Happy Birthday, Emily

With a party with the Garvin cousins, Emily turned 7 this year! A few years back Emily had seen a little girl who had her ears pierced. Upon asking if she could get her's done, I quickly told her, "Maybe when you're 7." I think that was how old I was when I got mine done, so that's what came out of my mouth...thinking she would probably forget about it.



Well, many of you can attest to the fact that kids don't forget! So as Emily turns 7 this year she is going to be able to get her ears pierced...perhaps it's a rite of passage of some sort. We haven't had the time to actually get it done, but I will be sure to post some pictures when it does.






Happy Birthday to my special girl!!

Merry Christmas!

Each Christmas seems to get a little bit more exciting as the kids get older and have come to anticipate it more. The chains made from red and green construction paper were made and the countdown was on (and not forgotten as in years past). They finally made it to the last link of the chain!! Here are some pictures from our morning together.

We have the kids go on a hunt for their stockings, so this picture is before the hunt.

Samuel was the first to find his stocking this year!

After the hunt, ready to open!

After gift giving, breakfast, and playing with this and that, we packed the van and headed for Grandma and Pappy's house!

Emily made a few of her gifts this year and was so excited for Grandma to open it up!

The Garvin Cousins

After church the next day Dad and Janet opened their home to all 22 of us on the Martin side (Tim, Anna, and Marisol were visiting Tim's family) I failed to get a picture of all of us together.

The classic eating picture

Joel...this one's for you..top o' the mornin to ya.

The older kids were having fun playing games, while the younger siblings were in the next room dumping out all the rest of the games. Thanks goes to Uncle Nate for cleaning and sorting all those pieces!!

It was wonderful to be able to spend time with family. God has blessed us so richly through them!

Happy Birthday, Max

Max turned 2 years old on the 13th of December! Here are some pictures from his party:

Max is a boy of few words, but his favorites are "fire", "train", and "football". The kids thought he should have a football cake since that is one of his favorite words.

He really had no idea what to do with the candles on his cake, so finally daddy helped him put out the "fire".

It didn't take him long to figure out the gift thing. He wasn't shy about tearing the paper open. It was harder keeping the other kids away so he could do it on his own!

He also opened a box of gifts from Grandma and Pappy containing this SUPER MAX costume! I'm not sure what he's doing with his face, but he must have known that he needed to act like a tough guy...SUPER MAX!!!

Max is such a blessing to our family. The thing that stands out the most about Max is that he is Daddy's boy. He wants to do everything Daddy does. As soon as Bob gets home from work, Max is his little shadow. If Daddy gets changed, Max helps him by finding his slippers. If Daddy goes outside to split firewood, Max tries his best to stack the wood. If Daddy does push-ups, Max does too! He keeps us busy and is all boy for sure!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MAX!

I'm Back!

If you have read my previous post you will know that I have lost my camera. Our house has been turned upside down searching for it, so I have officially called off the search and hit the stores instead.

So now that I have a new camera, I am ready to start blogging again. The next road block presented itself in the form of a computer that would not turn on. After the sad diagnosis of being more expensive to repair than to buy a new one, again I hit the stores.

People say that things come in "three's", so I'm wondering what might go next.

Here are the first pictures with the new camera!!

Garvin Baby #5!!

I know that it's been a while since I've updated my blog. This time I actually have a descent excuse. My camera has gone AWOL. On the kid's first day of school they were all ready to go when I told them to stay while I get the camera to take a picture. Well, I couldn't find it. Since then I have scoured the house and it still has not turned up. So until it does or until I break down and get a new one, I have no pictures to share:(

But...here is a picture worth sharing that I didn't take.

Last week I had my sonogram and no, we did not find out the sex of the baby! I was happy to see that everything looks amazing! The little tiny heart is beating perfectly! No matter how many ultrasounds I see, it takes my breath away because life is such a miracle and gift from God. We truly are fearfully and wonderfully made!

Vacationing in Virginia

When Jack was younger, a friend was telling us about their vacation. Jack looked at me and asked, "Mom, what's a vacation?" Our poor kids!! Well, we finally got to go on our first real week long vacation! We rented a house in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia with our friends, the Shareks.

All the kids before we went to church in Front Royal, VA. It'a always a pleasure to worship with God's family in different parts of the US!

The deer were quite friendly in the Shenandoah National Park!

Jer and Heather watched Max and Sam for us one morning while we took a hike up Old Rag Mountain (This is Bob's favorite hike) So here we are getting started on our journey.

We took plenty of drink breaks!

The views became awe inspiring.

The last quarter of the hike weaves up and over these huge boulders...it's what makes the hike so fun!

After 2 1/2 hours of hiking we made it to the summit (a new word for Jack and Emily)

Seeing the vast space from the top makes you feel like a tiny speck on the face of the earth...and the space we saw was only a tiny portion of God's creation. We have an awesome God!

We also visited the Luray Caverns. It's a one mile trail that leads you through a cave with all sorts of rock formations. We all listened to the tour on our headphones. After we left Bob said, "For thousands of years that cave was there under the earth in the dark with no other purpose but to glorify the Lord. Now God has given man the priviledge to see his beauty."

We also took several drives on Skyline Drive. Here is a view of Old Rag from Skyline. Its the furthest peak.

The kids on a hike to see some waterfalls

Max was always excited to get out of the van to get a picture!

Samuel and Madison became pretty good buddies!





And there were good times in the pool!!!

Plenty of flipping

Plenty of cannonballs

Plenty of dives

More than plenty belly flops!

And plenty smiles!!

Now our kids know what a vacation is!