"You Sneaker Mommy!"

Sometimes Levi says the funniest things. The other day while the kids were napping I was just sitting on the couch finishing up my lunch with some Girl Scout cookies and Levi came out of his room and as soon as he saw me he was like: "Sneaker Mommy! You sneaking treats?! You sneaker Mommy!" It was so funny I had to share a Girl Scout cookie with him! Haha. Also he has taking to saying "No, no, no" in a very grownup way (like with a sigh at the end) whenever he disagrees with what we've said (which is a lot of the time). He is so funny but can be so incredibly disagreeable sometimes! The other day he tried to pick a fight with me because I said that our pretend cooked cars were crunchy! Me: "mmm crunchy!" Levi: "No mommy! They're not crunchy!" Oook. 

In other news, Emery and Levi and I have all come down with colds again. Mine just started and Emery's is the worst by far. Poor girl has the worst sounding cough! And she had a fever the other night and she just sounds all congested and hasn't been sleeping super well and is way more grouchy than normal. I feel like we've had more than our fair share of sickness this winter and it just makes me long for summer even more than I am already. I feel like summer just can't come soon enough! I am just so ready to not be cold and wet all the time. And to have a house. And a garage. And a yard. And a kitchen that I can open the fridge and the dishwasher at the same time in. And a dedicated playroom to house all these toys. And did I mention a garage? They started doing some renovations on our apartment complex so the work crews and supplies have taken up some of the parking. So Eric had to park way far away yesterday. And Emery's car seat was in his car. Which meant that when we went to go to church today not only did we have to walk down two flights of stairs we also had to trudge across the complex in the rain and wrestle the kids into their carseats while getting rained on and not having enough space to open the doors all the way because the parking spaces are small and Eric was wedged between a big van and a dumpster. I am so over it. But at least we only have 4 more months here. And hopefully I will remember this and it will help me to appreciate it when I do have all these things that I want so much now. 

Anyway, Eric and I got to celebrate our anniversary this weekend! We kept it simple and just went out to dinner at a nice place. And then when we got home, we just both pretty much immediately fell asleep! A testament to how tiring it is to have a sick baby! Happy 6 years, and goodnight! Haha. 

So yeah, that's how life has been here in the Martino household recently. Just waiting for it to stop raining, and slushing and snowing and be nice again so we can get back to playing outside. I miss the park a lot. And poor Levi still has barely had a chance to try his new scooter or his tricycle. But someday I'm sure the sun will come out again! Until then, here's some cuteness to help make the time pass:

Why hello cuteness!!

Last Saturday while I worked on my shelf, Eric took the kids on a hike with his friend Lavell and his kids Porter and Rylee. Levi had a blast but Emery looked a little cold and less than thrilled. 

 

Burrito Babies! Levi was jumping off the walls the other day and wanted to wrestle and be wild but Emery was sleeping. So I rolled him up in a yoga mat and gave him some axial compressions as if he was one of my patients and then I put pretend toppings on him and pretended to eat him. He loved it and it kind of helped calm the crazy. Then when Emery woke up and she had to be a burrito too. 

Emery loves playing in the Ikea house and tunnel with Levi! 

My (almost) finished jewelry shelf. I am seriously so proud of this! Easy enough for me to make by myself with my very limited skills in just a couple of hours and for less than $10 of material (we already had the stain and sealant and the wood screws). 

When Eric and I went out to dinner for our anniversary the restaurant gave us a card. Happy birthday to our marriage! Haha. 

Levi: "Take a picture mommy!" 

Emery: "mmmm brother"

I love it when baby girl shoots me the biggest grins when I go in to get her from her nap! It's one of the best feelings in the world. Recently she's started sitting up in her crib so I will go in there when she wakes up and shes just sitting there waiting for me. Soo cute. 

Snowflopalypse 2019

So the weathermen had predicted a big snowstorm to hit the Portland area this weekend and next week. And in typical Oregon fashion, everyone freaked out. Eric and I went to the store Friday night on our way home from a date to pick up a gallon of icecream and you would think the world was ending! The shelves were totally cleaned out! No milk. No eggs. No bread. And, because it's the Portland metro, no avocados or kale! Haha. Even though it was late and raining, the store was packed with last-minute shoppers stocking up on essentials like beer and cheezits. It was hilarious! And then... it didn't snow. Literally no snow stuck on the ground around our house. We had more snow here on Tuesday when there was no hype at all! Now granted, it could still snow some this week, but the forecast now says rain rather than snow for all but two days (ironically the two days I usually work- go figure). I'm a little disappointed we won't have an excuse to have Eric stay home from work and just spend the day cuddling and drinking hot chocolate, but I'm super relieved that I'm not facing the prospect of being stuck in the house with the kids for a whole week! I think we would all go more than a little stir-crazy.

But speaking of snow, it did snow a little bit on Tuesday and Levi was SOOO excited. He started asking to go out and play in it and go sledding starting at about 7 am. Thankfully I was able to make him wait until after Emery's morning nap. He had a great time playing around in it, Emery not so much. Poor thing just kept looking around like, "it's so cold!" Haha.

I put a little trash bag down so that she wouldn't get wet.

But I think this face sums up her thoughts about the snow. Haha

It's a little hard to see but Levi's got a giant grin on his face about having someone else around to play in the snow with (a little girl from our apartment complex).

Anyway, it's been a little while since I wrote a post so I realized I never updated about Eric and my get-away to the coast. At the end of January my mom came for a visit which is always nice and this time she was an extra angel and watched the kids for us so that Eric and I could do a little get-away to the beach! Oh my goodness it was perfect! So beautiful and relaxing! We had chosen a hotel with AMAZING ocean views and fireplaces in the rooms so we just spent a lot of time just laying on the bed looking out at the waves, napping and watching the fire. It was so great.

The view from our room. Swoon. 

I am definitely going to miss the ocean when we move to Texas, even though we hardly ever go now even though it's only an hour and a half away. But this trip made me realize that I REALLY want to take the kids to the beach before we move- but hopefully when it's a little warmer and when Emery is walking (if she walks before we move). Eric and I found this little cafe near Lincoln City that was DELICIOUS. I know Levi would love it. 

Also, the night before our get-away, Emma and Spencer came into town because Emma was competing in a hoop competition. So we got together with them and had dinner together which was really nice.

Emery wearing Spencer's hat. Soo cute!

Since my mom left, it's been back to life as usual. Eric picked up a little contract job for a friend of ours in the ward so he will be working a few extra hours each week which will be nice for our wallet and still manageable workload wise. Work for me is going well, we're in the height of IEP season right now but so far all of the meetings have gone well. I've picked up two more kiddos for direct service minutes which is nice because it means I get to do more hands-on PT.  We also got together with our friends the Durtchis the other night and did dinner and games which is always a lot of fun.

Our life is full. Busy and with lots of excitement for the future and good things coming our way. The saying that the days are long and the weeks are short is so incredibly true. The moments when both kids are crying a refusing to go down for naps or when I tell Levi, "be careful with your cup" and he looks at me and then deliberately dumps his milk all over the floor, feel so long, but then I look at my sweet baby and see how big she's getting and time seems to be flying right by. She learned how to say "mama" this week and now she uses it to call for me when she's upset and it's the sweetest thing! She still hasn't figured out crawling though which is definitely a source of frustration for her. I feel like pictures capture this time better than words, so as always, here's some snapshots of our life:

Who's pretty? Oh that's right, me! 

In this rare picture when Emery's hair is lying somewhat flat you can see how long it's getting. Poor little one was just sooo tired! 

I just absolutely love Levi's face in this picture! He can be so tender with her.... sometimes haha. 

Little miss is getting pretty good at staying standing as long as I put her there. She isn't pulling up yet though, which thankfully means the coffee table is still a safe place to put things out of her reach! We've got to live that up while we can! Haha. 

I finally got around to staining Levi's bookshelves so that they match his headboard. It only took me about 9 months haha. But I am so happy to finally get them stained and back up on the wall so that Levi's books aren't' just all piled in a box by his bed! 

The kids looked so cute before church today that I had to take a picture. 

This is what happens when I try to get Levi to look at me and smile. Golly. 

Emery is always trying to be all over Levi as long as he's close enough. She's still his biggest fan :)