Happy Easter

Happy Easter from the Marthaler Family.

This weekend we headed up to Minneapolis to spend an early Easter with Justin's family, aunts, uncles, and cousins. We enjoyed a delicious meal, great conversation, and games. The kids loved playing outside in the beautiful sunshine with their cousins.

With the 5 hour drive, we decided it would be easier on all of us if we stayed in a hotel rather than head back to Madison. The kids LOVE staying in a hotel. They jump on the beds, run around, and swim in the "cold" pool and the "hot" pool. The kids woke up early to find their Easter baskets that were hidden in the hotel room. We went for breakfast then let the kids indulge in one of their treats. We checked out of our hotel and headed to church at Justin's aunt Sharon's church, St. Michaels. The service was amazing, especially with it being Easter. The kids enjoyed the service as well. We were a little nervous at first since we ended up in the second row, right behind the pastor. Thankfully the kids behaved and even participated in some of the service.

To make the 5 hour trip home easier on the kids, we stopped at Dennis and Judy's house in Eau Claire. The kids love playing with Kevin and Renee and we love having the opportunity to spend time with Dennis and Judy with minimal interruptions from the kids. They adore Kevin and Renee, so they get lost in play. We had another delicious meal, great conversation. Justin and Dennis even got to play trains and build train tracks with Ian.

An uneventful trip back to Madison with all the kids exhausted! Out of the car, in the house for teethbrushing, prayers, kisses, and good nights. Tomorrow we start a new day with Justin out of town on business. We also prepare for the kids going back to school on Tuesday and for Ben's birthday party to the Admirals hockey game on Friday!

Here are a few more pictures from our Picture People trip to the mall on Friday...

Ian turned 3 on February 27

Ben turns 7 on April 14

Moving right along

These past 2 weeks have been fun and stressful. Justin was gone for almost a week on business to his company's Phoenix office. The weather was beautiful there, although he spent most of his time putting in long hours at the office. He was able to sneak away on the last day to see a baseball spring training game.

We found a house (not that we are looking to move currently) that we were very excited about. The house is a bank owned home about 2 blocks from our house. We went to an open house and got excited about the possibility of moving. We started cleaning out our house of excess stuff we have collected over the last 10 years. Closets got organized and areas began to get clean. We put in an offer during a 3 day listing on the house. We found out last night that the bank decided on taking a lower offer than ours (and 3 other offers) and went with a cash offer. I guess Dave Ramsey is right when he says "Cash is King". Money talks. You can get a lot of great deals when you have cash in hand. The positives for this is that #1 Our house is SO much cleaner #2 I have a story for my Financial Peace University Class #3 My house is a lot more organized, but most of all, God is a Great God. We had prayed for his guidance in this situation with moving and selling our house. We know that He did what was best for us right now. Life is uncertain, but we are certain that we have a God that loves us and takes care of us. He knows what is best for us. Although I am really disappointed that we did not get this house (for those of you I have talked to about this, you know that I had already mentally moved in. I even picked out paint colors, had ideas for where furniture would be arranged, etc) I know that God is in control and that He will continue to take care of us and help prepare us for when we are ready to move.

Ben standing next to his science project on the Sun

Ben and Cami were so proud of the hard work they did on their Science projects for the Science Fair. Ben spent a lot of time reading about and learning about the sun with daddy. He decided to make his project explaining the different layers of the sun.

Cami's class had to pick a topic on "Where does ______ come from". She immediately chose ice cream since it is one of her favorite treats. Daddy pulled up a video on the computer about how ice cream is made and Cami watched and soaked up the information. She was excited to make a project that involved coloring and crafts. She is quite the little artist and spent over an hour decorating the box that the project had to fit into.

Both kids received ribbons for their participation, which they proudly display in their rooms.

Cami next to her Science project 'Where does Ice Cream come from'

Korean New Year Party

We celebrated our annual Korean New Year party. We celebrate it a few weeks after the traditional one so the ladies at the Korean church can help our group with food. They enjoy making traditional Korean food for our adoption group. We always enjoy watching and helping them and most of all eating it.

We celebrated with traditional games, such as tug of war. We also enjoyed watching traditional Korean fan dancing. We had a wonderful time. The kids favorite part was "eating the yummy food."

Traditional Korean fan dancing

Kelly, Jared, Cami, and Ben take a turn at tug o war

Ian loved playing tug o war, although he was pulling the opposite way of his team

Ben (hiding behind Justin), daddy, and Cami playing tug o war

Ian playing a hacky sack type game

enjoying some delicious Korean food

When daddys away...

We had a good start to the week, but knew that things would get a little more difficult as the week went on. Justin left on a business trip to Arizona on early Tuesday morning. As the week goes on, we all miss having him around to talk to, to snuggle with, to read stories with, etc. Ian especially misses his middle of the night snuggler. We have been getting along well, but since Justin is working a lot, we haven't been able to talk to him very much. He and 2 other guys from the Madison office are trying to switch over the phone system at the office in Phoenix. They have been putting in long hours and hope to get out tomorrow in time for a baseball game. Thankfully, Justin has been able to get in a run or two to burn off the extra stress.

We stocked up on Pull ups and have been starting the potty training process this week. It may be a long road ahead as Ian is not very excited about it. He willingly sits on the potty (at least some of the time he is willing), but doesn't think the potty or poo poo should go in the toilet. Hopefully things will click soon, but I am prepared for a long road ahead.

Ian turns 3 years old!!!!

Our precious little boy turns 3. I can't believe that a little over 2 years ago we brought this little boy home to be with us forever. What a joy it has been to raise him so far. He is full of silliness! We can't imagine our family without him in it.

At Ben's Upward basketball game

Grandma Sandy made a VERY special train cake for Ian's birthday

Ian is very proud of his cake

Trying out the cake

Talking to Uncle Mike and Aunt Allison

Who needs other presents when you have a truck and a car?

Froggy backpack from Cami and Ben

Who wants to have a snowball fight?

Sledding fun

Aunt Keri pulling Cami around on the sled

I bet Natalie is strong enough to push grandpa and Cami

Daddy and Cami are headed down the hill

Grandma and Grandpa are burying Ben in the snow

Fun in the Snow

Another snowy day. While Ian and mommy stayed inside again today to try to help him recover from being sick, Justin, Ben, and Cami headed to the sledding hill. With the fresh snow, they had a great time cruising down the hill. Ben said he felt like he was in a bobsled (one of his favorite Olympic sports).

Cami on her sled

Ben and Cami at the sledding hill. Another successful day of sledding.

As much as we love the snow, we are all ready for spring. We are ready to say good bye to the snow and hello to warmer weather.

RSV

It has been a tough week so far. Justin, Ian, and Cami were up north for the weekend and came back Sunday evening. We celebrated Valentine's Day with a special meal that Ben and I made. Ian had come down with a cough on Saturday night, which made for a long night for Justin. Ian was up most of the night on Sunday coughing and again on Monday night. The coughing fits were so bad that we went through several pairs of pajamas and sheets due to the mucus he was vomiting up (sorry for the blunt description). Today I tried to get him into our new clinic (Dean), but had no luck. I considered Urgent Care, but finally called our pediatrician (UW). They fit him in at 11:30am. I had just enough time to pick up Cami, drop her off at the house with our friend Marcia, who came to watch the kids, and get to our appointment. I feel such comfort with our doctor. He knows the kids, knows their medical history, and always knows to tell us when to be concerned and when not to be. I learned a lot about RSV and learned that it is rapidly spreading now. Most of their appointments were due to the same symptoms as Ian. RSV is something to be be careful of, but in most cases, it is not serious. For Ian, he has a history of asthma and had pneumonia in both lungs last year and was almost hospitalized. My instruction was to keep a close eye on him and come right back in if there are any changes. Last year his pneumonia started as a really bad cough and within a few days it had turned into pneumonia.

For us, we are tired, tired and really tired. I would love a nap, but I don't see that happening for a few days. For now, we are just praying that he gets better quickly!