Welcome to Kelly Martin's Blog! Here I share my stories from my blessed life as a wife to a super-talented man, Jason, mom to my precious kids, Lucy, Jack, and Connor, and friend to my amazing girlfriends who inspire me every day!

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Catching up

Father's Day weekend at the lake:








These kids LOVED swimming in the water; Connor too!

But he mostly threw rocks...



And then, taking advantage of AMF's awesome kids bowl free summer pass, we had a family date night last week.

Lucy loved learning about how her hands hold the ball.

And she was full of personality as ever, this face, after she bowled the ball and hit down several pins :)

Jack jumping up and down!


We all had a really great time.  This was really fun for the whole family :)





And this past weekend, Jason and I went out for an anniversary date.  Sushi at The Scene, a stroll around Bridgestreet, and dessert at Yogurt Mountain (My fav place!)


We've been at the pool so much, but I need to bring my camera next time so I can snap some shots of the kids.  They are little fish (except Connor who still has a death grip on me when we're in the water), and Jack basically taught himself how to swim.  He's in the deep end all the time and he loves to swim to the bottom of the pool to pick up diving sticks.  Such a blast, that one!  :)  So, that's coming next time :)

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Love my baby girl!

When Jason and I were dating, and knew we wanted to marry each other, I remember telling him that I would just have to have a girl.  If it took me seven kids to "get my girl," then that's how many kids we'd have to have.  And obviously, God was so good to us and gave us our girl on the very first round!



Before church a few Sundays ago, Jason snapped these pics:


I know there will be tough years down the road (hopefully, like WAY down the road) when she doesn't adore me, but I'm certainly going to cherish this now.


She's so loud, but it's also so wonderful - her spirit!




Thursday, June 6, 2013

There's no crying at Princess Camp

Lucy is enjoying her birthday present from Papa 'n Lady this week - Princess Camp!  Everyday from 11-1, she's been attending a royal party, dressed appropriately, and learning about princesses from around the world.  right.up.her.alley, right?  So, you can imagine my surprise yesterday when, at pick up, I found her puffy-eyed and with a tear-streaked face.

As soon as I scooped her up, she began crying again.  After asking her what was wrong, did anyone hurt her or treat her badly (no), she reassured me she "just missed mommy."  (heart.tug)  I asked her teacher what had happened, and she just told me that halfway through, during storytime, Lucy just got a "little weepy." 

(It's interesting to note how that very morning, Lucy had been in some of the biggest trouble she's ever been in.  It started when she wanted me to paint her nails; specifically, green on the bottom, with hot pink sparkly gloss on top.  Very Lucy.  I was able to get the green coat on before my student came for tutoring, but we were just short on time to do the glitter layer.  I told her that we'd finish it just as soon as I was done tutoring.  Well, about halfway through tutoring, while stepping downstairs to get a water, I surprised Lucy and immediately smelled the acetone aroma that now filled the air.  I knew instantly she had gotten into the nail polish bottle.  And sure enough, there was green (lime green at that!) polish splashed on our kitchen table (yes, the one Jason just built for us).  After interrogating her, "Lucy, you remember mommy's rule that you're NEVER to use nail polish alone, without at grown-up, right? (nods) And this mess came from you using nail polish ON YOUR OWN, right? (whimper:  yes)  Well, Lucy, you made a very bad choice because you were too impatient to wait for me.  I have thirty minutes of tutoring left, and then, when my student leaves you're going to receive the biggest spanking you've ever had."  (There, let her stew on that the next half hour!  Oooh, I was so mad!)  So, all that to say, it is interesting because I reflect on how this was a reminder to me that our children do not even come close to loving us any less when they're being disciplined.  It's healthy and responsible parenting, in my opinion, to give them clear boundaries and guidelines; let them know our expectations and punish them when they make bad choices, blatantly disobedient choices.  (yeah, yeah, I'm getting preachy, I realize :)  If anything, perhaps Lucy was weepy because she felt guilty for her actions that morning.  I don't know; I didn't bring up the nail polish punishment from that morning...)

But back to the story; she was fine within minutes of leaving camp.  However - and not unexpectedly - she began saying how she didn't want to go back to camp the next day, she just wanted to spend time at home with me and her brothers.  To diffuse an already emotional situation, I just told her we'd talk about it later when she felt happier.

So, when we revisited it last night, I chirped, "What are you going to wear tomorrow to princess camp?" and she replied that she didn't want to go.  It wasn't too dramatic, and she wasn't crying.  She just said she didn't want to go.  Talk about a teachable opportunity to empathize with her struggle, yet teach her how to handle those feelings and find a solution so that she can both enjoy camp and not be sad while being there - Yes!  I live for these moments!  :)  (I realize the instinct might be to just allow her to stay home, it's just princess camp, but I think allowing her to stay home would not only have been the easy way out, but it would have been a huge missed opportunity for Lucy to learn how to handle tough situations {tough for her, of course; it's not boot camp after all})

After thinking a few minutes about what I could give her that she could keep close to her as a reminder, I came up with this:


During a brief chat last night, I told Lucy that I was so sorry she had experienced a sad day at camp, that it's normal to miss me - "You know, I miss you too when you're gone!" -but that tomorrow would be a better day, filled with more fun stuff to do at camp.  Then, I told her I had made her something special to keep with her, and I gave it to her.  We read my note together, and I suggested that if she felt sad, she could just reach in her pocket and rub the puff ball and be reminded of how much I love her and how everything was going to be fine because we'd see each other very soon!  She lit up like fireworks, gave me a hug, and ran upstairs to pick out a shirt that had a pocket to wear the next day. 

It was actually pretty precious; all this morning she kept making sure she had it with her.  And wouldn't you know, when I picked her up this afternoon, she was all smiles and even announced, "Mommy!  I didn't even have to feel your heart once!"  :)

'Atta girl!

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Past few days...

So, much to catch up on, I'm just going to smush it all together here in one post. 

So, last weekend, Jason brewed for the first time in a long time.  It was a beautiful day, so we set up chairs in the driveway, slip 'n slides for the kids, lathered everyone up with sunscreen, invited the neighbors and friends over, and we spent HOURS outside.  Like six hours I think. 

And it was awesome because our new neighbors of just two days - who also have three kids, age 9, 7, and 2 - hung out with us for a long time.  They're pretty great.  But at some point, I realized I hadn't seen Connor in a bit, so I went looking for him inside the house and this is where I found him:

He was on the back porch glider, where I was drying out Jack's comforter, and Lucy had draped the den blanket over him.  Awwww :)


The next day was Memorial Day, and our awesome friends the Postma's held their annual party.  Great day for a pool party!

complete with desserts :)

(I was just noticing Lucy's bottoms...they're not super low cut like that, just had fallen down.  We're not going all early-200's-Britney-Spears or anything :)

The Rainoldi's, Lopez's, Postma's, Goins's, Cooper's, and us.

And if you can believe it was only six years ago that none of these beautiful little babies existed...



On Tuesday, Jason snapped this little gem of Jack and Bear on the back porch.  Just some sweet time with a boy and his dog.  :)



And on Wednesday, it was Connor's first day of school!  (It's summer, I know...but he FINALLY got into the preschool Jack and Lucy go to/have gone to, and I've set up tutoring during some of the hours he's at school.)  He was so excited to go!  Especially about his 'pack-back'!



It's funny, he doesn't carry around his lovey much anymore, but he snagged it this morning.  Maybe he was a smidge nervous :)


But you wouldn't have thought it from these smiles...






And yesterday, Jason and Lucy headed north to Tennessee to canoe the Elk River.  It was an outing arranged through Lucy's girl scouts, and they had a great time.