A day of 4 generations . . .

Today the girls and I spent the afternoon with my mom, grandma, and cousin Angie - 4 generations of Martin women! I actually didn't even realize how special it was until we were standing in front of Starbucks talking to a friend when a table of women started gawking at us, asking how many generations we represented. I guess it's pretty cool when you think about it and we are blessed! It was a fun day, despite being out with toddlers . . . we all had hair cuts this morning, went to McGrath's for lunch, hit the Nordstrom Anniversary sale on last time, the Farmer's Market, and then sat at Starbucks enjoying blended lemonades and rice krispy treats (for the girls of course)! Afterwards we all congregated back at my mom's and had a family dinner with all the guys. I should have taken a picture of the four of us cooking a very last minute dinner for 12 at 6:30! Since we love to cook and have been taught well by Grandma, it was pretty easy to whip up all sorts of food . . . just messy. We also should have gotten a picture of all of us together, but the only thing I cam home with was a picture of my very cute 14 year old 2nd cousin after he picked up his very first car (they went and got it tonight). I'll have to upload it tomorrow when I'm not so sleepy. As I am recalling the events of the day I am amazed that my little kiddos and my 81 year old grandma survived the day! We kept asking Grandma if she wanted to sit and rest and repeatedly offended her, however at 9:15 she came to tell me that she was going to bed. She outlasted my girls who left for bed at 8 with their daddy (Annie was at the door saying "ready, bed" at 7:45). I hope I can be just as lively as her someday . . .

Three year old theology, parades, and happy summer weekends . . .

My daughter Sydney is almost four but it seems like lately she is going on 14 (with the exception of toyroom cleaning and shopping). Since Josh has been working at night a lot this summer, I have been the one to take over the bedtime ritual of bathtime and prayers. We have started the tradition of teaching Sydney scriptures in the bible to quote before bedtime. We actually got the idea from a friend at church who taught her kids the Lord's Prayer. Sydney had that memorized in a week and from there we moved on to Psalm 23. Well, she can recite both of those scriptures better than me (sad, I know), so Josh and I decided to teach her The Confession of the Overcomer. This is a compilation of scriptures that our high school bible teacher put together. I can just about guarantee that every student that ever attended Santiam Christian can still recall this prayer. It's more complicated than the other two (I have an even harder time remembering it), and it uses very big words! She is doing very well, but has started asking a TON of questions. One night in particular, she asked what it meant to be cleansed by the blood of the lamb, which somehow (don't ask, not really sure) led to a conversation about tithing. This particular conversation was very entertaining because after explaining the principle of tithing, my intuitive daughter said "mom, if Jesus lives in our hearts then why do we have to give our money to the church???" I love talking to her about Jesus because I am reminded of what an honor it is as a mother to lead my children into their own walk with the Lord and to see the insight of a almost 4 year old! What really cracks me up is the fact that she has somehow put Bob Hope in the mix of Jesus and God, so every time we talk about Jesus coming back to earth she reminds me that Bob Hope will come also and we'll take the hot air balloon up to heaven (long story . . . Bob Hope is EVERYWHERE in Palm Springs which is our favorite vacation destination and Syd is enamored with him).

Other than theology, we had a happy summer weekend full of relaxation, church, a parade, a walk and breakfast with Shayla, and our first bike ride of the summer! Woohoo for weekends where we get to stay close to home. The parade was long and kind of silly, but our daughters LOVED it! What fun it is to see life through a child's eyes. As for the bike ride, it was fun but Annie's helmet kept falling off and she cried about 30% of the time. Oh well, it was good exercise and we have decided to go for a ride as often as possible. We'll see how far we get with that resolution. Oh yeah, the best part of the weekend? My little container garden is looking terrific this year - my second cucumber is ready to eat and there are little green tomatoes everywhere. For someone who hates watering and typically kills everything, I am estactic!!

Poppa and Syd at the Parade

Nina and Annie

The girls pre-ride

Post ride ice cream cone . . . yummy and messy

My 3rd baby . . . cukie! Isn't he lovely?

Cousin's Campout!

We were supposed to go camping this weekend with friends, but the trip got cancelled at the last minute. My daughter's were both SO bummed that we had to promise them we'd set up the tent in the backyard, get s'more stuff, and have a campout. Josh came home from work yesterday afternoon and true to his word, started setting up. During dinnner we had the bright idea to call his sister Heather and see if she and her kids wanted to come. They packed up and headed out for some campout fun! Want to know what happens when you take 4 kids under the age of 7 who have eaten too many s'mores, and put them in to bed in a tent with Uncle Josh???? Crazy cousin fun! Heather and I slept inside with the babies (Sam & Annie) and we listened at the kitchen window. Every ten seconds from 11pm to midnight we'd hear Josh . . . "STOP talking! Go to sleep! Get back in bed, I'm serious!" It was pretty entertaining, although we had our hands full with a wide-awake Annie and a big batch of my sugar cookies we were trying to make for the bridal shower she's throwing tomorrow (they turned out super cute). We finished the sugar-filled event with donuts and fresh fruit this morning - yum, yum.

Cousin time - Grace, Grant, Syd, Nolan

Josh roasting the "perfect" marshmallow

Grant-man taking his s'more devouring pretty seriously!

Uncle Josh and the kiddos with their super cool light sticks (which you obviously can't see)

Kiddos and Aunt Jess after singing Tuba-Tuba-Tubalaaaa (don't ask, a silly song we learned on our mission trip to HK).

Jammy time . . . Finally!

July Recap

Ok, so I'm discovering that I'm not the best blogger. Yes, I have good intentions . . . time just seems to get away from me. In a nutshell, July has been a long month and it's still not over! Josh and I have both been busy and a little stressed at work, Syd has been busy with swimming lessons, and Annie has started repeating every word we say (yay for talking!!). Anyhow, we've managed to stay busy with some fun too . . .

• 4th of July fun - Josh worked the weekend of the fourth (actually his first 7 day stretch which was nuts), but we had a blast on the 3rd at Cottage Grove lake hanging out with the Edmiston clan. The girls and I went to my parent's on the fourth for a small BBQ with friends. It was pretty fun, even for our first fourth without Josh and the St. Paul Rodeo (our 3rd of July tradition).
  
• My dad's 50th birthday party. So, actually this was not the best weekend - our family was all under a lot of stress and the result was a great deal of fighting. We should know by now that a huge party creates drama! I think we've managed to patch things up. The next day we had my friend Shayla and her boyfriend Fernando over for a birthday dinner. Josh grilled steaks and we had a great time.
  
• A semi-weekend without the kiddos! Last weekend the in-laws took the girls overnight so Josh and I could go to Caruso's with our friends Keith & Maria. We had a great night eating Italian and then splitting up - Maria and I hit the first day of Nordstrom's Anniversary Sale and Keith and Josh went to Sportsman's Warehouse for who knows what! The next day we got up and went to Salem for the Art Fair at Bush Park, then came home for a hammack nap before the girls got home. Grandparent's are the best!!!

In true Jess style, I'll add a bunch of pictures of our eventful month. Tonight my neice, nephews, and sis-in-law are headed over for an impromptu "camp-out" in the backyard! They are here now so I better go. . .

Syd, William, & Annie = BFF Forever =)

Little Miss Patriotic

Uncle Ben was too loud with the fireworks!

Desi, Emily, Kate (so sweet at 4 wks), and Jess

How patriotic we are in red, white, and blue!

Poppa and Syd playing ping pong at the big 50th party

Shayla, the girls and I at her birthday dinner (the girls are eating the frosting off the candles)