Big Sister Taryne

Well, it is official. Taryne will be a Big Sister in April 2012!! Baby Rode is due April 9th.

She is very excited and when we ask about a little brother/sister, she insists she is getting a sister. The Martin girls have prevailed in the past, so we shall see. I believe my cousin, Keri, figured it to be 1 in 8 births in the Martin family were males. Either way, a healthy baby is all we ask for!

We had a fun time trying to get her to stand still, smile and be in a pose where someone could actually read the shirt!

Until next time...Gig'em!

Wedding Weekend

I know it has been a while since I have posted, but life has just been a bit crazy.

At the beginning of the month, we spent the weekend in Llano for Josh and Janna's wedding. Somehow, I only have a few pictures of Taryne before the wedding and a few at the reception. I think it was just a crazy weekend!

The rehearsal, bridal brunch and wedding were all great! It was a struggle with Taryne at times because she did not want to nap, but we all had fun and were glad to welcome Janna to our family. Kyle and Taryne were both in the wedding. I was so proud of Taryne! She walked down the aisle like a big girl and stayed with Kyle up at the front of church throughout the ceremony.

She was a little tired and worn out by the time we go to the reception. The above picture was post-dinner. However, despite being tired and cranky, she talked the entire way home with my parents and then wanted to play when they got home. I guess she just needed a change of scenery.

Here are some additional pictures from the weekend. Sunday morning we went for a drive to see the cows. She was soooo excited to do that!

The set of twins stay close to my parents house. I was lucky and able to catch them Sunday morning.

Until next time...Gig'em!

Creative Expression

We get several drawings, paintings and collages that are labeled "creative expression" from day care. We try to do crafty things at home with Taryne too, but most evenings we are just rushed to get in dinner, a trip to the park and a bath for Taryne by bedtime (and not over heat) that we don't have much time for this during the week.

Last weekend Taryne and I were home without Kyle and we spent part of Saturday running errands and shopping. One of the items on our shopping list was Tempra paint. I needed to practice for some games I am making for Taryne's 2nd birthday. So that evening, I thought it might be fun to let her "have at it" with the paint. I unrolled some kraft paper across the table, gave her a pallet of pain and a ton of brushes and let her go. I painted a little too!

She had SOOO much fun and was determined to use EVERY brush at least once.  And to my surprise, very little of the paint was on her...I guess she is like Kyle and likes to be neat and clean.

Until next time...Gig'em!

Random Photos

The last 2 months have been pretty hectic to say the least. At work, I have been busy with new student conferences. Our department will welcome around 2,000 new Aggies (I hope I have that number right...) by the end of summer. That is a lot of people!

I was looking through the pictures of Taryne from this month and boy, is it a random mix of Taryne doing silly things. So I will just post a few of them here so everyone can see and then I will do my best to begin regular posting again soon.

Transferring her oatmeal from one bowl to another and then to the cup...

I have been having issues with my phone for quite some time now. We have been holding out on getting new phones for many reasons. Well, since we don't have a home phone and our cell phones are the only way we have to communicate, we decided I needed to get a new phone. I was totally prepared to get an inexpensive smart phone and just wait 2 more years for an iPhone. Luckily I have the sweetest husband on the face of the planet and he said no, I should just get the iPhone now since that is what I really want. So, I have been taking lots of pictures on the go with it....like at the park...

Or at home...while Taryne is a budding artist.

Or while she is cooling off in the back yard...

Hope you enjoy the pics!

Until next time...Gig'em!

Backyard Buddy

Over the past week or so, we have had a little visitor on our back porch in the mornings. Actually there are two. Two toads. I know for a fact there are two because their markings a different. One has more of a striped pattern and the other is more solid.

Phoebe just "begs" to go out and "play" with the toad. Unfortunately, she is not allowed out to play with the toads since she LOVES to lick the toads. Then she is foaming at the mouth and it is a huge mess. Cassie on the other hand practically ignores the things.

Taryne was so excited and looks for the toads each morning.

At our last house, we had tons of toads in the back yard and even in some of our potted plants. We hope these two stay around a while!

Until next time...Gig'em!

Happy Birthday America!

Today marks America's 235th birthday. Wow! Here is to many more!

We started out our day as patriotic as we could...with red, white and blue pancakes.

We then went to the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum. Kyle and I have a goal to visit all the Presidential Libraries (there are only 12 total, well 13 when George W. Bush's is complete) and now we have officially checked 2 off the list. Several years ago, we visited the George Bush Library, but there have been some changes and since we officially decided to visit all, we knew we needed to go back for the "official" visit.

Flash photography is not allowed inside the museum, so some of the pictures are a little dark. I played with the exposure on my camera for some, so please understand, some of these are not the best pictures.

Once we got home, I had to snap a quick photo of Taryne in her 4th of July dress from Mimi!

Until next time...Gig'em!

My Little Chatterbox

Taryne is talking more and more each day. She has started stringing words together for small sentences and even surprises us quite often with new words we didn't realize she knew.

She has also learned a song at daycare that she likes to sing in the car. We had no idea what she was saying except "fish" and "oh, no!". So I asked her teacher about it and it is a song called "Slippery Fish". They gave us a copy of the words, but when we try to get her to sing it, she just tells us "NO!".

One of my favorite things that she says is "Bless you, mama!". She tells me this every time I sneeze and if you know me, I sneeze ALOT! So I get to hear it quite frequently.

She also loves to pray before meals. She has not learned our prayer yet, but she knows it is almost the end because she tries to beat us to the "Amen" part.  As soon as we get to "blessed" (the last word in the prayer), she shouts a big "AMEN!". Just love it!

She also loves to tell us to "get up", "come on", "let's go". I can barely sit down and she pushes on my leg and says "get up, mama!". It is just go, go, go with her.

Until next time...Gig'em!