Happy Birthday to Emily!!

Emily turned 5 years old yesterday! It has been such a joy this year to watch her mature into a sweet young lady!

She is a great helper around the house. She loves putting on her little apron to help me with dinner each night. (The kitchen ends up being a bit messier and it takes a little longer to get dinner to the table, but I just love seeing her enjoy something so much.)

She has learned to ride her bike without training wheels, jump rope, hula hoop, and she has finally taken up the art of coloring...the only thing that gets her to sit still for longer than 2 minutes!!

And last of all, she really loves taking care of her baby Max!! She likes to be the one holding Max, while I am the helper that goes to get the things she needs! I got her a new doll for her birthday in hopes of giving poor Max a break, but it hasn't seemed to work. Max doesn't get much peace and quiet as long as Emily's around!

I love you, Emily! Happy Birthday!!

Merry Christmas, Everyone!!

Maxwell James Garvin is here!!

About 70 % of you all that voted on the boy/girl poll predicted that our baby was going to be a girl. I'm sorry to tell you that you were wrong! Congratulations to the 30 % of you that guessed boy!!

Maxwell James Garvin entered the world on Saturday, December 13 at 8:30 PM. He was one day past his due date. He weighed in at 6 pounds 12 ounces and was 20 inches long.

At about 5:00 in the morning, I started having some regular contractions. They didn't hurt at all, but that is the most labor I've ever gone into on my own, so of course I got exciting thinking this might be the day. Bob immediately called his parents to come out to watch the kids so we could go into the hospital. A few hours later all contracting stopped. Bob still insisted that we go into the hospital, especially since his parents were ready to watch the kids. So reluctantly we went.

I felt pretty silly telling the nurses that I really wasn't having any contractions and wasn't sure myself why I was even there. By 4:00 the Braxton Hicks like contractions came back. The dr. checked me and I was 6 cm, so they decided to keep me at the hospital. By 6:00 the contractions still didn't hurt, but they were still there. At 7:00, they broke my water and immediately the contractions were every 2 minutes and becoming increasingly painful!! At 8:00 I asked for an epidural. By the time the epidural was put in it was about 8:20. Little Maxwell popped out with 1 push at 8:27!!

He is a tiny, precious miracle!!

Samuel just kept saying, "Awww."

Thank you for your prayers!!

The Hills are Alive With the Sound of Music...

If this doesn't get you in the mood to watch The Sound of Music, then nothing will!!

Baby Update

I just got back from my OB appointment this morning and thought I would give you all a quick update. I am dilated to 5 cm and the doctor stripped my membranes (that did not seem to get things going for my other pregnancies, but you never know). If I don't go into labor on my own, I will be induced on Dec. 17th.

"I'm So Excited That I Just Can't Hide It..."

Well I'm due in 8 days!! This is the part of pregnancy that I love best...the excitement of being able to meet, hold, and snuggle with my new baby (the fact that I'm almost done being pregnant is pretty thrilling also). But, the anticipation is killing me! I just can't wait!! Will it be tomorrow or not for another 2 weeks? Is it a boy or a girl? Will my water break (let's hope not while I'm at WalMart), will I go into labor myself, or will I need to be induced? I just can't wait!!!

A Successful Hunting Season

Warning: These pictures may be disturbing to some. In our family, however, they are the norm.

The bow season for deer has come and gone. In our household the camera gets lots of action if any sort of animal is killed. I will spare you from some of the more gory pictures, but felt like I had to post some since it is such a big deal to the men in our family.

Don't worry: Jack didn't really shoot this deer...he's just practicing the pose for when he gets his big game someday.

While Jack and Emily were very proud of Daddy getting a buck, Samuel wasn't so sure.

Jack is ready for the big Rabbit Hunt. The arrows he uses aren't able to penetrate anything, but after a rabbit was shot, he took a shot at the head. Even though the arrow bounced right off, he truly believes that he got one!

I know...all of you that are reading this are just jealous that you don't get to take part in this kind of excitement. Lucky me!!

Happy Fall!

Here are some random pictures from the fall!

After I took the picture above, Jack said to Emily, "We're a team, huh, Em? We do everything together, right?" It was really kind of cute.

The sentiment didn't last too long though because right after I took this picture Jack was yelling at Emily for ruining the leaf pile before he got to jump into it.

Happy Halloween!!

I know that everyone has a different take on Halloween. We view it as a time to get to know our neighbors, so our family along with 5 other families took to our street to collect some goodies!! (The one and only advantage of living in a townhouse is that the kid's candy bags get full in a relatively short period of time and their little legs don't get so tired since the houses are so close together.) The kids enjoyed getting dressed up and managed to collect enough candy to last us until next year!

Emily was especially proud of her hair, so she wanted me to post this picture for you all to see.

Samuel is enjoying his booty! I would've chozen chocolate myself, but I guess he'll just leave the good stuff for me to eat...just what I need!!

Visiting History

One of the nice things about home schooling is being able to go see and experience the things we are learning in school. We have just finished up a unit on the life of George Washington, so a few weeks back we visited Valley Forge, Independence Hall, and the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, and this past week my sister Kara and her kids joined us on a trip to see Mount Vernon and The National Mall in Washington DC.

General Jack Washington

The cabins that Washington's army built during their hard winter's stay at Valley Forge.

Jack's favorite thing from the trip to Philly was the deer we saw at Valley Forge. We were all amazed at how close they let us get to them.




In front of Independence Hall


Inside the room where the Declaration of Independence was signed

My sister Kara then joined us for our DC trip. We had a 3 month old, a 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 8 year old along for the ride! Amazingly they did quite well considering they didn't get to take any naps and were walking all day for 2 straight days.

Mount Vernon was very interesting. They have a scavenger hunt for the kids to do which kept them looking for answers to puzzles.

Posing with George and Martha Washington and their kids Jacky and Patsy

The front and back of Mount Vernon. The view of the Potomac River is just amazing from this back porch.

During this time the wheat was usually threshed by slaves beating at it to get the grain to fall away from the stem. To make the process more efficient, George built this treading barn for a place to thresh his wheat crops. It has 2 stories. The wheat was placed on the top floor where horses were made to run in a circle causing the grain to break off. It would then fall through the cracks of the floor into the lower level where the slaves would gather the grain to be taken to the mill. The leftover hay on the top floor was gathered to feed the animals for the winter months.

This is the only picture we got of all the 7 kids together. They are standing in front of one of the slave's houses.

This is known as the ha ha hill. Washington did not want any of his livestock to come into the yard near his house and his guests, so he built a wall in the yard to keep them out. As you stand on the hill you can't see the wall at all and so when kids would run they would suddenly fall over the edge and disappear...thus the name ha ha hill.

Dressed up in colonial garb


And one interesting fact about George Washington: Did you know he had very poor teeth and only had one tooth left at his inauguration? They made a set of dentures for him out of hippo ivory and human teeth.

The next day we set out to the National Mall in DC.

Samuel flying a plane at the Air and Space Museum

Did you know the Capitol Building has 139 chimneys?

Samuel was having a bit of a melt down at the time of this picture.

The Natural History Museum

One last piece of trivia: what is the difference between capitol and capital?

Anna's Baby Shower

This last weekend the kids and I were able to take a trip out to the Pittsburgh area to catch up with some friends and relatives as well as celebrate the anticipated arrival of a new nephew or neice.

We started our weekend by attending the birthday party of Will (a friend from our old Bible Study Group) who was turning 4 years old this last weekend. His mom put all the rest of us moms to shame by going all out for the party. It was a knight and princess party, so she made a whole castle from huge cardboard boxes that she got from Lowe's. It was complete with tunnels, towers, and walls! She also cut and painted a shield and sword for each of the boys and made princess hats for the girls. The kids had a fun time decorating them. She made a very cute castle cake herself complete with a draw bridge and towers. It was amazing! I'm just sorry I don't have any pictures to show off all her creativity!

Later, however, I finally remembered to get out my camera and took this picture of Emily holding their 4 month old, Ben.

We were also able to go to my younger sister, Anna's, baby shower. What a blessing it was to be able to celebrate with her.

Emily and Kaelyn had the job of bringing Anna her gifts and getting rid of the wrapping paper. They took great pride in doing their job!

This year has been quite a year for the Martin side of the family. Joel and Alison gave birth to Gibson in March, Nate and Kara had Peter in July, Anna is due in November, and I am due in December!

Memory Verses

"From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise." Matthew 21:16

Our kids go to a Wednesday night program at our church where they memorize certain Bible verses. Here is a video of Samuel saying the verse. Here is the challenge: Can you figure out what verse he is reciting?

You have to at least give him some credit for enthusiasm!

Here is the same verse being recited by his siblings. They are a little easier to understand, so you can watch this one for the translation of what Samuel was saying.

"All I want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth..."

Well, he's actually only lost one tooth, but he is constantly wiggling the other, trying to get it out also. This is the first tooth that Jack has lost! Many of his friends have already lost some teeth, so he has been waiting quite a while for this to happen!

With this being Jack's first tooth, Bob and I needed to decide if the tooth fairy was coming or not. As kids I did not experience the tooth fairy, but Bob did. So when Jack asked about the tooth fairy we went along with the story. Emily ended up crying because since she and Jack share a room she said, "I don't want anyone strange to come into my room." So it wasn't quite all fun and games, but for Jack's sake, he did end up finding $1 under his pillow the next morning.

As I look back, I wonder if it is okay to essentially lie to your kids in the name of excitement and wonder. I have to admit that I have felt a little guilty. I was wondering if anyone out there does anything fun in honor of loosing teeth without the tooth fairy being involved. I would love to hear from you!

The Colonial Days

We have been studying George Washington in school lately, and took a few weeks to learn about the colonial days. The kids had a hard time understanding that they didn't have certain things we have nowadays. Emily said, "You mean they didn't even have Target?" (Can you guess where we do a lot of our shopping?) So we tried to do several projects to help them understand what life was like during the 1700's when our country became a nation. We picked our own apples to make our own applesauce, made our own toys, candles, and lanterns. Although in doing our projects, we still used the stove and our refrigerator to complete them, so we weren't completely true to the time period. Even though my husband wished we lived back then, I am greatful for the modern conveniences we have today.

Bob's Surgery

Bob's surgery to have his cyst removed went well this past Friday. Here's what it looked like before the surgery:

We dropped him off at the surgery center and when he called for us to come get him, he told me he felt like he had just drank 2 bottles of wine. Needless to say, he was a bit woozy. We got him home, tucked him into bed when no sooner I got a call from him. Using his cell phone, from his bed he called me on my cell phone (even though I was just in the kitchen) just to tell me the room was spinning. A little later he called me to ask what the weather was like outside. After the drugs wore off he seemed to be just fine and actually took call for the hospital that night.

The surgery went well and his hand seems to be healing just fine. He should be able to be back in the OR by Wednesday! Thank you for your prayers!