Ginger ale and chicken noodle soup...

You guessed it, we are sick in the Martin household. I hate these viruses and wherever they come from! Actually, this time it may be food poisoning because Ed and I got it at the same time, and our boys, thankfully, are still well.
Praise the Lord for:
1. Parents who will come with all kinds of goodies to get well - jello, soup, coke, ginger ale, canned peaches, etc
2. Grandparents who will come and rescue us by taking the boys to their house so we can rest and they won't get sick!
3. Getting up enough energy to take a hot shower.
4. A beautifully warm day to sit outside to get fresh air.
5. Motrin and a heating pad for the aches and pains.
6. Comcast on demand and free movies like Back to the Future Part III.
7. Getting sick the week before the youth retreat and not on the youth retreat.


*This is the first time Caleb is sleeping away from home and I am very sad. I miss my boys. It was such a beautiful day and we had great plans for Ed's day off. So this was really a bummer!

Baby C is 8 Months!

Dear Caleb,

Yesterday, you turned 8 months! I can't believe it has already been that long. You bring so much to our family; I can't imagine life without you. You have grown so much in the last 8 months. You are a big boy, just the way we like them around here. You make your brother laugh with your funny faces. You make me smile everytime I look at you. You have learned to give mommy kisses and that is a huge milestone in my book! You adore your daddy so much that you watch his every move when he is in your sight. You love to sit and play with toys. You are content for the longest time. You just play and play and watch your big brother Micah. He makes you laugh by making funny faces, or being goofy. You absolutley love your baths. Ever since your first one, you have loved them! You splash constantly bothering your big brother, but he is a wimp when it comes to the bath, so don't worry about it. You show him up by letting us just pour buckets of water over your head. You love it! He does not! When the day is over, you go to bed without a cry. You are the sweetest baby a mommy could ever ask for! And tomorrow Daddy and I will dedicate you to the Lord at church. Our hope is that one day you will grow to know and love the Lord more than anything else in this world, more than you love mommy and daddy. We love you so much, but Jesus loves you more!

I love you baby boy!
mommy

What's for Dinner?

I have really taken up an interest in cooking, I'm not yet ready to say love. I love finding new recipes to try, so I decided I'm going to share the good ones that I find. I'm going to try to post my favorite of the week. Here is one I have made twice and really like it!

Chicken and Black Bean Enchiladas
from Southern Living

3 cups of chopped cooked chicken
1 (15oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (10oz) can diced tomatoes with green chilies
1 (8.75 oz) can no salt added corn, drained
1 (8oz) pkg shredded Mexican four cheese blend, divided
8 (8-in.) flour tortillas
2 (10oz) cans of enchilada sauce

1. Combine first 4 ingredients and 1 1/2 cups cheese in a large bowl. Spoon chicken mixture evenly down the center of each tortilla, and roll up. Arrange, seam side down, in a 13 x 9 dish coated with cooking spray.

2. Pour enchilada sauce evenly over tortillas, and sprinkle evenly with remaining 1/2 cup cheese.
*Note: my husband doesn't like enchilada sauce over his so you could skip the sauce and just do cheese on top. Or a good queso would be good too!

3. Bake, covered, at 350 for 20 minutes. Remove foil, and bake 15 more minutes or until bubbly.

Good Morning Verizon!

This is what Ed and I found out in our front yard this morning. Yes, that is our front yard and yes, those are Mexicans digging huge holes in our yard. There are more that you can't see back closer to our house. It was funny enough to us last week when we had huge spray paint lines in our yard, but didn't know that this is what was going to happen. However, they said they would be done today and that they will plant grass when they are done. Uh, senor, could you plant grass in the entire yard? Our poor yard needs help!

*Note: They are digging to put Verizon FIOS in our neighborhood.

Looking Back...

Before the year moves on anymore, I want to reflect on the last year. One of my resolutions last year was to grow in my discipline of reading the Word. I'm not a very disciplined person in general and have always struggled with motivation or shall we say laziness. So I read a book by Carolyn Mahaney and daughters called "Shopping for Time". One chapter is called the 5am club, essentially talking about rising early to read the Word and pray and prepare for the day as a disciple first, wife second, mom third. I was very challenged and felt the need to rise early on a consistent base to prepare my heart for the day. After all I can try to change myself the best I can in any area, but ultimately I will fail because I am not perfect. I need grace to get my up. So looking back, I see a woman who has grown in her love for the Lord through the reading of Scripture. As I've read, I've learned more about the God that I serve. The more you know someone the more you love them and the more you love them, the more you want to get to know them.
Even though last year was a great year as far as my relationship with the Lord, I have still a ways to go. Rising early is still going to be a focus this year as I want to continue to grow in the Lord.

Mom, you don't understand...

Today at lunch, Micah felt the need for confession time.

Micah: Mom, at sunday school last time, I ate Jenna's snack.

Mommy: Why did you do that? Micah, that's not nice.

Micah (very matter of factly): Mom, you don't understand, mine was all gone!

(yes, Micah calls me Mom now. He thinks its cool to shorten it, I mean he is a grown up after all. Or at least thats what he says)

Prite and Spiderman Undies

*Warning: do not read if you don't want to know about Micah's potty world*

We decided when Micah turned 3 that we would once and for all potty train him. Not really knowing how quickly he would learn, but hoping that it would just click and he would be trained, oh, in an hour or so, we started Friday. The first two days were rough, he just held it in all morning until his nap and just unloaded in that poor diaper. (sorry, a little graphic!) But Sat night he said he had to go pee pee, he we took him, he sat down and went. It was amazing! I've never been so excited for someone to pee in the toilet before! His prize that day way his new favorite drink, Sprite Zero, yes that means zero sugar! (I'm brilliant!) Anyway, so he did this right before bed, and he asked do I get Sprite or "Prite" as he says. The mom in me was like no way! But at that point who cares, I mean he peed in the potty!!!

So I am happy to say that today was the big breakthrough day! He had one accident as soon as he woke up, and then has gone all the rest of the day. I'm so proud of that little boy! And he went #2 for the first time, which was a big hump to get over. So I hope we are on the road to bye bye diapers and hello Spiderman undies!!