Easter Events

Another fun Easter has come and gone. We started out with a double blessing. One was for my mom to help her with their new calling, which, as most probably heard during General Conference, my dad was called as a General Authority for our church so they're moving out of the country again, this time to Guatemala on August 1. Quite a big change for our family, so we're spending as much time together as possible right now to soak up all the time we have together. The reality of it all is sinking in more and more. While we feel extremely blessed for this opportunity they'll have to serve the Lord and are very proud of them, we also know the effect it will have on all of us. After all, we didn't move to Texas for the cool summers! :) Anyway, after that we blessed Ben and Emily's new baby. Then, we had our traditional Martino family egg hunt and hot dog roast out at the Ranch and followed by a fun, relaxing afternoon at Nana and Pop's of climbing Pop's "waterfall", riding the go-cart, etc. The weather couln't have been more perfect.

 

 

 

 

 

Brighton's Field Trip

Brighton's class had a field trip today to the Heritage Museum in Plano where they were "transformed" back into the late 1800's. I had all 3 younger kids with me, so I only ended up spending about 15 minutes with her as the others required my full attention, but it was fun. I know that Sydney and Carter's favorite parts were washing the clothes with the washboard and then hanging them to dry (note to self - start having kids do my laundry outside) and of course the stream. What is it about water and sticks that kids love so much?

 

 

 

 

Gardening

The kids LOVE helping Chris plant flowers. And Chris loves that they have finally reached the age where they are actually helpful while doing it. And yes, our house is on the market. We've had a lot of traffic (about 16 showings in 2 1/2 weeks) but still no offers. Darn that small backyard! But we should be getting our blueprints back from the architect this week as we're starting a new adventure - custom building. And this time we're getting a huge backyard - we found a great lot! We're very excited, but I still have to get past selling a house; which entails keeping it perfectly clean, leaving and staying gone whenever someone wants to see it (which coincides with naps a lot of the time) and doing all this with 4 small kids in the home. Fun.

 

And I know I'm posting a lot of these, but Carter's going to through a "finding myself" stage and seeing what he can get away with. Most of the time his tantrums include a smile, though, which means they're totally fake, but still just as annoying! :) So he's running back to the side of the house to fake cry and be dramatic. We can't help but just laugh sometimes and take pictures!

 

Dallas Science Museum

Sydney asks me at least once a week if we can go to the Science Museum, so when Lauren called as asked if we wanted to go, Sydney was more than ready!

 

 

 

 

The only bad part about it was having to leave. Carter loves his aunt Lauren - when they were no longer following us on the way home he said "I really want Lauren. I just love her, love her." Cute.

Spring Break etc.

The latter part of Spring Break we went on a 2-night ward campout to Lake Murray State Park in Oklahoma and had a great time along with a huge turnout. We were all a bit tired by the end, but the girl's were begging to stay longer.

 

 

 

Carter was a bit pooped, though, as you can see below.

 

And my baby is actually 6 months - I can't believe it. He sure loves his big sis, too!

 

 

Also, for a YMYW activity, they did "Where's Waldo" and had the Bishopric hide in the mall. Chris decided to make it a bit harder for them to find him. Scary, huh? :)

 

Gavin Tries Solids

All of my other children have nursed every 3 hours, but sweet, opinionated Gavin "needs" it every 2 - 2 1/2 hours, which is why we decided to try solids a few weeks before the others. He is 5 months old, though. Anyway, as you can see below, it didn't go over too well; of course, there was a lot of action going on in our house at the time. This was about a week ago, and sadly enough, we haven't gotten around to trying it again, but hopefully it will get better! In the meantime, I'll just continue to enjoy this abundance of bonding time with my son!

Daddy Daughter Trip

At the beginning of each year, Chris takes one child with him to AZ. This year Sydney got to go and had a ball! There were a few tears shed when she left, but I guess I have to admit that they were only mine. I don't like being apart from my Sydney! Anyway, I'm glad she had this one on one time with her dad and AZ family.