Bring on the New Year!

We Love Snow...and Lots Of It!

Our January has kicked us off real fast to a New Year of fun, excitement, and doctor's visits! We started off the year with #7 of our ear infections since September, followed by an appointment with an ENT doc to get tubes in our little girls ears. I anticipated being a teary mommy through our exit as she was taken away for the speedy procedure, but Mary Carlisle's reaction to the "happy juice" kept us in laughable tears instead.

We hardly returned back to school, when we got 3 whole days off because of this beautiful white snow! Thank You Lord! I needed some more Merry Martin time!

Chad decided we just had to have a "WHITE" Party!
White Snow, White Chili, White Russians and the movie White Dog. hehe! Chad's idea...not mine!
These are Chad's homemade White Dog cookies...yes, the dog is a mean red-eyed dog. They are supposed to look like that! :)

No one could drive up our big old hill so the neighbors packed up their drinks, food and even their babies and set up camp at the Casa de Martin for the day! It was SO fun!

Ben, Rachael & Jack making the trek in the snow

Our little fashionista checking out her boots in her reflection...hehe! Such a Diva!

Still can't find her anywhere! She picks the BEST hiding spots! Major does a good job of keeping her safe too!

Our Little Patient...She's A Trooper!

She even looks cute in scrubs!

Video 1 is the first 5 minutes of Happy Juice...Video 2 is 15 minutes later...hehe!

Laughing All The Way...

Laughing All The Way....

A Merry Martin Christmas...

10 Days... 3 Christmas', 3 Families, 12 Martins, 7 Keenans, 5 Howarths, 1 Boyfriend, 4 Baby Dolls, 1 Baby Stroller (problem!), 1 Redneck Christmas Village, 30 goats, 5 camels, 3 bulls, 1 Unhappy Santa and Unhappy Mary Carlisle, 3 Different Doctors in 3 Different Cities, 1 Bowl Game, 2 Terrible Endings to a Vol Game, and 1 Hokey Pokey Elmo...oh yes, and 17 weeks pregnant trekking across the state of Tennessee in a truck with my loving husband, 21 mos. old Mary Carlisle and our German Shepherd, Major!

She will laugh one day...right?!

Entering the Christmas Village, which we thought was going to be like the Enchanted Forest...Boy, were we wrong!!! hehe!!! :)

Happy Mary Carlisle BEFORE her encounter with Santa!

Paige getting more attention from the goat than she wanted! ...Haha!

Yes, this is their idea of Christmas...interesting?!

Anyone want to be a part of the Martin Christmas Vacation?!?! I am pretty sure we can be a top selling movie too! Hehe!!! Despite how, well, hilarious or exhausting it may have sounded...we made the best of the best and had a great time laughing our way through it! Hahaha!!!

The highlight? Watching Mary Carlisle unwrap all our Christmas gifts! Isn't that who they are all for anyway? She thinks so and she finds such enjoyment in unwrapping every tiny piece of paper and handing them to me, I couldn't help but let her think they were for her! I have a tidy girl on my hands...she doesn't want any paper to touch the floor it must be thrown away, if I blow my nose she must too and place it carefully in thetrash, and she likes to clean the space up after she eats...hehe! I am not joking! I guess she learned this at school because I am not a stickler for this kind of stuff.

Seeing Family is always so great...it makes me want to move closer to them ALL...which is slightly impossible considering we cover the greater states of TN, GA, and NC! But a girl can dream...

Another highlight was a surprise visit with my friend Jonathan. He and his wife, Alicia, recently lost their sweet 20 mos. old baby girl, Evie. It has been the saddest loss for them, for anyone who knows them, and for those who do not know them. They are one of those couples everyone loves and admires. Their strength and faith is an example to us all. I want to ask anyone who reads this to keep them in their prayers. It was so nice to see him and give him a hug letting him know I am praying for their family.

My, what a year is has been...It is hard to believe 2010 is behind us and we are onto day 2 of 2011. I find time flies by much quicker with a little one. It makes me sad...She will be 2 in March and I feel like she just entered our life a few months ago, but at the same time I cannot remember what life was like before her. I guess that is the beauty of parenthood.

During Christmas, my sister gave me a picture of the two of us when I was about the same age as Mary Carlisle. First off, the resemblence is scary between Mary Carlisle and me. But I promise I do not feel like it was THAT long ago that we were wearing those awesome 80's clothes! :) It must be because we looked so good in them! hehe! Do you think our children will be looking at their clothes like we do in our 80's clothes? "Mom, what were you thinking?!" hehe!

I am not really into New Year's Resolutions...but here's to 2011 a year that I plan to pray harder, hug tighter and kiss longer!

Love you all... :)