Sweet Summertime

 I can barely believe that summer is already halfway over for the Martino family! With the way it's been going, I kind of wish it would last forever! Nanny Sally is amazing. I absolutely love having her with our family. She is great with the kids, takes them to do all sorts of fun things and she does random chores around our house without me asking her or expecting it at all (vacuuming, loading and unloading the dishwasher, sweeping, etc)! And it just makes mornings so much more laid back and better when the only one I have to get ready in the morning is me! We give the kids breakfast when they get up but they are often still in their pjs when Sally shows up. We don't have to make or pack any lunches and there's the beauty of no added commute picking up or dropping the kids off from school. It's like I got an extra hour back each workday. I know these luxuries won't last forever but I am certainly enjoying them while they do!

Anyway, the kids have been having a blast this summer and I am so happy they are getting to spend it together. Here are some of the things we've been up to:

Ms Sally will text us pictures periodically of their adventures. The Frisco Library play area is a favorite destination. 

And of course, it wouldn't be summertime without lots of visits to splashpads!

Frisco Discovery Center

Hahaha this picture

One morning when Levi went over to Kyler's house to play, Ms Sally took the girls to the Prosper Fire Station! They got to pretend to drive the fire truck, meet the firefighters and also meet the firehouse Dalmatian. Ms Sally said that Emery was very brave and even pet the Dalmatian after one of the firemen talked to her about how he used to also be scared of dogs and showed her how to hold her hand out to the dog to smell. 

We finally got our Sienna! Eric was a rockstar and called the dealer So. Many. Times. to secure this car for us. Thanks to his diligence we only had to wait 2 months instead of like 6! It was so wild to me to drive this van off the lot with the odometer reading "4." I love that it is a hybrid and it has a very smooth ride. Unfortunately, I have such bad luck with cars, less than a month after we got it, a truck on 428 kicked up a rock and cracked the windshield 9"! So I have to get the whole windshield replaced already! We have to pay our deductible so it's going to $500 out of pocket and we haven't even made a car payment yet! Yikes! And then last night, we went to the Celina Splash and Blast (which was really great this year) and then right after we got back to our car and got in, a truck driving by clipped my side mirror and knocked the back off! Eric was able to re-attach it and said it just clicked right on and is very secure but I just couldn't even believe it. If that truck had been 1/16th of an inch closer, it would have taken off my sidemirror completely! 

Isla loves to ride around on Levi or Daddy's back! 

We went to get frozen yogurt as part of FHE the other night and Isla quickly became obsessed with climbing up onto these bar-height stools! As you can see, the little mischief maker also colored herself earlier that day. Levi was being a good big brother and guarding her carefully to help keep her from falling. 

Went to the annual Splash and Blast in Celina last night! We were worried it would be just miserably hot because we had a heat wave this week with feels-like temperatures up to 112 deg but thankfully by last night it had cooled down and it wasn't too hot at all! It was so nice. 

Isla had fun climbing up onto the stroller repeatedly and then swinging from the bar like this. I swear she is a monkey! 

Matthew, Valerie and Silva joined us and Emery was just living her best life dancing like crazy to the music and playing with her cousin. 

Isla watching the fireworks sitting on Daddy's lap. 

Levi and Emery are getting even closer with their relationship this summer (which was exactly what I was hoping for). They have been doing sleepovers in Levi's room every weekend and I love hearing them play and chat together. Obviously, they sometimes have their disagreements, but I just love all the memories they're making together. 

Me: "strike a pose!" Them: 

I wish I could say the same for Emery and Isla but unfortunately, they are definitely fighting a lot lately. They still play together too but Isla tends to do things that Emery doesn't like (such as unplug her tablet while it is charging) and then Emery cries and then Isla hits her and then Emery cries more and then Isla goes "Emmie crying." 

Speaking of Isla, little miss has been talking soooo much now. She says new words every day and is so chatty! She has been speaking in little sentences like "my turn!" "I helping!" "bread out" and "my do it!" She is very independent and still likes to try to dress herself and brush her own teeth. She loves ice in her water and climbs all the things. Her favorite mischief right now is to sneak into one of the bathrooms and climb into the sink and turn the water on to play in it! She also loves putting on other peoples' shoes and walking around the house with them on. She is a very determined girl and can be very vocal in her objection when things aren't going her way. She loves her binkies and recently figured out how to climb into her crib to get them! She still gives the best hugs and loves to read books, be tickled, and play with her baby dolls. 

Eating her pizza big like the big girl she is at Carson Rick's pool birthday party. 

She rocks Levi's slippers haha

Sweet girl gave us a fright the other week. She woke up from her nap one Sunday and wouldn't put weight on her L heel at all. She flinched and said "ouchie" when I touched her heel even though we couldn't see anything. And then for the next several days she walked around only on her toes on that side! So we ended up taking her in for an x-ray. Thankfully nothing was broken, she must have just bruised her heel- probably while jumping off of something (which is one of her favorite activities). 

Caught in the act!

Isla also has been very into putting rags or washcloths on her head lately. She is so silly!

I mean, it's a couch right?

Clever girl uses anything and everything to help her reach her goals- in this case the binkies drying on the grass! 

She may be a troublemaker but she is so stinking cute and I just love her so much! 

Welcome Summer

Summer has officially arrived here in the Martino household! The kids finished up their last week of school and this past week was their first full week of summer! We have a nanny for the summer and I am already loving it! She is awesome. I super love not having to get the kids ready in the morning or make them lunches. It gives me time to go walking in the mornings with my friend Kailee a couple days a week. We meet up at 6:30 am at Aviator park and walk laps for about half an hour or so. The temperature is so nice at that time of the morning right now and the time always flies by as we chat. I'll be missing it this week since her husband is out of town!

One morning on our walk, Kailee and I saw this big old tarantula crossing the sidewalk! I looked it up and apparently they're native here. It was probably driven out of the fields nearby because they're building something right behind the little woods on the edge of Aviator park now. It makes me sad how much is being developed around here but I feel like it's inevitable because there's definitely no drive to protect the wild here- everything is about growth and development. Yet another reason why I don't feel like I fit in particularly well here in TX. 

Anyway, we started summer off with Emery's birthday and a family camping trip to Lake Ray Roberts. The weather was great and the campsite was perfect- not too close to any neighbors, quiet, on the lake with a good fire pit and place for the hammock- and it would have been just altogether fantastic except... Isla doesn't sleep in unfamiliar places apparently. She did fine when we went camping last October at sleeping in her pack n play. But now that she is a little older and having nightmares (already!) I guess it is just way too unsettling for her. So we got there Saturday afternoon and set up camp and had walking nachos for dinner and buntinis from Nothing Bundt Cake to celebrate Emery's birthday but then while I was attending to something, Eric didn't watch the kids quite close enough and they all got wet in the lake. Soo we had to change them into their pajamas and I was like, might as well do bedtime now. But it was still quite light outside and the kids were all riled up. If it was just the older two it would have been totally fine and we could have just let them chat and play in the tent until they fell asleep but Isla wanted me to stay in there with her. And it took them all an hour and a half to fall asleep! But then they were all finally asleep and Eric and I got some time together to relax in the hammock and talk and be together and I was like "ok this is working out ok, hopefully they'll fall asleep faster tomorrow." But then, about two hours after the kids fell asleep, Isla woke up. And she was not having it. She didn't want Eric to comfort her she only wanted Mommy. She pushed Eric away and said "No! No Dada! Mommy!!" And it wasn't enough to just be able to see me sleeping near her on the air mattress, she needed me to hold her. She was being so loud and I'm sure disturbing all the campsites around us and so I ended up just holding her. All night long. Sometimes she would let me kind of slide her off of me onto the air mattress to lie right next to me. But she stirred and fussed almost every 10 minutes all night long. So I was a complete zombie on Sunday and was like, "I'm not doing that again!" so we came home before bedtime on Sunday. 

Thanks to the Buy Nothing group I'm part of on Facebook we've managed to accumulate the perfect number of camping chairs for our family! #winning. And yes, Levi is pretending to drink from his water bottle for this picture. He thought that was pretty clever haha. 

The kids had a great time camping though. Their favorite part was going to the beach at the lake. They swam in the lake and played in the sand and just had a great time. Levi got bored when we came back to camp for Isla to nap though and so we were all ready to head home after dinner on Sunday. 

So yeah, that was the first weekend of our summer! Then this past week went really well and the kids had fun with Nanny Sally who took them to the Frisco library and the splash pad and piano lessons. And then yesterday we had Emery's birthday party which was so cute and the girls all had a great time. I attempted to make a mirror glaze for her cake and it turned out not at all how I was hoping and honestly a little bit of a disaster but it still tasted pretty good and everyone was complimentary anyway. I'm looking forward to this week- Emery's got a little music camp, the kids have their last gymnastics and ninja classes for a while, on Friday Valerie and I are taking the kids to see the new Little Mermaid live-action movie, on Saturday we've got a swim party to go to and a ward family temple trip in the evening and then Sunday is family dinner! This is how we summer around here :) 

Isla has gotten even better at climbing lately. Today, she was climbing over the arm of the rocking chair to climb into my lap and she was going "ooh ooh aah ahh" and I was like "are you my little monkey?" and she was like "yeah" Haha. 

Emery always loves having friends over to play. This is her with her friend Carson from the ward.  Sweet girl doesn't like being by herself at all. 

The first Friday after school got out (the day before we went camping) we went to the splash pad with friends. Levi lucked out because two of his old school friends (Evan and Teddy) happened to be there too so he was running off playing with them when I took this picture of the girls. 

Birthday girl!

I had to snap this picture of bedtime because it was cracking me up how Isla was sitting there with her little ankles crossed! 

Also, any time Isla says "me!" she touches her own head! Haha. I don't know if she picked that up from school like a raise-your-hand kind of thing but it's adorable. 

Mother's Day 2023

 Mother's Day. We never made that much of a big deal of it when I was growing up. I do remember trying to make it special for Mom though. I remember when I was little picking out a gold necklace with a rose flower pendant on it for her from the store one year. And I remember making her various crafts in school classes. And I remember one Mother's Day going early out into the yard and picking some flowers and then putting them in a little vase and taking that to her in bed along with a bowl of chocolate chips. I guess I thought chocolate chips were sufficient for a breakfast in bed haha. And I remember once when we were young Eric and I tried to make a cake for Mom, (not sure if it was Mother's Day or her birthday) but we didn't know what "confectioner's sugar" was so in the frosting we tried to use regular granulated sugar and it was a grainy mess! Mom was a good sport about it anyway though. My mom definitely laughs more easily than I do. I have many memories from my childhood of her laughing about some minor mishap or other. She would laugh so hard that she would cry sometimes. Like once, she found a book full of sweet notes and memories written by various ward members that was supposed to be given to a certain woman before she moved away but Mom had forgotten to ever give it to her and then found it years after the woman was gone! I was mortified and told Mom, "You're a horrible person!" And Mom just burst out laughing and couldn't stop. She was literally sitting on the floor just laughing and couldn't even get up. Now, this is not to say she never got upset, she definitely yelled at us a fair amount too, but she liked to laugh and play with us and now likes to play with my kids. She's a great teacher, great at helping kids to think, explore, and expand their horizons. I'm grateful that she wants to be a part of my children's lives and that she has the opportunity to visit us often. 

My mom's silliness highlighted on her recent visit to us. 

Reflecting on motherhood is an interesting thing. Motherhood is heavy. It's a lot. I sometimes worry that I'm completely screwing it up. But it is also the greatest joy in my life. My children are everything to me. Before each was born, I felt like my life was good and full. But with the coming of each child,  I can't imagine life without them. My heart really did expand with each one. They each bring so much to our family and my life. 

Levi, my son, my firstborn. He is such a handsome boy. I love how his hair gets all curly in the back when it's long. I love his eyes. I love that he's tall and energetic and active. He is a good brother to his sisters and a good friend. He is so incredibly creative and imaginative. I kind of can't wait to see what he grows up to do because I know it's going to be amazing, but I also love him just as he is now with his snuggles and cuddles. I love how he is still young enough to ask, "Mom can you play with me?" I know that stage is fleeting and will come to an end as he grows and gets more independent and involved in his own life and with his own friends. I want to be better about saying "yes" to him. 

Emery graduated from preschool last Saturday!

She was so excited and all their songs were very cute. 

Emery, my oldest daughter, my Emmie Mae. Oh that girl. She is so precious to me but she has also been trying me so much of late. She has all the big feelings and expresses them all. Each day is the "worst day ever!" and also "the best day ever!" Few experiences are ever just ok. It's all amazing and she is so excited she is jumping up and down and squealing or it's horrible and she's stomping her foot and yelling. But in the midst of all of that, she is so loving and kind and caring. She always wants to take care of Isla, play and share with Levi and snuggle with me and Eric. She's so smart and has a great memory. She is doing great with her gymnastics and her reading and is sooo excited to start kindergarten in the fall. I'm going to miss our one-on-one time doing puzzles or playing games or doing nails together while Isla naps in the afternoons but I know Emery is going to do great in school. 

Isla loves water and she thinks that trying to drink it from the sprinkler is hilarious.

She likes to sneak her foot up and show it to us during dinner. She also thinks this is hilarious.

Isla likes to try to wear other people's shoes. In this case, Levi's! 

Isla, my sweet baby. She is growing up so fast! She is talking so much now and seems to learn many new words every day! She is even starting to speak in little sentences like "Mommy come!" and "no more" and "wait Dada." She is starting to show more and more mischievousness and gives these adorable sidelong glances before she hurries off to do something naughty. I love her belly laugh and her curly hair and her hugs and kisses which are just the best. I love her energy and how she already knows how to jump and likes to play tag. She literally brightens my day every day. 

I love my time with these kiddos of mine and I love this man right here who made it possible for me to be their mother. Eric is my rock, my partner, my best friend. I couldn't do this life without him. He is the best father I could ever ask for my children and he makes my day better every day.