Where's Kate?

Lastnight Kate came into our room asking to sleep with us because she had a bad dream. I am a big advocate of encouraging kids to face their fears, realize that it was only a dream, and go back to their own beds.
Kate was not into my teaching moment, so I offered to let Andy go sleep with her. I wasn't feeling well and didn't want to toss and turn in her bed. Andy can sleep through just about anything, so Andy won. Around 5am I heard Jane coughing and wanted her to have a drink of water. By this time, my eye was swollen/matted shut and I felt like complete poop. I could barely see, let alone get a drink of water to Jane without totally waking her up, so I went in and asked Andy to do it. When I went in to T&K's room, I found Tess and Andy, but NO KATE!
with Andy helping Jane, I started looking for Kate. I checked the couches, the other side of our bed, her old bed that is still up in Jane's room......no Kate. For some reason Andy decided to look under T&K's bunk beds...and this is what we found.
(Please note this is a re-enactment...I did not even have the thought of taking pictures at 5am)

Kate was curled up in the last tub on the left. ASLEEP.

This is what she looked like when we pulled her out from under the bed.

She said she went for this option because HER DAD'S SNORING WAS SO LOUD.

Kate and I both agreed that sleeping alone after a bad dream was better than having to listen to that noise.

Really?

I wrote this a couple of days ago, but forgot to post it........

Last night I saw that there is yet another attempt to repeal the motorcycle helmet law in the Missouri senate right now.

Really?

They interviewed a dude from the "Freedom Riders" club/association/group who brought up the following thought provoking statements in promotion of the law being repealed.

-Wearing a helmet takes away from his "one-ness with nature" and the freedom of feeling the air on his head as he rides.

I wonder how his head will feel when it experiences one-ness with the pavement?

-Helmets are hot.

Noted. I can't rebuke that fact. I guess, suck it up or ride on cooler days.

-It isn't helmets that save riders lives, it is being a careful and skilled rider that will save his life.

So what about all the poorly skilled riders that think they are good and skilled riders.....or what about all the poorly skilled drivers that will be sharing the road with you?

-Helmets are just like seat belts in the fact that sometimes they can cause more damage in an accident than good.

Riiiight. I'm pretty sure that your usage of the word sometimes is the equivilent to a percentage rate with a decimal point followed by a lot of zeros.

-The segment ended with him saying that having a helmet law "basically takes away my rights and freedoms as an American"

You know what? He's right. I am fine with them making a no helmet law as long as they make it a law that everyone who gets a motorcycle license automatically is enrolled as an organ donor.

A.P.M.

I just realized that I forgot to end last week with a catch up post about Andy.

He's good.

Happy Monday!

K.S.M.

My beautiful 5 year old has had a great year, only 20 days into the month. The day after she turned 5 she set some goals for the coming year........learn to spell, learn to read, and tie her shoes. Everyday she asks us to help her learn to spell something, and we've started just giving her words and letting her try and sound them out. Tess is even helping out by making worksheets for Kate to help her out. Kate has also started reading books to us. It is so hard to know if she is really reading, or just memorized the words from hearing it so many times.

Kate can also check learning to tie her shoes off her bucket list. This weekend she and I sat on the living room floor, surrounded by all sizes of shoes, and practiced tying the laces. Kate is learning it is considerably easier to tie the shoes when they are just sitting on the floor, rather than when they are actually on the foot. Turns out pant legs and knees totally get in the way of making a loop!

How many days until Kindergarten starts? question we get asked at least once per week.

She is the only kid I know that is totally bummed that school gets cancelled.

She is the proud occupant of the lower bed on the new bunk beds the girls got a few weeks ago. We moved her things into Tess's room and the two are making it work. Every once in a while I hear a snippet of dissent between them, but for the most part, it is good. She looks so small in this big twin bed, but don't tell her that!

For Kate's birthday, her Aunt Mimi took her to see "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" at the Coterie in Crown Center. Kate loves this book and even took along her copy to use as a reference during the play. Turns out the play was awesome, and Kate followed along and let everyone know what page coincided with the play. She got to dress up and even asked me to curl her hair.

Sorry for the sideways picture...but it takes so stupid long to download them, I hated to start over. This is her birthday party at Chuck E Cheese, and was such a great place for her party......they made her feel like a superstar! After she got 876 tickets in the ticketblaster, plus all the tickets she earned, plus all the tickets everyone gave her...this was her take home prize. When she brought it to show me, her smile was about to make her cheeks split, it was so big. She said she couldn't stop smiling even if she tried. That kind of happiness is from pure JOY. My thanks to the big mouse for a party well done....even if the pizza does have a laxative effect on most stomachs.

J.G.M

Classic Jane-ism:

-She walked into the kitchen and says "Mom, I'm not a baby, I'm a girl, and I need a banana."

-"I need a snack.....in a bowl."

-"We're gonna kick your butt" line from Despicable Me

-"My baby is crying! She needs a bah bah!"

-"Mommy, I want you! I want to hold you! I love you" all said while sobbing and reaching for me. She recently started doing this when I drop her off at my parents, or even when I leave her with Andy. It kills me. I already have mom guilt for going to work full-time and depriving her of having me at home like the other girls did. The ironic thing is, the other girls weren't really the clingy type and I always wondered what it felt like to have a kid lose it when I left them. Turns out, it SUCKS.

Being "Pah free" = no more pacifier= priceless! Every kid has their thing. Some kids suck their thumbs, some are uber clingy and shy, some aren't good sleepers.....whatever. Our kids have loved their pah and cee (pacifier and favorite blanket) We have been without a pacifier for two weeks.....hooray! Now we just need to figure out how to trick her into wanting to use the toliet. We are planning to sign her up for preschool this fall, and there is a no diaper policy. She is by far our most headstrong kid.

I just can't say enough about how much I love her. See picture below if you can't figure out why.

This smile makes me woozy I love it so much.

Trying to convince me to let her go outside....yes, she has food on her face. Just a minute ago, I caught her licking her finger and wiping it on my face. I asked her what she was doing and she said she was trying to get the "stuff off your face". That stuff was a zit. Lordy, how I wish that worked. Guess I do the mom finger lick to get things off her face a lot.

Listening to her Ipod and coloring a Christmas present. I don't know if you noticed, but this little girl holds the marker for precision coloring. She takes care to try and color in the lines every time. No typical two year old scribbling for this kid.

I could just go on and on about how stinking funny this child is. She totally rocks our world with laughter. Seriously, if you can, I highly recommend you spend some time with her. Just let us know.

B.T.M.

Piano/Voice Recital

I needed a picture of Tess and this is one of my favorites. She did such a great job at her recital and looked spectacular...don't ya think?

Tess has only been in school for 6 days so far this year. After Christmas break, the kids had a week of school, then several snow days, and most recently a four day weekend. I am all for celebrating MLK day, but to give the teachers a work day the Friday before? Really?

Her grades for the semester were straight A's.....what a smarty pants. I continue to have to remind her to stop reading and go to bed each night. What a problem to have.

If only I had the same problem with having to make her stop practicing her piano. It is such an odd struggle between us. She is such a gifted kid musically. She can sing and play notes on the piano just by listening. But asking her to sit still and practice for an hour(30 minutes of piano and 30 minutes of voice) is about too much. We are working on ways to break the time up into smaller portions so her gnat sized attention span stays in check. This Saturday she will be videotaped singing two songs to be posted on Youtube. It is a singing contest her teacher has several voice students in. The first place prize is $500, and until recently, she was seriously trying to figure out how she would spend that cash. Not that I wanted to squash her dreams, but the reality of thousands of kids competing was a big bite of reality sandwich.

The last two Saturdays, Tess has played basketball with her KHRA team. Both times they won. She scored 6 points in her first week, and was a defensive force this weekend. Her daddy(aka "coach") texted me and said she "really looked like a basketball player"....I'm pretty sure he was smiling from ear to ear as he hit -send-. She loves the game. We love watching her play. What JOY.

Tess and her newly turned 5 year old sister got bunk beds about 3 weeks ago. So far, so good. I am so proud how she has welcomed Kate into her room, and hasn't completely freaked out at her new loss of alone time/privacy. I hope the newness of the beds doesn't wear off too quickly. Turns out she sleeps like me...can't fall asleep if there is the slightest oddity of noise. By oddity I mean snoring. One night I walked into their bedroom and saw Tess leaning over Kate. I surprised her, she surprised me....when I asked what she was doing, Tess tells me she was pinching Kate's nose trying to get her to stop snoring. How does she know that works? I usually just elbow her dad.

S.A.M.

I have totally stunk it up as a blogger this year. There has been plenty to blog about, but the time has been slim, so I am doing the dreaded catch up blogs..... BUT in an attempt to keep the posts short and read-able, without everyone needing a snack and a potty break, I am going to start 2011 the same way I ended 2010. Everyone in The Martens 5 gets a day! Hooray!

This month is flying by. I knew going in to January that my weekends were busy, but now that we are starting week number 3, I am wishing for February to come on and get here!

I have made a personal goal(me and a bazillion other people)to eat better and exercise more. I have been at my new job for six months, and I can officially say that office work makes me fat! I do a lot of sitting, and there are endless opportunities to eat. Now I am paying attention to the amount and type of food I eat(something I haven't done in a while), and trying to exercise 5 nights a week. I didn't grow up with parents that dieted, and I have never been a person of extremes. I just know better than to tell myself that I can't EVER eat something. That type of logic with me doesn't work. I have a long way to go, but I feel like my motivation this time is different. I would love to exercise my back into feeling better and avoid surgery. Not sure if this is entirely possible, but when I go back to the doctor I want to be able to say that I tried.

This weekend I spent Saturday with the youth on God's Mountain(doesn't that sound awesome?) in Rushville Mo, for the annual Youth Retreat. The theme this year was "Less of me-More like Jesus"....and was spent teaching and inspiring the kids to embrace the merciful and compassionate traits of Jesus and use them in their everyday life. I taught the Bible study of "The Woman at the Well (John 4:3-30 if you're interested) and LOVED it. When not in breakout session of Bible learnin' we were doing "extreme"challenges ,team building games, and spontaneous dancing. These teens are such fun. I haven't danced that much in my life, and I already told my husband that next year I am spending the entire weekend, instead of just one day. God is so good.

Next weekend I travel with the youth to a youthfest weekend in Springfield, MO. This time will be an overnight trip and should be a good time. More on that later.

I love my kids, I love my husband, I love my job. My parents are doing good, my brother is fine, and I am so thankful that we are all healthy. This is the foundation that I ground myself on anytime I start to feel frustrated, overwhelmed, or just plain pissy. I want to do more, be more, and give more to be a blessing to others. That is my real resolution for this year.

I'd just like to fit in my clothes a little more comfortably while I do these amazing things.