Salon Mara to the Rescue!

One evening when I wasn't paying as much attention as I should have, Willa walked past me in the hall and I thought, "Who pulled her hair back into a pony tail?" A second look and I realized it wasn't a messy updo, her hair was GONE! Enoch, it turned out, gave Willa a quick trim. Fortunately, I know Mara. I called her at 8:30pm and by 9 she was fixing it.

The Damage...

 

 

 

The Fix

 

 

 

Thank you Mara!!!

Martin Moment

Ahh, parental freedom!
Emma was watching her siblings when we came home early from our date and found Willa thus...
...on a counter, three forbidden lollipops, and missing her skirt.

Ladies' Weekend 2012!

Last winter was the snowiest, longest, coldest winter of my life! And because I was pregnant through it all, I didn't have the energy or desire to do anything but watch the snow come down and bury me in my house. I never wanted to live through another winter like that again!
So, with that in mind, I found an awesome Ladies Winter Getaway sponsered by the Three Rivers Park District. There would be snowshoeing, kick sledding, crafts, cross country skiing, and meals were provided! I called up my sister and convinced her to join me. We were going to live it up! Winter came, but the snow did not. I'm not trying to complain about a warm winter, but COME ON! Whenever I prepare for something it doesn't happen. (I'm assembling my World War III Emergancy Rations Kit together right now. Just doing my bit for peace on earth.)
Suffice it to say, the Winter Retreat turned into a Yoga Retreat and Kirsti and I are just not that bendy. We took our monies and went elsewhere...

The Grand Hotel in Downtown!



Cheryl and Kirsti snuggle in the queen beds.





Obligitory self taken group photo!

Shopping at the Mall of America. 

Kirsti dancing in her new Bloomingdale's dress.  Okay, she didn't really buy it.

Dinner date and games with our guys!

 



What a catch we gals made!



Not pictured:  Sitting at the bar in the hotel eating desserts.  Brunch at The Baker's Wife.  Ininitories at the temple.  Or the bag of Peanut Butter M&Ms eaten in one night.

Willa with Hair and Laundry

Willa before she agreed to see what Enoch was doing with those scissors. I was growing out her bangs. Sigh.

 

Also there's some laundry there. But when isn't there some laundry?

Willa at 3

Willa turned 3 years old this month. Wow and wow, she was such a little peanut when she came to this world. And, really, she still is, but now she can talk. Man! can she talk. This 2 minute video proves it.

 

Lollipops are her favorite.

 

She loves her toys and her "be-be."

Sigh!  Still not able to get the videos to load.  Check out Picasa, family, please.

Hanging out in the Hall

We do a lot of just sitting in the hall. Our nightly routine after all the jammie dressing and teeth brushing is to put kids in their beds, sit in the hall and read scriptures, say prayers, and sing songs. These pictures are a representation of a couple of those nights.

I must have worked at my seasonal bank job this day.  Why else would I be wearing jewelery?

 

 

I remember this night.  I was thrilled that Oscar was smiling.

 

The Picture's Bad but the Date was Good

This is the only picture I got of our Valentine's date. We had dinner and a candlelit walk around Baker Near Wilderness and snow shoed around the lake.  It was a fun night.

 

And, although we're not big into giving gifts, this year it just turned out that we did.  My gift to David was the date. And David surprised me with the gift of a song. He learned that Proclaimers hit "Gonna Be" on his uke. It made me smile so hard my cheeks hurt. How can you NOT love a transplanted California boy singing an Irish song on a Polynesian instrument in Minnesota? Well I do and there's no escaping it.

Crazy Hair Day

Hair gel and food coloring.

 

It was a good day.

 

Can't Get Enough of my Baby

Poor boy. He's the last Martin and all the pictures, all the experiences, and all the feelings I didn't take, have, or record for the others I am doing for Oscar.  It means that I have lots of random photos and many long videos too that I don't know how to organize or display.  Hence, an adorable dump of Oscar...

Sweetly lying sick on daddy's tummy

 

One last picture on the bouncer we bought way back for Emma when everyone said that babies needed to see things in black, red, and white and putting them to sleep on their tummies wasn't child endangerment.

 

Cozy with his bottle on a cold winter morning.

 

Splashing in the bath tub. I've tried to never bore anyone with long videos of my children doing unremarkable things before. But now that I'm looking at my last grow up, I panic, and realize, it's ALL remarkable!  [Update:  I can't get the video to work on blogger, it is saved in Picasa.]

 

Bath Time

Alternate Title: Future Black Mail Photos

  Emma gave Oscar a bubble bath one Saturday night.

He prefers to lean.

This is his relaxed face.

All clean, all cute.

Sledding Powderhorn

There wasn't much snow this year, but when we got some, we headed out to our favorite hill before it could disappear.

The hill.

 

Calvin.

 

Emma, Enoch, and Willa near the top.

 

Emma, Enoch, and Willa at the bottom.

 

Calvin's descent.

 

Emma and Willa.  Willa LOVED sledding but HATED the gloves.  By the end she was a happy, cranky mess.

 

[Note:  These are supposed to be videos, but I am not that tech savy.  Future family:  These are saved to my picasa account.  Please come home and watch them, they are wonderful.]

Calvin sledding without the sled.

 

Taran was not much for sledding.  But he found a fort and defended it stoutly.

 

Enoch hits the snow ramp dead on after trying and trying.  Calvin shows off.  Willa pitches a fit.

 

Groundhog's Day

We don't get to it every year, but when things come together, the Martins try and observe that most auspicious of days, Groundhogs day. We read the book Groundhog Gets a Say, watch the movie Groundhog's Day and eat a theme dinner...

Groundhogs in a blanket!

Dirt pudding for dessert.

Here's to an early spring!