Last weekend before Christmas break

Ben and Ian hanging out watching a movie on the couch during the Friday snow day.

Making Christmas cookies.

Ian helping decorate and eat the cookies.

Cami and Ben at Morgan's swimming birthday party.

Ian ready to play outside.

This weekend seemed to go by so quickly even though we were kept inside by the cold weather and snow.  We finished our Christmas decorating (each year I say that next year I will do more) and spent time organizing and doing a little cleaning.  We also had fun baking cookies and just hanging out with the kids. We took the kids to a swimming birthday party at a hotel on Saturday, which was a nice way to burn off some energy.  Church was cancelled on Sunday due to the extreme cold, so we had a special "daddy" breakfast of strawberry crepes and bacon..YUM! 

One Year...

Today we celebrate a special day, Gotcha Day!  It is a day we celebrate each year with each of our children on the day in which we officially got them and took them into our arms.  While Ian is still small and doesn't remember what happened (nor does he care at this point in his life), we still try to make it a special day.  

We started off the day with Ian up at around 5am hanging out with daddy until mommy got up around 6am.  After dropping Ben and Cami off at school, Ian and I ran some errands.  We enjoyed a lunch of Pesto Cavatappi, his favorite, from Noodles. We had a fun day of playing and also resting. As he grows, he will learn of the journey we took to bring him home.  It was a long

 and difficult wait for us (especially me) as we awaited pictures and finally a travel call.  He will learn of the selfless decision his birth mother made in choosing life for him and choosing an

 adoption plan for him.  He will learn of his wonderful foster parents who cared for him for 9

 months of his life.  He will hopefully grow to know how much he is loved by so many people around the world.  We thank and praise God for this wonderful little boy that has blessed our lives.  

This week we went to see Dora and Diego at East Towne Mall.  The kids were so excited to meet some of their favorite characters.  I also took Amelia and baby Ben, our friends children, to see

 them as well.  We took pictures and then played on the toys, and then finally headed for home.  The kids were exhausted, so they all went down for a nap.  I enjoy the quiet time to collect my thoughts and do some house work or just sit and relax for a while.  Another busy weekend is ahead as we put up our tree and decorate. 

Ian likes to ride on the motorcycle at the mall. Thankfully he does not realize that it will move if you put money in it.

Ian is not so sure about Dora and Diego.  He needs to keep his eye on them!

Ian and Cami anxiously await a balloon animal.

Oregon Trail

Friday morning around 6am, we left for Milwaukee to start our journey to Eugene Oregon to see my mom and Bruce. We arrived in Milwaukee and flew to Kansas City, MO and then on to Seattle, WA. We rented a car and drove to Eugene, arriving around 7:30pm. It made for a LONG day, but the kids (and parents too) made it without too much fuss. The kids were so excited to see Aladodo and Papa. They played for a while, ate a snack and then headed to bed. Thankfully we all slept well, even Ian. We spent Saturday relaxing while the kids enjoyed some time with Grandma and Grandpa. They built a cookie Christmas tree, opened lots of presents and played with toys. The day went so fast and it was off to sleep again.
Sunday was a big day as we started off with church in Veneta and then lunch at Our Daily Bread restaurant. The food at the restaurant was so good. It was a real treat. We went back to the house and rested a little and then headed to Junction City for Bruce's Ordination. The church was packed as we arrived. It was a wonderful ceremony and Installation. We enjoyed a delicious dinner after. After the dinner we got in the car and made the 2 hour drive to Portland where we spent the night at a hotel. We are glad we made the drive in order to break up the drive back to Seattle. The kids enjoyed swimming and time in the hot tub before leaving for the Seattle airport. We now sit in the Seattle airport waiting for our flight to arrive. It is on a 2 hour delay, which means we will hopefully make it home by midnight tonight. All in all, it was a great trip! We are also proud to announce that Ben will hit 100,000 miles on this trip. By the time we get to Milwaukee, he will have over 101,000. We will post pictures tomorrow when we get home.

Another illness

Today is a peaceful day of mom resting while watching Cami and Ian play playdoh.  Ian just smashed his crackers and cereal into the red playdoh and is having a grand time making a "cake". His nose continues to run and his cough sometimes seems non stop.  I sit with almost no voice and a stuffy nose.  Thankfully Ben and Cami are pretty healthy, with the exception of coughs and runny noses.  Our lives are forced to temporarily slow down while we return to health.  If all goes well this week, we will be flying out to see my mom and Bruce on Friday.  We are hopeful that the Midwest flights go smoothly and no weather or mechanical problems get in the way of our journey to Seattle and back.  We will have about a 6 hour drive from Seattle to Eugene once we complete our flight from Milwaukee to Kansas City to Seattle.  We chose to fly to Seattle since that is the closest Midwest Airlines airport to Eugene.  Our back up is going to be San Francisco, although that would put us on an 8 hour drive to Eugene.

The kids are doing really well in school.  Ben is glad that he got to move tables this week.  He was having problems with one of his tablemates calling names, so he is glad to have new people to sit next to.  Cami continuing to learn her letters and numbers.  She enjoys her teacher and her classmates.  She is such a big helper during the week when we have our friends Amelia and baby Ben over.  

The first picture is of Cami with her Starbucks hot chocolate.  Starbucks gave away free coffee on election day if you told them you voted.  We have a Starbucks in our Target, so on our way out, we stopped to pick up free coffee.  I am not usually a coffee drinker, however, with enough cream and sugar to make it close to a latte, I will drink it.  Cami was proud to have "matching" mommy and daughter drinks.

The second picture is of Ian with a lip kazoo in his mouth.  He likes to put it in and walk around with it as he blows it.  It is funny to watch the amount of drool come down as he giggles.

Snack week

As a mom of 3 and sometimes a caretaker of 5 young ones, I find little time to get online and post to our blog.  My intentions are good, but somehow the day flies by and it is time for bed.  I am taking a little time now while Cami and Ian sleep and Ben is in school to give an update on our lives this past month.  

Our weekends and week days have been filled with activity.  I am watching a friends kids, ages 8 weeks and 2 years old, 2 1/2 days a week.  I really enjoy having them and the kids enjoy having playmates on those days.  Cami likes playing dolls and dress up with Amelia.  Amelia LOVES the extra attention Cami gives her.  Cami acts like a little mommy to Ian, Amelia, and baby Ben.  She is a wonderful helper and a fun playmate.  

Justin took on a dare from co workers at Strand to dress up as Robin from Batman and Robin.  He raised money for the Bread of Life Food Pantry at church.  He got up early and rode his bike to work.  He spent the entire day dressed up as Robin.  The guys in his office even video taped it and uploaded it to You Tube.  Here is the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFOHYPNryDA

Ben was in charge of snacks this week.  He has been looking forward to this week since the beginning of the school year.  He chose to bring Kimbop for one of his snack days.  We were able to get child size kimbop for the kids.  We were able to pick it up on Tuesday morning and bring it over to school in time for the kids to eat it with their lunch.  We brought granola bars for the actual morning snack since the kimbop was not ready until 10am.  It was a hit with the kids and adults!  Ben is finishing up his week of snacks tomorrow and we are proud to say that he made all pretty healthy choices for what to bring this week.

Field Trip to the Pumpkin Farm

We had a busy day on Friday as we all rose early to get ready to go on the class field trip to the Pumpkin farm.  Justin took off work so that he could be a chaperone.  Ian and I tagged along to enjoy the field trip and a nice family trip to the farm.  The kids were excited.  We met at school and then drove in a caravan of cars and vans to the farm in Stoughton.  

We went on a tractor ride out to the pumpkin patch so all the kids could pick out their own pumpkin.  Ben and Cami spent quite a bit of time making sure that they picked the right pumpkin.  Cami and Ben also helped pick out Ian's pumpkin since he was a little bit afraid of mommy putting him down in the midst of all the pumpkins.  We did manage to get him to hold one small pumpkin for a moment while we took a picture.  I think he was a little overwhelmed by everything going on.

Marthaler update

We are enjoying these few days of warm weather that will soon come to an end.  Justin and Ben are outside putting stain on the Playsystem.  Ian is "helping" which was not initially intended.  His hands are now a new shade of brown.  

We enjoyed going to Eastside Lutheran Church this morning to hear the kids sing with their classes. It is neat to see them all excited about Jesus.  Ben even impressed us later when he started talking about the sermon that Pastor Mike gave.  He was telling us about how people should not judge others, but speak to them in love and kindness.