The Martins

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Monday, March 28, 2011

My Mom and Sister

My sister Kristen and my niece Ana were in Pittsburgh for Ana's dance competition. They met up with my folks and here's a great shot of my mom and sister in the city!

Friday, March 25, 2011

Harding Avenue Elementary Open House

No longer is open house just an opportunity to sit in a tiny chair and look through your kid's messy desk. Now it's a full-fledged event, spanning 2+ hours, with each grade doing something to amaze and impress. For us, it meant the 5th grade wax museum where Spencer was Bill Gates and the 3rd grade fables. Both kids did a great job!

Good he picked a comfy position because he couldn't move for an hour!

Vivian as Maria Montessori


end of the evening!

Grant and Mrs. Biggs, his teacher

Bill....errrr Spencer....and his dad!

Cortney's Birthday

I should probably mention that I had my birthday too, but it ended up described on the other blog: http://unblob.blogspot.com/2011/03/birthday-deadlifts.html

Spring!

It's Spring! The kids are getting back outside and Grant has resumed work on the subterranean fort. We had to have a little talk about mud management and the wisdom of wearing the muddy clothes for the duration then leaving them, and the OLD shoes in the garage for the attendant (a.k.a. mom) to deal with.

On the first really nice day, Spencer took it upon himself to put the hammock back up. The problem is we lost the top half of one anchor tree in the fall, and when he got in it this spring, the soggy ground could no longer support the tree, and down went the tree, Spencer, and hammock. Robert told the kids to take the remains of the tree to the "mulch" pile (more like pile of vegetative crap). They never hesitated, and off to the garage they went to get the wheelbarrow and work out the problem together!! It took some doing and some encouragement and ideas from Robert, but by gosh they got the job done!!

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Spencer turns 11!

This week was Spencer's birthday week, because a day is not enough for us around here! His actual birthday was Wednesday, and Oma and Grandfriend joined us at 7:45 for the before-school birthday ritual of Carol Lee doughnuts. They had gotten him a LCD shield for the Arduino and he got right to work programming it and finding data sheets to inform him.

With the Arduino LCD Sh

Spencer made his own party invitations and invited Tyler, Davis, and Vivian for a sleepover this weekend. We enjoyed pizza and wings for dinner, the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Halo (ugh), and fusable bead art. There were bouts of Nerf wars, skateboard park building, and unspecified mayhem! A good time was had by all.

Breakfast is served!! Biscuits with egg, cheese, bacon, soy sausage

Bead art and Halo on the Xbox were the two main activities

Turtle Ice Cream Cake from Maggie Moo's

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Grant turns 9!!

Grant had 6, yes SIX, friends sleep over for his 9th birthday party! I believe my words were "yes, what are the odds all six can come." Well, the odds worked in his favor! Fortunately he and Spencer are pretty good at handling things. Grant planned his own party and made his own invitation (below). I did suggest that he forgo gifts and instead have each friend bring an ice cream topping which worked out great.

His big gift (shared with Spencer who's bday is in early March) was an Xbox Kinect system. We had that in the family room, the Wii in the basement, and a movie (original Ghostbusters) showing on the wall of the playroom where they all slept...eventually.

In the morning I made the famous peanut butter chocolate chip pancakes which were enjoyed by all!