Naughty....or Nice???

We hope everyone has a Happ Happ Happy Christmas & Merry Merry New Year! Eat too much, sleep in and enjoy your time with your family!

"Who...me....make a mess? Ohhh, noooo I'm reorganizing!"

The Martin's are off to Colorado next week for a fun old fashioned family ski trip and dog sledding adventure. Of course Will won't be hitting the slopes; he'll be hanging w/ Grammy while we ski. No they aren't getting left out, Grammy can't ski anymore and Will...well, we'll give it another year or two before ski school. So they will hang until after naptime then come join us for adventures in the snow. We'll have tons and tons of pictures to post when we get back. Enjoy the rest of your year and we'll be back up and running in 2010.

Santa get off my ride

This is my bike Big Man!

Here, you go here.

While I go for a spin!

Poor Poor Santa!

Fun Old Fashion Christmas!

Last night we celebrated Christmas with my Moms side of the family. Will really got into opening presents....even if they weren't his, which is what's happening in the picture below. Fortunately it was Grammy's present so she didn't mind.

I have a feeling Christmas Eve & Day none of us will get to open many presents, instead Will will do it.

He helped everyone throw their wrapping paper away.

Then when it was time for his presents, he sat patiently waiting for me to get the toys out of the box.....

Okay, forget patience, he just got ticked and tried to rip them out himself.

Here Comes Santa Claus....Here Comes Santa Claus

"GET ME OUTTA HERE!!!!!"

Okay, so one year pictures with Santa....not so good! Maybe next year!

Grammy's Birthday Last Week

Last week was Grammy's......35 (yeah we'll go w/ that) Birthday. Wednesday night we all took her to dinner to celebrate.

Will wasn't really feelin the "be sweet" vibe and quite frankly being quite a grumpy pants, but he did take a moment to give Grammy kisses. He's getting better about his open mouth kisses and actually putting his lips together....can't say Grammy's got it figure out yet.....Just kidding, she was talking to him at this point, he was just going in for a kiss!

Peek A Booo!!! Aunt Traci hiding from the camera. She and Will had quite a good time playing in the restaurant. We ate dinner at Othello's which is by far my favorite place to eat because Will can get up and have a little supervised freedom.

A picture w/ mom before he bolted for more ground time.

Annnddd, here's our little waiter in training. Oh but don't think he's going to be a nice waiter; if his performance the other night said anything he'll walk you half way to your table and throw your menus on the ground.

Will has a new girlfriend, she's quite older, but he's in love! Yes you read that, he was in love with the hostess, would not quit going our front to stare at her. Got to say though, he's got good taste, she was pretty.

Big Helper

How in the world did we ever get anything accomplished without this little man's help? I have no idea...

Dad was mounting brackets to a tv the other night and Will was front and center ready to go. Directions in hand, "this is how you do it!" Of course he shredded the directions shortly after this picture, but give him a screw driver and a bolt and he'd be ready. Too bad he didn't get either of those...but don't think for a second he didn't want them and try on many attempts to take them from us.

After it was ready to go, Will was determined to get it out of the box, straining noises and all. He finally let us do it, but stayed under our feet the entire time. And let me tell you; when that TV in the family room was taken off the wall and moved to the bedroom, you'd have thought we robbed the place. Will freaked completely out, pointed to the wall and screamed "juuu...juuu" Okay, not a word but that was the sound. He's not a fan of things being moved.

"Lift with your legs Dad, I got this!"

Thanksgiving Part 2

We spent the second part of our Thanksgiving Day at Grammy & Granpda's House.

We explored outdoors for a bit; Will was constantly on the go, seems like back of head shots are all I can get these days.

And There he goes!

Remember this from last year. So precious, just cuddled right up in your arms.

And here we are this year, LEEEETTTT MEEEEE DOOOOWWWNNNN....DADDDD!

Oh, surprise surprise, more leaves! He's loosing his precious chubby cheeks and gaining a neck. When did this happen? I was right there the entire time; how'd they go so quick????

Then there was this last year. Granpda facing Will toward him during dinner so they could chat. Our perfect little table scape. Poor guy had to stomach that nasty formula while we all ate delicious Thankgiving Dinner.

But not this year, he was bellied up to the table ready to go with a plate full of yummy deliciousness! Okay, I know you are looking at the makeshift highchair wondering "what in the world???" Well, Grammy has one of those bar mount high chairs which works perfect at the island, but won't clamp onto her table, so we took a barstool, a pillow, towels & belts and made a highchair so Will could sit at the table with us. Worked perfect and we all almost got to finish our entire dinner before he wanted down.

So after our bellies were full and we were no longer able to play outside, it was time to pet the elk and watch Christmas Vacation. It's his new thing that only Daddy or Grandpa can help him with....petting the elk anyway; Christmas Vacation is our tradition, reminds us that whatever chaos we might have can't be near as bad as what the Griswold's go thru. Man, I love that movie!

Here's the elk! Will stands in the middle of the living room saying "Ohhhhh" and "Wowww" then reaches up and wants to pet him.

So that was our fun day. We hope everyone had a blessed Thankgiving; we sure did.

Happy Thanksgiving Part 1

Our Thanksgiving started off a little rocky, Mr. Will took a plunge into the edge of a door and gave himself quite a goose egg on his forehead. After some intense cuddle time w/ Dad, he was up a running again, but now w/ a beautiful bruise and bump on his forehead. GREAT for pictures!!!!

Our first outing started at Nana & Grandpa Mikes house or outside their house is more like it. A certain little boy would not allow us to go inside. We were in long enough to eat Brunch, but he let us know he wasn't happy about it the entire time.

Quickly after we stuffed our faces, it was back outside and on to a new adventure. 1st up....take Nana for a walk and pick up leaves along the way.

Then after we made it almost to Memorial Rd. we turned back around to pick up leaves in Grandpa Mike's yard. He's quite the helper...if you want leaves placed in the flower bed or other places you just raked them out of.

He even brought his rake to help with the pile.

Then it was picture time w/ Daddy. Cheeessseeee!

Annnndddd.....then with Mommy.

And one last photo op w/ Grandpa Mike & Nana.

Then it was back to the leaf piles. The backyard needed some rearranging as well.

After Will finished w/ the leaves, it was time for an intense golf competition between Uncle Corry, Aunt Wendy, Daddy and even Mommy got involved.....with Will's golf clubs. Object of the game....get the ball in the air (wiffle ball). Pretty easy you'd think, but even the most renowned golfers in the family....aka..Daddy & Aunt Wendy kept shanking it. The winners...yes winners (it was a tie) were Daddy & Aunt Wendy because they got it over the fence. It was quite entertaining watching everyone get frustrated with their shot from a plastic golf club and wiffle ball.

Will was more entertained w/ the net stretched across the yard than the games going on around him. We headed home shortly after the golf match because Mr. Grumpy Pants was no longer a happy camper even being outside. After a 3 hour nap, he was golden, but I'll give more detail in the next post of the rest of our day.

Catch Up....

We're all better in the Martin household; got thru a domino effect of the cold and we're up and running again. Will as always is very into exploring and definitely into everything. I haven't given a run down of what he's doing now, so thought I'd update today.

He's very talkative these days, using works like "Bye-Bye", "ball", "book", "shoe", "dada", "mama" and then a lot of jibber jabber! He loves to tear the plants apart in the flower beds, that's a good time all around!

OH, BUSTED!!!!! Facial expression...well...they are hilarious, that's all I can say. So animated in his response to anything. His new thing is the shield; when he doesn't know you or wakes up from a nap or sees someone he might know but hasn't seen a few days, his instant response is putting his arm over his face to shield his eyes. It's so funny, like a super hero. And he loves to say "WOW" especially to Christmas lights!

"No Mom, look over there" He points at everything, it's a great communication tool....I guess...of course everything he points at and is determined to get, he can't have, so that's a little bit of an obstacle right now. As in, he's learning how to throw a temper tantrum.

And he's very nearly ready to take his first fishing trip. Actually he likes to use the fishing pole to touch things out of his reach; like the top of the garage door. (don't worry, no hooks on there) And I guess being my child, he's a bit of a clean freak. Loves to broom and scoop up stuff w/ the dust pan. He is getting sooo tall, his last appointment he was 32" tall and weighed 27lbs. Growing has definitely slowed down, thank heaven (couldn't afford to keep him clothed)! He moved into the "Toddler Room" at his school on Monday which tore me up, I don't transistion as well as he does. Of course his first day in and he looks at me and says "Bye Bye" and went to play. Talk about ripping a Mom's heart right out!

He's absolutely fascinated with anything Dad does, including wathcing Dad manhandle the tree out of the attic. YOUCH, that was a doozie!

To go with his Bear name, he had to get Bear shoes, but of course those are NOT his favorite! I think the bear faces freak him out! Silly boy. We read books A LOT and over and over again! Our family room is covered in books all the time. I worried that he wasn't going to like reading because he never would sit still for us to read, but was I ever so wrong! His favorite books are the peek a boo books you flip (tear) the flaps over (off) to see who's behind them. Most of the flaps haven't survived, so we just pretend they're there.

We are looking forward to the Thanksgiving Holiday, long weekend ahead and my 29th (NOT 30TH...Michael) Birthday, which is tomorrow. Big week ahead and lots of pictures coming up. We hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving and remember to measure the oil properly before you drop that turkey in the fryer, that wouldn't be good! Happy Thanksgiving!!!

We've yet again had another week of being sick in our house. Started with Michael, then Will and I got the tail end so I'm still recovering. So that being said, I don't have a lot of new stuff to show off, it's been hard enough to get off the couch.

Here are a couple of fun pictures from last weekend. Will love his rocking Harley, he's getting really good at getting off and on by himself then rocking like a crazy man....which is what he's doing above.

And this is his newest ride. New to him anyway, his pal Seth who has outgrown this fancy ride gave it to Will Halloween weekend. He loves pushing himself backwards in circles, hasn't quite conquered the forward motion yet. We keep this at Grammy and Grandpa's house because our driveway is a downward slope and though that will probably be a ton of fun later, a 1 year old out of control doesn't seem to be a good idea!

Halloween Weekend

Halloween weekend started out friday morning with Octomom & Bear posing for the cameras! Aunt Traci had to come over before work to show us her costume which was clearly alittle freaky as you can see from Will pose! (great work Aunt Trac)

Then it was off to school for the Parade of Costumes with Will's friends. While the kids were in costumes, this was as far as Will would get from his dad, he wasn't having it!

This is Will's pal Kellen, a very adorable monkey!

There was a Fairy and Godzilla to name a few more. All the costumes were precious, but again, Will didn't like his friends dressed this way.

But once they were out of the costumes, they were friends again; well they'd stand next to each other anyway.

Then Friday night it was off to Storybook Forest with Grandpa Mike & Nana. Here he is, Nana in tow ready to explore.

Will loved this forest, after the first couple of stops on the trail, he really got the hang of taking candy from the characters; he even attempted to take the entire bucket a few times.

We had several crashes along the way; walking thru the forest is tough, so his Bear costume was covered in leaves & mulch by the end of the trail. It added alittle something I think, Bears hybernate, so he was preparing for winter!

Will even modeled for the camera while we posed w/ Humpty Dumpty.

THEN, as if Friday nights candy stash wasn't enough, we spent Saturday evening in Grammy & Grandpa's neighborhood.

Grammy had to guide him to the door....

But once he was there, he totally got the hang of it.

And to end our fun weekend, I have to tell this story; our last stop on the trail was at Mr. & Mrs. Walton's house. Everyone was playing inside so we hung out for a bit which meant costume off...it was hot! Anyway, Mrs. Walton tried to give Will a glow stick necklace as you can see in the picture....

And this face was his response! It's a new one that I've never seen him make, but had us all cracking up because he continued to make that face until the glow necklace was out of his presence. So instead, we settled for a giant pixy stick that we use as a sword! Halloween was a lot of fun this year, we look forward to Baby Grace being older and Baby D being here for next years Halloween adventures.