard time putting a book down once I start it, even if it means staying up into the wee morning hours to finish it!

2. I love bananas in my vanilla icecream.

3. My second toe is longer than my big toe.

4. I got my hair cut this week as well as re-highlighted. It's cut the same just shorter, but they taught me a new way to style it. I'm not sure what I think yet, but I do know that I don't like the blond "skunk" streaks in my highlights!

5. My dream car is a purple mustang, hardtop. I don't see that happening anytime soon when you can't fit three carseats in the back? That's what my Montana mini van is great for! The " Mommy-mobile!"

I'm sitting her typing this out thinking...hmmm....I REALLY should be finishing that book I have only 5 chapters to read yet? It's after 10:00 pm....oh well! Never too late to start reading! It's the ending my reading time for the night that's so bad! LOL! Besides, if I don't finish reading this fourth book in the Amish Abram's Daughter's series, then I will never start reading my book Captivating. That's the one that we are doing for our Bible Study on Monday nights. Yep, I'm behind because I have been reading this other book! Huh! I guess that just comes to show how much reading time a mother of toddlers gets!

Our Trip to the Smokies...

Well today has been a busy day...as it always seems to be after a relaxing vacation! Today was filled with nursing lil Emma Grace back to health, unpacking, and cleaning. It is amazing how dirty your house can get when NO ONE is here for a week??? That's one of those great mysteries of life???? Tonight we went to Bible study again and as always it was wonderful! It is so nice to have fellowship with other Christian women! It's also funny to realize that you are not as messed up as you think and that other women are just like you! LOL! It's a girl thing!

I promised you a recap of our vacation so here is the gist of it....

Friday - Arrive at Aunt Donna's house for the night in KY. We all bunkered down for a quick snooze and were out bright and early the next morning for TN.

Saturday - We arrived in Pigeon Forge, TN at about 4:00 that afternoon and spent the afternoon/evening exploring our new cabin...pics below! The cabin was absolutely great! Nathan and I got the dibs on the big master suite this time! LOL! Mom and Dad had it last time so we got a turn. It was so beautiful and it had a TV built in the wall as well as a heart shaped jacuzzi tub. The cabin had 3 other bedrooms as well as a game room with a pool table. It also had 2 decks, a hot tub, and a goregous view!!!! We were literally on the side of mountian....kinda scary drive up the mountian to get their but great view! That evening we went out to eat at a pizza buffet with my cousin and her husband/kids who came to see us for the day. We also went to Walmart to pick up groceries for the week.

Sunday - That day was spent in Gatlinburg. We did the aquarium and did some shopping. It was so hot that afternoon that we left early and headed back to the cabin for naps. After naps, Nathan and I went with my brother and nefew to play put-put golf. We had a lot of fun, which is a big deal becauseI am the type that gets made when I can't hit the ball right. I also get mad when people try to give me tips...so...Nathan and I don't play put-put that much! It isn't worth the argument. But, I will have to say that we all had a blast this time!

Monday - Nathan had to work all day that day so we went shopping at the outlet malls while my Aunt Donna kept the kids at the cabin doing crafts. It was nice to have some adult time. We made up for it with the kids though by going to Boyd's Bears and making bears with them that night. Maddelyn made a dog and Emma made an elephant...with daddy's promting!

Tuesday - We spent the day in Cades Cove having a picnic lunch and enjoying the wildlife. It is such a beautiful drive up in the National Park, but Cades Cove is the best! We were able to see 12 deer that afternoon and thanks to Brandon and Nathan...3 bears as well. Yes, my sometimes too daring hubby and brother go running off into the field with cameras in tow to take some pictures of the bears! All I kept thinking was he is going to be eaten alive and we are all standing here watching!!! Needless to say they heard a few words from the ranger afterwards about disturbing the wildlife and staying on the path. Nathan's exuse is that he was doing it for me to get great shots for my scrapbooks! I was like hun...I like to get great pics too, but I have never risked my life trying to get them! I am not THAT addicted to scrapbooking! That nightall of us went to play put-put as a family. Even the girls had thier little clubs taking swings at the balls. too cute! Everyone had a blast and the put-put course was themed after Old MacDonald so the girls had a blast just walking through the course! Afterwards we took my brother and nefew to a golf car track for a few races and had a blast.

Wednesday - We all went to Dollywood for the day. Nathan had to take some time outs with his lap top to work as he had been doing all week. Yes, he did tow his lap top around with him everywhere we went that week but he had to. Dollywood was great. There was something there for everyone, even little Emma Grace! There was one section of kiddy rides where you only had to be able to walk to ride on them...such as ...the Lucky Ducky, Pigs, and Flying Bumble Bees. It was so cute to see the girls riding them! After eating a huge buffet that night we were all wore out!

Thursday - We all kinda took a day to chill that afternoon. I had to drive Nathan an hour to the Knoxville airport to catch his plan to Iowa. On the way back I stopped at the Scrapbook Superstore. I liked the selection because I found quite a few new products as well as a larger selection of companies I already have seen, but the organization was crazy! Some places were organized by product, other by theme, and still other by company! You couldn't find anything! I did get me some new chipboard and some new Prima's that I hadn't ever seen.

Friday - We ate at the most wonderful catfish house...too bad prego's me can't handle anything fried right now beacuse the fish was amazing! We then did some shopping around Pigeon Forge while the guys went to look at all the cars that had come into town for a car show.

Saturday - We headed home and got in at about 7:00 pm, exausted form a long drive and a great trip!

I know that's not everything but you get the gist. We all had such a great time! The girls loved spending time with thier cousins and Aunt Donna which they don't get to see that often. We all had a great itme and are already looking forward to our next family vacation. Sometimes it's just nice to get away from it all.

Back from TN

Were home! What a great trip! I had planned on writting a big piece on our trip the past two nights...but it still has not happened yet! Last night after we got home at about 7:00pm, I unloaded the van and got the girls bathed. Nathan was still in Iowa for his second trip...so I did this all on my own and needless to say after 9 hours in the car...unloading.....and getting the girls down....I was done for the night!!!!

Today I picked up Nathan at the airport and then we had a nice lunch at Red Robbins for Father's Day. At his request we as a family watched "Cars" and then I ran into Archiver's while we were there. Anyways I had planned on updating my blog about vacation tonight but Emma Grace had other plans!!! We just spent the last 3 hours in the ER with her! See when we all had Strep Throat last week we did great on the antibiotics. The day before Emma ended hers she came down with a fever and a rash. This has been going on for about 4 days and this evening she was just misserable so we called the nurse line at our doctor's office. The doctor called us back and told us she had to be seen tonight and go to the ER. So after 3 hours they came up with pretty much nothing. They did several tests and found nothing. The DR said everything checks out on her besides the fever! When we got to the hospital it was at 103.3! He said maybe it is a virus but to give her meds around the clock and see our DR tomorrow. So that was pretty much our night. It is day 2 and I still have a pile of luggage at the foot of my stairs...LOL! Maybe it will get unpacked tomorrow???

Lazy Days of Summer

We are on our 2nd half of the Martin family vacation. Currently I am writting in our van as we travel down I-75 to Pigeon Forge, TN. We have Brandon, Austin, and Emma Grace with us, and poor Mom, Dad, and Aunt Donna have all the girls with them! It's been going fine so far with only 2 potty stops! Not too bad with two 4 year olds...a 3 year old...a 20 month old...and a pregnant person! Last night we arrived at Aunt Donna's at about 10:30pm. We stayed there for the night and left her house at about noon for our trip south.

Our trip to PA was nice. Nathan's lil sister's graduation was very nice! She was so proud to walk across that stage...after the short rain delay. Nathan's Grandma from TX as well as his grandparents from OH were all visiting for the weekend as well. The girls of course ate up thier time with Grandpa David and Grandma Carla!!! It was nice to see the family as well as celebrate Elizabeth's graduation.

I'll leave you with a few random thoughts about traveling 10 hours with toddlers....
1. NEVER drink more than a few sips of water unless you like stopping often for potty breaks!
2. Don't bring anything unless it can be divided equally among all three girls AND they all have to have the exact same color and everything!
3. Car DVD players were honestly inspired by GOD!
4. Walkie-Talkies are a great way to keep both cars entertained but make sure no one else in on your same channel!
5. When driving, make sure that you always stay ahead of my dad driving unless you plan on making your 10 hour trip a 12 hour one!
6. Toddler girls WILL have a fight to the death over lip gloss if there is only one of them!
7. It is possible to have 11 people on the trip and everyone to have a "bird" call name for the radios.....
Mama Bird - Mom
Papa Bird - Dad
Auntie Bird - Donna
Flying Eagle - Austin
Z-Bird - Zoey
Tea Party Bird - Regan
Diva Bird - Maddelyn
Papa's Eagle - Emma Grace
Double Eagle - Me
Eagle 6 - Nathan
.......................remember....we had 10 hours of driving to entertain ourselves!

I'll check back during our week down here to let you know how the trip is going!

Details of Me...

Well you can probably tell that we have been quite busy by the fact that I haven't updated in a while. We had a normally busy week last week with doing things around the house and Nathan working on campaign stuff from home. Saturday I spent the day helping the family get ready for my cousin's graduation party. That afternoon we had a great time at her party. They had a wonderful idea of doing it a bit different...which was fabulous!!! For food they had a make-it-yourself taco bar! YUM!!!! Then, instead of a cake, they had delicious sugar cookies! They are my grandma's recipe and of course terrific! Wow! You can so tell we are pregnant!!! Anything mentioning food sounds great to me! I was on 2Peas website a little bit ago and they had a crock pot recipe thread. I was reading along thinking...man...I want to try everyone of these! They all sound so good! The funniest part is that I am thinking all of this with a VERY sore throat!!! Yep, all 4 of us now have Strep Throat. NOT fun! The girls came down with it yesterday morning and poor little Emma had the Strep rash all over her chest. We got everyone on antibiotics and we hopefully should be back to normal soon. The girls are acting much better today and thier fevers are gone but Maddelyn still says her throat hurts some. Of all the times to get sick!!! We are actually on the road to PA right now. No, literally I am typing away as Nathan drives up I-71 to Erie, PA for a couple of days. His younger sis is graduating this week. We will then be leaving there on Friday to head out for our family vacation in TN. We have a cabin rented for a week in the Smoky Mountians. Everyone is so excited to have a little time off. Well, Nathan will still have to work some from the cabin but at least he will be there with us!! The kids all seem excited as well. Maddelyn tells everyone we meet that she is going to the cabin. So cute! So the past couple of days have been quite busy with 4 sick-ees....packing for a week and a half....and preparing to do all the silly stuff that has to get done before you can leave your house for that long. It's been interesting to say the least!!!

So enough about the silliness of our lives.....here is a challenge that Heather Preckel had on her blog this week.http://heatherpreckel.typepad.com/blog/

I AM: a wife, a mommy of 2 1/2 childern, a child of the King, a daughter, a sister, a scrapbooker, a friend, a blogger, lover of history, and politician's wife in the making???

I WANT: a new digital camera (Cannon Rebel would be nice! :D ), a new mattress set...my parents will understand, a clean house, my scrapbooking room organized, to be caught up on my custom orders, to read more, to spend more quiet time with the King, quiet time in general would be nice too!

I HAVE: been bless by God! He has given me such a wonderful husband and two great daughters with another baby on the way. I also have an amazing support group of extended family as well as a great dog...even thogh she runs off sometimes! Who could ask for anything more than this!

I WISH: that I could protect my daughters form the hardships in life that are yet to come. I know that these are all great learning experiences that will make them better women, but it is so hard to watch themg o through the tough times.

I HATE: when people grind there teeth! Ohh that just hurts my jaw!!!, onions, clutter of any sort, and not knowing what's going on...part of my control freak issues!

I MISS: some of the friends we left behind at Lee. I also miss my dear friend in Va especially now that she is pregnant!

I HEAR: Maddelyn humming to herself as we sit at a truckstop filling up gas. Yes...it's 12:06 am and BOTH girls are still awake!

I WONDER: why do pregnant women have to scratch all the time? It's like an uncontrolable habit to scratch...anywhere...just to scratch! UHHH! 8 more months of itching! LOL!

I REGRET: the stupid things done in life, taking the little things in life for granted such as family and day to day events with the girls, and not coming out of my shell more often to experience life to it's fullest.

I AM NOT: afraid to follow God's will for our lives, a bold person, mean, satisfied easily (or so hubby says after he spens 30 min in the gas station trying to get the lady to refill the nacho cheese so the pregnant wife can have chips and cheese at 12 am...lol!)

I DANCE: with my children when Kaytie's blog comes on or infront of the TV with the Doodlebops.

I CRY: when I get stressed out, at the end of romantic movies, at the end of a good book, and more often when I am PG,

I AM NOT ALWAYS: perfect even though I try way to hard to be, in control of things which is also hard for me to handle, and the best with going up to new people and introducing myself.

I MAKE WITH MY HANDS: anything scrapbook related, except I can't sew on layouts.

I WRITE: on my blog; in my emails; and on 2peas message boards

I CONFUSE: hmmm? prbably a lot of people?

I NEED: security..in many different forms, but I just need to know that it IS all going to be ok

I SHOULD: spend less time scrapbboking and more time being silly with my girls, read more, and deepen my level of quiet time with God.

I START: too many things at one time!

I FINISH: off every box of popsicles or carton of Breyer's strawberry icecream that enters our house!

A New Bible Study...

Well, we are back from the great outdoors, if you can call it that! I mean how naturalistic is air conditioning...the in-camper potty...and watching movies in the camper when it rains? NOT that I'm complaining though! That is plenty outdoorsy for Mandi! We all had a wonderful time! The kids loved every minute of it! Maddelyn, Zoey, and Regan played great together. Sure we had a few....I had it first moments, but when you have a 3 yr old and twin 4 yr olds for an entire weekend that's not bad. Maddelyn did end up learning to ride her bike! She was so proud! She still needs to work on it though. She got the pedaling thing down but can't do that and watch were she is going at the same time. She is kinda like me when I am typing....gotta look at what I'm doing, not where I'm going! :D

Nathan got in at about midnight last night from his Iowa trip. He was of course tried from the long drive but you could see the excitement in his eyes from being back on the campaign trail! He is home for about 3 weeks and then he will be headed back to Iowa again. Nathan was able to spend the morning with us at the camper and even watch Maddelyn show off her new bike riding skills. she's so proud! Emma also learned a new thing this weekend. Her latest phrase is..."O-K!" She is so cute saying over and over again!

Tonight was the first session of a new bible studdy that Nathan and I are involved in. They have us split into two groups. The men are doing a book called "Wild at Heart" and us ladies are doing the book "Captivating." I will be sure to update you on the study as well as how the book in general is. I have heard it is a must read for every Christian woman. The books will be in this week as well as a journal to go along with them. Nathan seems to be excited about his book/study as well. It is not only nice to spend some time getting into God's Word a little deeper, but also nice to get to know some of the other men/women in our new church.

This week should be anouther busy one as always! Nathan and I each have our plates full of things we need to get accomplished, he with the campaign and I with custom scrapbook orders. On top of all of that I would like to get the landscaping done this week by mulching and planting the new Hostics I bought. We will have to wait and see what the weather holds though. This newly PG mommy to be is NOT going out in 90 degree weather to mulch! LOL! We also have my dear cousin Kaytie's graduation this weekend. I can't believe she is done with school. Man that makes me feel old! I remember the day she was born...granted I was only 6, but I still remember it!

My Little Escape Artist!

We are back form visiting my parents and I have learned Emma has a few tricks up her sleeves! I put both girls down for thier afternoon naps today(...they share a room..) and after a few minutes I heard them giggling! I went in and found them both in Maddelyn's bed? Hmm? I had placed Emma in her own crib? Maddelyn said she used a large box of books placed beside the crib as a stepping stool to get out. Uhh! Emma! So, I moved the box, no problem. I placed them both back in thier own beds and left the room again. Not 2 minutes later Maddelyn is yelling "Mom..she did it again!" No way! So I open the door and there is Emma running around the room. So this time I put her in the crib and then hide behind the crib's foot board to watch and see what she is doing. That little booger walked over to where the foot board meets the crib rail......she grabs ahold of the foot board....hikes one leg over the rail...pulls herself up to straddling the rail.....huals both legs over the rail...and then just kinda free-fall-jumps to the floor! WOW! And this is my tiny Emma Grace and a full sized crib! Who would have known! So, needless to say neither girl got a nap today! How am I going to keep her in bed to take naps? Actually when I put them down tonight I brought the play pen upstairs to put her in. It has a netting side and nothing for her to grab ahold of to fling herself over the edge with. Unbelievable!!!

We got an email form Nathan's Aunt Tabith today and found out they are expecting baby # 5 January 27th! How funny is that! She was pregnant with Lydia when I was pregnant with Emma Grace! Feels like we are trying to keep up with the Jones' on how fast we can have those baby girls! I think that thier #5 is beating our #3 though! It's nice though because Tabitha is such a great resource/bank of knowledge for me on anything to do with babies/nursing/deliveries and all that falls between! Congrats Tabitha!

We are leaving in the morning to go camping with my parents, brother, and his kids. It should be a lot of fun. The weather is supposed to be beautiful so I am hoping to have a chance to teach Maddelyn to ride her bike. She officially knows how to pedal now, it's just confusing because on her bike if she does it the wrong way it puts the brakes on. We'll work on it though. I think we might take her rollerskates too. She is so looking forward to playing with her twin cousins Zoey and Regan.

Nathan should be home on Monday. He is still out in Iowa on the campaign trail.

So everyone, have a great holiday weekend and remember to THANK A VETERAN!!!!

BIG NEWS!!!

Well everyone in blogg'n land...we have big news in our family! We are now expecting baby # 3!!! He or she should make their arrival about January 30th of next year. Nathan and I are tickled pink (or blue!) about the news! It was funny to have to call him out in Iowa to tell him the big news though.

Oh, he is in Iowa because he has a new job. He has been hired on to be the National Coordinater for John Cox's Presidential Campaign. We are so very excited about him being given this opportunity! GOD IS SO GOOD! So, Nathan is busy this summer traveling around to different states working on the campaign. With him traveling so much it leaves quite a bit of time for me to scrapbook...which is always good! :D I have quite a bit of custom orders to fill for ebay, so that's good!

Wow, what a wonderful time in our lives right now! God has been so faithful to us not only blessing us with a wonderful job this week, but now a baby as well! Yes, we had a rough time after hearing the campaign results, but it was all for HIS glory and we were ok with that. We were just waiting for God to open that next door in our lives, which it looks like he has with this new job and another baby on the way. PRAISE GOD!

The Price One Pays for a Scapbooking Mommy!

T.V. ZOMBIES!!!! Yes, I guess this is the price one pays for having a mom who scrapbooks. You know all those perfect little families that have layouts showing the mothers PERFECTLY clean scrapbooking room with her children playing carelessly in the back yard???? Not true! LOL! This is what we call reality scrapbooking. This is what we call mom-is-scrabooking-dad-is-doing-computer-work!!! This is why I generally try to scrapbook during nap time and clean or such while the girls are up. This way only periodically the girls have "Tube-time!" How funny they look though sitting there all glued to the tv! And Emma! Such a young age and she still gets drawn in by the TV! In all honestly this really is not an all the time thing! Please don't turn me into Children's Services for scrapbooking while my kids are raising themselves! Funny thing is...you know I'll scrapbook these pictrues of my kids entertaining themselves while I was scrapbooking! LOL!

Random Facts About Me!

Well after a long day of household chores..how about something kinda off the wall?

Random Facts About Me:

1. I am fanatical about my covers in bed. No I mean I will actually wake up and fix them at 2am and then go back to sleep (well usually it is my dear sweet hubby getting up to fix them! :P). They have to be all nice, straight, and tucked in. I know Obsessive Compulsive!

2. I don't like chocolate..it can cover something else like a with a Butterfinger, but that's pushing it.

3. I'm the baby of the family.

4. I get really sick around people who smoke...allergies

5. I LOVE mayo but hate onions on my burgers.

6. My favorite color is pink...anyone who knows me is saying duh by now!

7. My all time favorite cartoon was the ole school Strawberry Shortcake. (My girl's nursery was in it.)

8. I am deathly afraid of snakes.

9. My 2 dream jobs are: Walmart cashier (don't ask) and owning my own scrapbooking retreat bed-n-breakfast.

10. I have no idea why snakes were not too late to miss the ARK??? Shoot!

11. I was born in the 80's...my name is Mandi...and my mom own's the Barry Manelow Greatest Hit's CD Set----> Coincidence????? I think not!

12. I'm a boon-docks girl who has gone SNIPE HUNTING!

13. I come from a long line of terrific cooks and can't cook worth a hoot! It was so bad that my hubby had heard about my family's wonderful cooking even before he met me! I guess he picked the wong family member to marry! LOL!

14. I LOVE CSI!

15. My hubby wants to be President! I think I could pull of the whole Laura thing.......NOT!

16. Laura Bush is my hero...well yes and no. I think she's great and a wonderful person to inspire to be, but she has a few political views that don't align with mine. So setting aside the politics...(like you can do that with a First Lady???) .....she is my hero!

17. My scrap'n style is very girly, lots of pinks, bright colors, tons of ribbons and rub-ons, and very geometrical.

18.I have no idea how I came up with what my scrap'n style is...but it sounded good!

19. When I was little and we would all play legos.....I would sit and sort them all out by color and then shapes while everyone else was building stuff. I still love to sort things. I guess it is the OCD again. Maybe that's why I like to make lists...clean..and organize? Hmm?

20. Speaking of cleaning...am I the only one who about once every few months has a midnight cleaning blitz? My hubby laughs at me. It will be about 10-11 oclock at night and I will be ending my day when I realize what a disaster my house is. So so I start picking up. Well one thing about me is that I have to finish whatever I start, so I keep cleaning and then sorting, and then I end up cleaning a closet or re-organizing a cuboard. Hubby is sitting there at 1am laughing his head off! But If I don't finish what I started I will lay in bed and think about it until the next morning. He says it is one of the funny bonuses of marrying me...midnight cleansweeps!

21. I still have not found one person who can tell me why my hubby and I can't share a mansion in Paradise??? I don't want my own! And what is Heaven if we can't stay married? So many questions so little time here on Earth. I'm gonna have me a big ole talk when I get to Heaven...lots of questions. Do you think God will ever get the point where he will say...Mandi put your hand over your mouth???

22. When I was little I talked ALOT so my parents would get tired of me talking litterally just to hear myself making noise. So we would be driving along, and I'd be just blabbering away..... and they would say....Mandi put your hand over your mouth. So, there I'd be just a little thing in the back seat riding along with my whole hand covering my mouth. Oh the memories. Now my whole family just thinks it's a gut buster...funny thing is I am tempted to try it on Maddelyn somedays!!!

HAPPY MOMMY DAY!!!!!
........As Maddelyn has been saying all day. Today started out wonderfully with my dear, sweet hubby and two princesses waking me up with flowers, cards, and breakfast in bed! How precious! See...I told you I married a prince! We then did nursery at church this morning and had a nice lunch at Fridays. After visiting my Grandma...her first Mother's Day without Grandpa...we then headed over to my parents for a cookout. My very first watermelon of the season! Mmmmm! We also stopped and picked up Liberty from my aunt's house. She had been keeping her and the pups while we were in the midst of the campaign. All 6 puppies easily found homes last week. It was sad to see them go, but 7 labs in one house is way too much!!! So Liberty is back in the house again and we now have our happy family back together. The girls missed her so much...well we did just as much, I think?

Here are some pics of my Maddie Jo helping me "garden" the other day. I was working on the landscaping getting it ready for Spring and she was pulling up weeds with her new gloves. She was helping out by picking the "yellow flowers" for Mommy. Well, she was supposed to get only the dandilions and when I turned around she had a big red tulip by the stem with two hands!! AHH! LOL! She is SUCH a helper! :D

There are also a few pictures of Emma after her hard day of work in the yard. She couldn't even make it through lunch without a little snooze!

Our whirlwind lives....

Well, as many of you know by now, these past two weeks have been a whirlwind for us. On top of the last minute campaign rush, we also had the passing of my Grandpa Hartz. It was something very sad but we had known it was coming for some time. We do have peace though to know that he is no longer suffering and is in a MUCH better place now. It was a beautiful service that was held for him. Nathan was honored to be able to participate in the military funeral for him by being an honor guard and firing the rounds. I have pictures that I will post later on, of the military salute as well as my grandma receiving the flag in his honor.

Well I'm not going to go into too deep of a speal, but Nathan did lose the election. As I told him, it was a race well run and I am so proud of him for how he conducted himself. He was able to walk away form the race with not having lost his integrety and not having said something about another candidate he would have been afraid to tell his children in the years to come. Yes, I did marry a wonderful man who not only was man enough to step up to bat and run...but he ran the race God would have wanted him to. I'm so proud of my hubby! :D So now our days are filled with trying to find jobs and still seeking that "normal" life....haha! We are just waiting for God to open that door to lead us into the next stage of our lives.

Today we went out to Kingwood Center and took photos of the girls with the flowers. The photos tured out pretty nice as seeing how Maddelyn was crying and whining between each of the pictures, saying she was done and wanted her treat NOW! Yes, she thought, ok...one pic and I deserve the icecream Mommy promised. It doesn't work like that! I would have to say though that I am pretty proud of the photos we did get. This was my first time doing a photo shoot with my girls outside of pics at the house or such. They actually do look much better in person and not scanned into the computer. I have to say without bragging on myself..not too shabby! :D I'll post more later in the week.