Aerobics class

Question. When did aerobics go from this:

where there are normal people who wear fashionable leg warmers; to this:

Where by the end of the "warm up" you are ready to curl up in the fetal postion and go home. Seriously. Someone help me. I have been going twice a week, Wednesday lady is normal.....Friday lady looks something like this:

It took all I had last week not to run...nay, walk and/or crawl out of the room and roll into my minivan. Was there some shift in the aerobic continuom over the last decade? Am I the only one that feels this way? I have decided to revolt against the aerobic machine and produce T-shirts in mass quantities that contain a motto such as:


or:


Whose with me?!

How boys say goodbye

Ever wondered about the emotional differences between boys and girls? Let me help. When girls say goodbye to one of their best, best friends they cry, they hug, they cry some more, they write each other notes and cry. When boys say goodbye to their best, best friend here is what they do:




Man, oh man that testosterone is powerful stuff is it not?! And so we bid farewell to our good friend Robbie of 3 years...which in AF kid time is like 20 years. We are sad to see him move to the DC area but hope that we will be able to see him soon. We love ya Robbie!

And the love keeps comin...

Here's what my little stud muffin got for Valentines day from the young lady:

If I may get a word in.....

He has gone where no other Martin boy has gone before:



He had A GIRL call him. Yep, a GIRL. Her name is Aria, she's 7, likes horses, painting and talking to my precious son on the phone. Want a good laugh? Listen to a 6 year old boy and a 7 year old girl talk on the phone....funny, funny stuff. He can't get a word in. He just walks around in circles in the living room and listens to her go on and on....like a good little man. And at the end he says, "Are we done?" and then hangs up when she apparently says yes. Hmmm, guess we need to work on our phone manners?

...and you thought opening the present was naughty

I just recieved an email from my dad, who while reading the post about the present snoopiness was reminded of this naughtiness while we were visiting them a few summers back:

Look carefully and you will see the finger marks in the side of the cake

Apparently my kids have severe issues with delayed gratification when it comes to birthday items. Hmmmm, I guess we need to work on that so I shall add it to my list of things I am teaching my children:

1.Love God
2.Pick your clothes up off the floor(only the older two have issues with this, I learned to teach them YOUNG with the twins so their rooms are actually quite sparkly!)
3.Use deoderant......EVERY DAY, MULTIPLE TIMES A DAY.....I BEG OF YOU
4.Always open a door for a lady
5.Stop snooping/eating cake before your actual birthday
6.While in church, refrain from nose picking while mommy is worshiping Jesus...it's distracting
7.Refrain from nose picking all together
8.Stop peeing on the toilet seat...in fact, if you are unable to get the pee fully in the nice blue toilet water....just go outside.
9.No kissing till your married...that's why the pastor says, "You may now kiss the bride."......have you seen "tween" TV lately?!! Grrrrrrrr!

Whew, I still have a lot of parenting work to do! Pray for me!

Happy Birthday Punkie!!!

Look who turned 11 today:






Where has the time gone?! A few things about our sweet pumpkin head...or "punkie" as he is known to me.

*He is HYSTERICAL
*Most teachers do not think he is as funny as we think he is
*His head has been this size since the day he was born and his body has finally caught up
*He is INCREDIBLY athletic and picks up new sports with ease
*He wants to have two Golden Retrievers and one Husky when he grows up
*John and I will be buying him the most industrial vacuum we can find to clean all that dog hair when he grows up
*He is academically gifted and manages to carry straight A's with little/no effort...much to the dismay of his brothers
*He is our adventuresome one...if I need to worry about any of my kids doing stupid things like bungee jumping off of a bridge...it's this one.
*He(and Jack) are our night owls
*He will eat any food put in front of him and can out eat John and I two to one.
*He is loved! First and most by God and secondly by us!

Happy Birthday punkie! We love you!

Sneaky Mr. Sneaky pants!

This:


is what I discovered a few days ago. This present has been wrapped and ready for Jordan since Jason's birthday....out in plain view.....in my room.......taunting anyone who passes by it......at the mercy of four little pairs of hands that were apparently dying to know what Jordan was going to get.....my favorite part of this is that whomever it was went through great lengths to cover up their crime....even going so far as to get some more tape and attempt to tape it back up...


It's off at the FBI testing lab now being fingerprinted because...don't tell the boys...but I have NO idea which one it is. I do however, have strong feelings that it's either this one:


or the soon to be birthday boy himself:


Hmmmm, let's see who feigns obivious excitement at the birthday party...then I will catch Mr. Sneaky Sneaky Pants!

Zumba

So I was invited to go to a Zumba class at the base gym last night; I'll try just about anything once, so I said yes without even knowing what on earth a Zumba(noun?) or Zumbaing(verb?) would entail. Well, let me just be the first to tell ya...it involves a LOT of tail. Yep, as the rappers would say...you must shake your money maker...guess that explains why I ain't got a lot of money! So a couple of things about the class itself:

No one told me there would be MIRRORS and windows in the room......and believe me ladies; that ain't pretty...that room was most definitely designed by a very mean, mean man.

I stood in the back as any normal person would and about halfway through they flipped it so that the back people were in the front....ummmm, that is NOT OKAY! Why do you think the back people like being in the back?!!!!!

The room was full of about 15 women and 1 very enthusiastic man in spandex....'nough said.

I positioned myself next to an elderly Chineese woman thinking I could blend in.....she was WAY better at this than I was.

I was apparently biting my bottom lip the ENTIRE class trying to concentrate on the moves and didn't realize this until the end when I discovered a giant sore on my lip.

I am the whitest white girl ever. This white girl cannot dance.


And finally, after 4 kids in 5 years...no one, I repeat, NO ONE wants me to shake anything and I am all but certain that night will somehow, someway end up on You Tube.


Because though I like to think of myself as this:


I am truly more like this:


With my motto being something like this:


Happy Zumbaing!

And the heavens opened up

On a quiet Sunday afternoon when you hear the giant voice system on base say a garbled something, you don't usually pay too much attention.....especially in sunny Northern California. Because really, who can understand that giant voice anyway? Well, I think the message today must have been something like, "Get your butt inside because the clear blue sky is about to open up and drop a ton of hail on your noggin." Yes, I'm sure that most certainly was the message. Well, our butts were already inside but one butt just had to run out and experience the wonder of it all. I'm sure ya'll by now know which one it was!

And then it was official...

As of 10:26pm yesterday, January 24th the oldest got older. He's 12! We had a great time and John and I are once again happy to have survived the onslaught that that number of boys inevitably brings....the food consumption, the pillows, the food consumption, the sleeping bags, the food consumption and the smell, oh gracious the smell. Yankee candles anyone?!! J had a great time with all of his friends and is thoroughly enjoying his first $50 bill, thanks to Grandpa Terry! Now only 14 days until we do it all over again for Jordan who will be 11 on the 6th of February.....whose dumb idea was it to have kids so close together anyway?!

My favorite part of the day was when Jason opened his gift from John. Jason and Jordan have both wanted a PSP for a very looonnng time. Those puppies aren't cheap so John wrapped up his PSP complete with all of his games that he had bought himself back when he used to deploy for some airplane entertainment, Jason opened it and ran right into John's arms and gave him the biggest hug, it was precious. We love this boy!

Very interesting

I thought the release of this video was very timely when you consider one of Obama's first executive orders that he issued today. I'm praying for this man! Wanna join me?

The oldest gets older

Look who is 12 today! Wow, 12....when did that happen?!









A few things about Jason:
He is an incredible kid, loves the Lord, loves his brothers, and still thinks John and I are very cool people.
He is downright hysterical
He wants to be a professional baseball player or a Christian video game designer
He is a self proclaimed chick magnet
He is a lover of all things sports
He lacks the ability to pick up his clothes off of the bathroom floor after his nightly shower.
He could eat plain spaghetti noodles and/or rice for every meal from now until Jesus returns and be very happy.
And for all of this, he is greatly loved and is such a blessing to our family. All of our kids are special to us in different ways and for Jason, he will be special to me because he made me a mother. I love you buddy, Happy, happy birthday!

Future pilot?

Jordan wants to be a few things when he grows up. His current list includes the following in no particular order:
1. A vet
2. A pilot
3. A professional sports player
It's all in the wardrobe and last night he tried pilot on for size.

The tooth fairy...redeemed!....kinda

Justin lost his second tooth. He put it under his pillow. He went to sleep. So did John and I......again. But behold! He woke up the next morning and distracted by the smell of pancakes wafting through his room he didn't check which gave me just enough seconds to leap up the stairs, grab the tooth, leave the money, and casually make my re-entrance into the dining table. Whew! We have really got to get this together! We still have quite a lot of teeth headed our direction. By the way, what on earth do I do with all of them? Do you save them all? Is that totally weird and gross? To be quite honest I have a few shoved in nooks and crannies in various places in plastic sandwhich bags but what do I do? I am almost positive I will not suddenly develop the urge to bust out hoards of tiny teeth covered in dried blood and last years breakfast and show them to the neighbors and their friends. We all have what 20 teeth? So 4 kids x 20 teeth each....uhhhh, seriously?! 80 teeth?! So what to do, what to do. Suggestions anyone?