Adventures from A-Z: 2012

Christmas Day, 2012

The kids gave us all a nice Christmas gift and slept in until 8! Great way to start the day.
Abby and Zack got their marshmallows and books that they requested from Santa and lots of other fun presents!

Grandmom started cooking a delicious turkey and all the fixings early.

The snow hadn't melted as we predicted so the kids got dressed in their snow gear again and played in the backyard for a while.

Check out the next two pictures...Matt lets loose with a snow ball headed right for HIS DAUGHTER!!!

Yup, he got her! Luckily, it looks worse than it was. She laughed and threw it right back at him:)

After some fun in the snow the kids came in and played with all their new toys. Of course, they sat right in the middle of where everyone was trying to get things ready for dinner. They love to be right in on the action!

We had a lovely dinner and afterwards, Matt and I headed to the Rossellos for the annual trivial pursuit game. A blast as always!

Merry Christmas. We hope everyone had a great time celebrating with their loved ones!

Christmas Eve in PA

On Christmas eve-eve, we flew from San Diego to Pennsylvania. It was a much easier flight than we are accustomed to over the holidays. For starters, there was barely any line and getting through security was a breeze. Then we only had to fly over the continental US without an extra trip from the middle of the Pacific. Plus the kids are getting older and have a lot longer attention spans. They played games, watched a movie and I got to read a magazine and some of my book while Matt graded physics finals. Before we knew it we were greeting Grandpa at the gate.

Christmas eve is a big night at eh Martin household and we were all excited for it! After relaxing all morning we got ready for church. Notice the grass and clear air before church...

After church, we came out to beautiful snow flakes! The kids wasted no time making snowballs.

The kids wanted to keep playing so we put their snow gear on and the snow ball fight commenced.

Matt made the kids their first snowman.

The kids wanted to shovel...we'll see how long that lasts.

Finally, it was time to come in and warm up. We read, Twas the Night before Christmas, the kids put cookies out for Santa and wrote him letters. What a great kick off to our Pennsylvania trip!

Christmas in San Diego

Since we were spending Christmas in Pennsylvania, we celebrated early in San Diego. I can't believe I didn't even get a picture of our tree! We had a nice honey baked ham and our first meal on our new dining room table. The kids got everything they could have ever wanted and more. Thanks G & G!

Holiday Treats

The holidays are definitely way more fun with kids. I love how excited they get about everything. We started going on "Light Hunts" in the evenings and taking different ways home to see the best houses all lit up. One night we headed over to Christmas Card Lane, which is where my friends and family have all gone over the years. We baked some reindeer cookies and I even made reindeer pancakes one morning.

New House!

We moved into our new home on Saturday December the 15th. It was very exciting and we are looking forward to being settled. My dad got a big truck from work and we spent the day doing runs to the house, unpacking, and keeping the kids occupied. After a full day of moving, we had a birthday party at a gymnastics place to attend in the evening, which was great to let the kids run around. Matt chaperoned a school dance that night and had an exhibition of all his students' work earlier in the week. It really had been an insanely busy week in addition to the move!

We got the boxes unpacked just in time for hosting our early Christmas dinner with Grandma Lori and Grandpa Don Staruday night and pack up for Pennsylvania Sunday morning. I barely took any pictures other than our stockings hung and the kids' bedrooms that we painted. We have the basics in but now it is time for the decorating!

28 Years Later

My family moved to Segovia Court 28 years ago and immediately Michelle arrived at my door with My Little Ponies and we became best friends, inseparable for the next 10 years until we went to different high school. We still lived on the same street and stayed very close friends throughout the years and have maintained that special bond into our adult years. We overlapped for a few hours as their family came in to town just before we left for Pennsylvania and they came over for lunch. Amelia, Michelle's oldest is 9 months older than Abby and the girls are meeting for the first time around the same age that Michelle and I met. Audrey, her youngest, just turned 2 and the 4 kids had lots of fun together and it was great to catch up with Michelle as always!