A Day of Health

Due to my strong family history with breast cancer, I am already having to have mammograms and ultrasounds done. And I gotta tell ya, I am sooooo thankful my doc is starting this now. It really helps to put me at ease.

Today's experience was actually quite nice.
I had a great parking space,
was given a pretty bracelet,
and I was able to snuggle up in a warmed blanket while I waited for the radiologist. It was very relaxing and oh, so quiet. (Did I mention I was there without kids?)

What more could a girl want?

Well, actually I can think of a few silly ways to answer that question. But seriously though, a girl can want a healthy report, and I got one! Woo-hoo! One down, a lifetime more to go.

And it wasn't just me that was taken care of today. While at Petsmart buying crickets for the toad the boys found over the weekend, we noticed a parakeet that was trapped upside-down behind his feeder.

We told an associate and they immediately came to his rescue. Who knows how long he had been stuck!! Poor little winged fellow. But what was really interesting to watch was the white parakeet that stayed next to him as if he was offering his feather friend support. He'd anxiously hop all around the area trying to examine the situation while bobbing his head up, down and all around as if he were making a plan on how to free his frantic friend. The other birds in the cage didn't seem to be phased in the least, but this one little guy stuck it out (or maybe I should say 'hopped' and 'bobbed' it out) with his buddy. What a sweet friend! Wait. Can birds have friends? Well, you know what they say... "Birds of a feather flock together." ha ha

My Sixth Mother's Day...

...was special. Every day with my kids is special (well, almost every day). I felt very loved and appreciated, so thank you to my sweet boys!!!!! I was showered with gifts from both of them.

Grant made these at school for me...
a picture of him holding flowers

and a card (that truly cracks me up)!!!

Since you can't read it, allow me... "I love you when you take me to Mexico to see my great-great-grandfather."

I have just laughed and laughed over his words for three reasons. 1) I took him to NEW Mexico. Not Mexico. 2) While there, he saw his great-grandfather. Not his great-great-grandfather.
3) I only took him once ~ had no idea it meant so much to him. It's funny he picked this, out of all the other things I do for him, to put on my card. What a nut. Yet it still doesn't top the year Gabby said, "My mommy is almost pretty."
******And as you might have imagined, Mom and Aunt Jessica, there are drawings of wind turbines all over it.

Grant also gave me a store-bought card, and I gotta say, I laughed OUT LOUD at this one! Really loud!

front

inside

And that, dear readers, quite simply sums up what life with

Grant is really like!!!!!!

Rhett made several things at school, too, but I've put my favorite below - what a ham!!! And you just won't believe how proud he is of this paper!!!!! He loves to tell anyone who will listen that that is a picture of HIM, and that is also HIS hand print (which he will then prove by placing his stubby little right hand on top of it - in case you were doubting his sincerity).

I also received an iphone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know, I know - I'm getting into the ballgame quite late, but hey - - - - what did you expect?

The Mother's Day celebrations don't end there! Grant lost his first tooth the night before! So what if I cried a little?
He thought just 'some' of it came out (because it was so small), but was extra excited to learn that the whole thing had actually come out, and that baby teeth really are that tiny!

This event, of course, meant that the Tooth Fairy would be visiting our house for the first time. Man, oh, man! She came, alright!!!!!!! This morning, Grant HAPPILY awoke to this beneath his pillow...

Yip - it seems we had TWO Tooth Fairies visit us last night. One of them left what she thought was a very sizable gift of $3 since the first tooth is worth extra, ya know? Imagine her surprise the following morning when she learned that her partner had also visited Grant that night and left a WHOPPING $10!!!!!!!! So in case you didn't add that up already, Grant got $13 from the Tooth FairIES last night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you spell r.i.d.o.n.c.u.l.o.u.s??? I think the tooth fairies that are assigned to our house will have to communicate better, huh?

Mother's Day ended in its own special way. I sat down to do some quiet sewing as I was trying to complete some orders...

... and Rhett came in. He's always talking and singing and chanting, so I'm pretty used to tuning out the background noise that follows him. This time, for whatever reason, I was lucky enough to look up and get to watch this. What a sweet and silly boy! He was so content playing with my fabrics and talking to my thread. I stored the moment up in my heart as I know one day too soon he won't do this kind of stuff anymore, and I'll miss it terribly.

Hmmmmm. Now that I think about it, this is my favorite Mother's Day gift from Rhett. The picture and the hand print and the finger flowers he made were just as precious as can be, but this sweet moment - - - priceless!

Happy Mother's Day to all you rockin' mommas out there! I hope you felt loved and appreciated on this, your special day!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Rhett!

Poor second kids - they never get the birthday extravaganzas that the first-born gets (or that seems to be the case if I'm the mom). I didn't want to sell Rhett's 3rd birthday tooooo short, so we had a little birthday celebration at a restaurant with our Lifegroup from church. I figured why not? We were all together having dinner... why not throw a little birthday bash in the mix? Despite its randomness, it truly was very special to share my sweet little one's third birthday with all our precious friends!!!!!!!

I asked Rhett to smile...

Hmmmm. Let's try again...

..... And, again...

Oh, forget it!!!!!!!!!

*******Yes, that is a fourth pink candle that found its way onto the cake. Don't ask... (Don't ask me, but you can ask Grant. He can explain that one to you.)

At least I got a cute video of the birthday singing which you can watch here. Don't miss Erin covering Avery's mouth at the end of the song so Avery couldn't 'help' Rhett blow out the candles!!! Sooooooooooo funny!

And as keeping with tradition, Rhett later told us that he didn't like 'that' song. SHOCKING! There's some proof Grant and Rhett are for sure related for ya.

Rhett, I sure love you, Bud (even though you aren't potty trained - - - yet!) Here's to a GREAT 3rd year!!!!!

Family Wedding Shower

In keeping with the Martin tradition, Danni (Dannielle), my bro's fiance, was thrown a family shower a few weekends ago in Austin. Just like my family shower, Danni's took place at Green Pastures in Austin which is known for its 100+ year old house and gorgeous grounds. Oh, yes... Can't forget the peacocks. Green Pastures is also known for their peacocks.

A.L.L. of them!

And so very beautiful! (Well, maybe not so much the females - Oh, God and his funny, funny, funny humor.)
They even have a few rare white peacocks who put on quite the show. They seem to know when it's time for their close-up and pose so prim and proper for the cameras' flashes while either gracefully adorning a tree's limb...

... or just showing off their spread.

The original Martin granddaughters = me, Sommer, Jessica and Hailey (who's three months prego!!!!)

The old with the new = me, Sommer, Jessica, Danielle (isn't she so very beautiful??) and Hailey

Grandmother Martin and me - (not the best picture in the world of either of us, but at least she looked better than I did)

It's hard to believe the wedding is about five weeks away... Never thought my little brother would be getting married. But, it appears that he really has grown up and really is going to marry his high school sweat heart. (Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh! So sweet!)

Well, Green Pastures, we'll see you again very soon. Might I suggest you lock up your prized peacocks before Abigail, Annalise, Grant, Jackson, Emmaline, Rhett, Noelle, Everett and Coleman (the Martin great-grandkids) arrive. Either that, or you could just teach your birds how to run away - - - - - - QUICKLY!

My Little Cub Scout (excuse me ~I mean BOY Scout)

I can't believe Grant is old enough to join Cub Scouts (although he prefers you just go ahead and give him the rank of BOY Scout, thank you very much). He and Kerry had their first meeting this Monday at our church. Grant was so excited to be joining such a fun-looking organization (especially since Ethan and his Steppy D were in the same group - should I be calling it a pack or a den???), and Kerry was excited to get to spend this special time with Grant since they so rarely get to see one another.

Do I see a future Boy Scout model in the making? (yip, he posed himself - again)

No, I did not buy the uniform shorts... I just couldn't. Am I horrible to think they looked too dorky? I mean, the bright scarf was hard enough for me to buy as it was. 'Scarf' doesn't scream 'manly' in my book. That goes for you too, cowboys. Bandannas should probably be left to wear on the heads of gang members only. I didn't buy the hat either, but that was because the den leader requested that we not. Apparently five and six-year-olds can get distracted by them. SHOCKING!

And who do you think also wanted to join in on the picture taking???
Correct you are!

(Rhett posed himself too. No complaints though... At least he's 'smiling' this time, right Andrea?)

Scarlett Fever in the 21st Century

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tummy

My, how times have changed. Not that I was alive when the diagnosis of Scarlett Fever could mean a death sentence, but one has to be thankful for the passage of time when it comes to the advancement of medicine.

Rhett woke up Saturday morning just covered in a rash. He wasn't scratching it, and for some reason, perhaps it was Mother's Instinct, it seemed to be screaming at me, "I'm a red flag!" So I called the doc. He had us come in immediately. (Pretty impressive for a Sat. morning!) He took one look at Rhett and said in a concerned voice, "This looks like Scarlett Fever," and began to examine him. As you can imagine, that was the last thing I thought I was going to hear that day! I gotta tell ya, the words 'Scarlett Fever' shocked me a bit. Sure enough, a blood test confirmed the doc's suspicions, and Rhett was stamped with a Scarlett Fever diagnosis. We were sent home with an antibiotic and were told to keep Rhett away from the public for two days which is when he would no longer be considered contagious.

For all you moms out there = Yes, Scarlett Fever usually develops after a bout with Strep Throat that was not treated properly/entirely. However, as I learned today, it can pop up on its own. Rhett did NOT have Strep prior to Scarlett Fever. As a matter of fact, to quote the doc, his throat was "squeaky clean". He did not have a cough. He did not have a fever. He did not have drainage. His ears looked good. The doc was sure to listen to his heart since Scarlett Fever can move to that organ, but Rhett's heart was murmur-free. That's right, folks, the only tangible symptom Rhett had was the rash. He did act like he felt yucky at times, but nothing too severe as you can see here, the day of his diagnosis.

Five days later he is still covered with the scarlet colored rash. Most of him is looking a tad bit better except for his face. It's still quite bumpy and as red as - well.................. scarlet. (please ignore his usual messy mouth)

He does seem to be more sleepy than usual. Surely that has something to do with the illness. I found him like this (above) in the rocking chair at 5 p.m!!! Other than that, we have no complaints. And better yet, everyone else in the house has remained well. Whew!

And the winner for the Crazy Person of the Day is...

... the father I met during a lunch date today at Sweet Tomatoes.

Go ahead and ask yourself what these nesting cups...
and the crazy dad in Sweet Tomatoes had in common. Go ahead. I'll wait...................... You'll NEVER get it........... (unless you're crazy like him...............)

Okay, I'll skip straight to the story b/c I'm telling you - it's a good one!!!!
While I was at the pasta bar, I noticed a boy about the age of eight walking around with nesting cups stacked on his head. I mean, he had them all stacked on top of one another (nested), and was balancing them on his head. I thought it odd, but I went on with my pasta picking, plucked a warm brownie from the dessert counter and sat down at our table. Several minutes later the girl I was with asked me if I had seen the kid with the cups on his head... "WHO could miss it?" was my response. You better believe throughout our lunch we kept an eye on balancing-nesting-cup-kid as we just pondered and pondered over the story behind it.

During my third trip to the pasta bar (keep comments to yourself), I once again ran into the kid and his dad, and I just HAD to take the opportunity to ask what the deal was. Of course I disguised this interrogation with questions like, "Are you working on a new skill? Just bored? Going for a record???"

The dad's eyes widened, he leaned closer to me in a very odd way, tilted his head down which caused me notice that he was wearing a hat like the kind Dr. Hannible Lector wore at the end of "Silence of the Lambs" and said that ever since the little boy was two and they were out in public, they had him balance the cups on his head b/c it kept him calm and helped with his posture. (I mean, you can't act like a fool and balance cups on your head - but you certainly can LOOK like one.) And that was it - they walked back to their crazy table, and I walked back to mine with eager anticipation of sharing the strange information that was just given to me with my friend.

Before the family left, the dad made his way over to our table and proclaimed that he had worksheets on the idea that he could email me and promptly asked me for a pen and paper. I could not find a pen in my purse (not that I really wanted to, either), so he interrupted the people eating behind us and asked if they had a pen he could borrow. (REALLY??? It's that big of a deal that you need to go on a hunt for a pen?) Iguess it was life and death. Anyway, I'd like to point out that at this point their weirdness is truly topping the charts as I notice the boy balancing the cups is starting to unzip his pants. I just wanted the whole thing to e.n.d., so I quickly jotted down his email address to make him happy. He wished me a good day, and that was that, and the family walked out of Sweet Tomatoes while the son trailed behind with the cups still on his head.

As you can imagine, the child's been doing this for many years, so no, the cups NEVER fell. He walked all around the restaurant and even made big body movements, yet those cups never moved.

I've spent the rest of the day perplexed. Can't decide if I should've left the restaurant thinking, "What a sight!" or, "What a freak!"

**Just for the record = I don't usually judge others so harshly, but this one seems to be in a class all by itself. While I appreciate the creative idea of the cups keeping a child calm, one truly can not go through life balancing cups on their head. Is it just me? Can I get an 'Amen'?

No, I am not going to email the dad for his worksheets. What are they going to be, anyway??? Multiple choice? Matching? Match the freak to the crazy idea???? Okay - so now I am starting to feel bad.

Easter 2010

I, the queen of holiday fun, have fallen down on my motherly Easter duties... I did not take the boys to get a picture taken with the Easter Bunny this year. (insert gasp here) I didn't even make them an Easter shirt! (insert sigh here) So instead of being able to offer you professionally done Easter pictures, I give you the quick pics I took today. (Daddy had to get the boys up and dressed by himself this morning, so please excuse their crazy hair.)

Rhett refused to cooperate (as usual), so getting an Easter brother portrait just didn't happen this year. Try #1 was unsuccessful. Rhett wouldn't stop moving.

Try #2 failed. Rhett did not want to stand by the tree.

Try #3 was a charm, half-way anyway. Grant posed himself for this one and announced that he was pretty sure he looked really handsome. (minus the crazy hair)
The Easter Bunny really came through this year. Although the boys' baskets were stuffed to the brim, they got the biggest kick out of the all-terrain race way. I tell ya, that Easter Bunny knows what he's doin'!

We made our bunny cake after church. Before we could decorate it, however, it had to cool. This was very disappointing to Grant, so he decided to decorate a piece of bread to help pass the time. As long as he had an icing tube or sprinkles in his hand, he was calm and in the zone.

Hmmmm. I wonder who else decorated bread... (good guess)

The cake finally cooled and we were able to cut it into the bunny shape and decorate it. Grant was thrilled, and Rhett was thrilled because Grant was thrilled.

Everyone had a thrilling job to do.


Tah duh!

Our finished product. Ain't he a beaut?

(Yes, Rhett got a little excited over the sprinkles.)

Even Madalyn was looking her best today thanks to Rhett.

The little sneak found this marker...

And did this to her feet...

And as amazing as it sounds, Madalyn is still not a fan of Rhett. Ha!

Happy Easter, everyone!