Edible Playdoh

Maybe it is the teacher in me, but I am so excited that Grace is at an age where I can really dive into educational playtime! I love finding ways to introduce her to new sensory learning - texture, tastes, motor skills, experiences - she has so much fun! I sometimes forget that she is only 14 months, but then at the same time, she is 14 months...never too early to learn and try new things!

Since she also likes to eat/taste absolutely everything still, I try to make many of the crafts edible if I can to prevent her from eating chemicals. I loved this recipe for edible playdoh and she ate a little and played a lot. She had fun learning how to squish it, pat it, tear it, make shapes and use cookie cutters in it.

Recipe:

Equal parts Peanut Butter, Honey and Instant Dry Milk.

Then add more dry  milk and flour to thicken it and make it less sticky to whatever consistency you like.

Make sure it is stored in an airtight container when not in use. I would toss and make new after a week or so.

Our Sweet Riley

It's been nearly a month and I have been avoiding this post. We had to say good-bye to our sweet Riley. He is still a very much missed member of our family. Here is my mini-tribute to our BeagleMan.

He was a Beagle by every mean. He barked at everything that moved, he jumped at the fence for entertainment, he ate yard poop. But he loved to cuddle, he loved to nap in Grace's room, and when someone was crying he would bring them every toy he had. He wanted nothing more than to make you happy, sit on your lap if you'd let him and would mow you over to get that crumb that fell to the floor. We miss the noise and the love he added to our home.

Adding our Boxer was the best thing we did for Riley. He had a new friend and they played and played every day till both were exhausted.

He was so patient with her.

And patient with me!

Graduation Day at PetSmart - Beginners class - Round 1

In the summer you let him out back and have to drag him in later. He loved laying in the sun all day.

Beginners class - Round 2

(He was a true, selectively obedient, Beagle)

June 2006 - March 2012

We aren't sure what exactly caused his spinal injury, but it hit hard and fast. So selfishly we wanted to keep him forever, but watching our usually active dog unable to walk, not responding to any medication forced us to make a very tough decision - one I still dont like to talk about. We know it was best, but we hope to never have to do that again. We bring up something goofy he did all the time and laugh at the memories he left us with.

Such a sweet Riley.

6 Months

I am super behind on my blog. I am busy! :)

Grace turned 6 months old on Septemeber 4th! As always, we take pictures and she is a ham!

She loves food! I make most of her baby food. Sweet potatoes, carrots, squash and all fruits are her favorite. She hates avacado and isnt too fond of sweet peas either (I dont blame her!) She is currently sooo close to crawling it is scary. She babbles all day long and loves our beagle.

And Baby Makes Three

"A family is a little world created by love."

And how much I do love my little family!

First Trip to the Zoo

My dad couldn't help himself on my birthday this year...he bought me an annual zoo pass. So yesterday I used it for the first time. Grace, Grandpa and I had a blast at the zoo!

Grace looking at the sea lions swimming by. She did really well following the animals and watching them! I wasn't sure how a 4mo old would be interested, but she loved it!

Showing off the new hat and snow leopard she "had to have," said Grandpa.

Exhausted! Her favorites were the sea lions, puffin, camel and sharks. I can't wait to go back!

Our 2nd Anniversary

April 22, 2009

Happy 2nd Anniversary my Love!

So excited we are able to spend this anniversary together, with family and our beautiful little blessing, Grace.

I can't wait to see what God has planned for us this next year!

I love you!

A Little Behind

So the new momma thing is catching up to me - I'm a little behind on my blogs! I will try to do better. :D

Here is Grace at 1 month. She is so expressive now! We love watching how her features are changing and she is starting to look like her own self. Sometimes we see all momma, and sometimes she looks just like papa. Watching her grow is so fun.

Grace at 6 weeks. She loves her paci. And I swore I would never give a pacifier to my babies. Ehhh, I have broke lots of my own rules so far. She doesn't sleep with it though, just during awake or fussy times. We compromise. haha.

I LOVE this photo. Grace and Papa relaxing. I love that their hands are folded the same. I love that my beagle had to intrude the photo and is the only one paying attention. Grace is Papa's girl!

Happy 50th Grandpa!

Grandpa Duane turned 50 on the 20th of March and Grace celebrated in style - sleeping!

Notice how Momma and Papa wish they were sleeping in this picture too! Oh all the joys of being a new parent! :)

Happy 50th Birthday, Grandpa!

10 days old!

We took some photo's of Miss Gracie at 10 days old.

March 14, 2011

Not too bad for a Nikon and a Snuggie for a backdrop!

She's our little angel for sure.

Grace in 3D

Not as good as the real thing, but close enough for now!

We had a 3/4D ultrasound done at 34 weeks to get a glimpse of Baby Grace. What a personality she has! Here is the visual story:

She started the ultrasound with her hands in her face. Great picture of both hands up close! But really hard to see what she looked like.

 After some poking by the sonographer, she was forced to move her hands down, and she was NOT happy about that! This is when she decided to get ulrtra serious and pout!

This was a full on tantrum! Obviously her frustration shows in her face. We just laughed at how cute she was! She also would whip her head back, smashing her nose against my uterus (so that's what that is!) and the back of her head hits my bladder (so that is what that is!) You can still see her hand, but now she is hanging on to the cord.

 After we were done laughing at her fit, Steve started talking. As soon as she heard his voice, we watched her face soften and relax. That was amazing! She actually started to smile and calm down. So he just continued to talk about nothing so we could get some cool shots! She is smiling.

Side shot of her smiling. You can really see her chubby cheeks and little double chin here. (that is from her father! lol)

Eventually she was tired and starting to sleep again. These last two were her most "relaxed" face pictures.

We are so happy we had a chance to do this and take our family along with us! She had such a huge personality! We keep looking at both our newborn pictures and comparing facial features. She has a little of both of us for sure! A little less than 6 weeks until my due date!!



Winter Storm 2010 & 26 weeks pregnant

We had quite the week this last week. On Monday morning we woke up to snow. Sweet! We never get snow so it is always a mini-holiday! That is until about 4pm and it became windy. And not just a little wind,  we thought we were in a blizzard-hurricane!! The wind was spinning the trees in circles. About 7 pm we lost power. And then the snow stopped, it is became COLD. Like 15 degrees cold. 55 long hours later (early Thanksgiving morning) power returned. We bacame acutely aware of how little we have control of anything in our lives and reflected on how much we forget to thank God for the simplest of blessings. Power, hot water, heat. We spent 3 days talking and sitting around staring at each other, that was a blessing too -  enjoying the quiet, technology free time we had together. We have been warned this will be a rough long winter, so we know this is just the start!

 Of course being 26 weeks pregnant helped keep me a warm for a while, baby Grace is getting big! (approx 2 lbs now!) There is no where for this baby to go but out when you are 5 feet tall! When I look in the mirror, I see a little bump, when I see this in a picture I look huge! 13 weeks to go!! ( this was 11.28.10 - 26wks, 3 days)

Our lovely little home during the storm. The warmest place to be is in the living room near the fireplace (off to the left) so we camped out right here for 3 1/2 days. Lots and lots of layers of clothes and blankets, we all survived just fine. (Actually I was only home for the first 40 hours and Steve took me to my dads with power, we determined it wasnt safe being cold and pregnant - my family loves me and Grace!)

20 down, 20 to go!

We are halfway there!

20 weeks 4 days~ 10.18.10

So excited to be at the halfway mark (or so...)! I can definately feel Grace getting bigger, or at least her kicks are getting stronger! She is very active in the middle of the night and Momma is not too excited about that, I guess it's practice for the future!

My belly is growing super fast now, it's hard to believe. (Even harder to imagine what it possibly will look like 20 weeks from now!)

Other than the normal aches and pains all is well and healthy with the Martinsen family.

I think she looks like you

Finally uploaded pictures from Wednesday's ultrasound. Grace held still enough in these to get a couple side profile shots. She moves around a lot! (and I love it!)

18 weeks 6 days - October 6, 2010

Oh Baby!!

Here is our little blessing!

10 weeks & 4 days Baby's arms/hands are up by the face (on the left) and you can see the tops of the knees - the feet are tucked under. We also heard the heart beat today! That was the most beautiful sound I have ever heard! I still cant believe there is a little person inside me! Baby was jumping and wiggling all around on the ultrasound...already an active little thing.

Updates so far:
*I did end up having some morning sickness (nausea only thank goodness!) from weeks 6-9. Now it is pretty much gone, I am just SO tired all the time.
*No belly bump yet, just a few extra pounds from how much momma is eating!
*My official due date is March 3, 2011

A Hot Summer Day at the Beach!

The first day of summer has finally arrived (and hit 90 degrees!) so we took a trip to the coast with the pups. Hopefully there is a few more this year like this!Reagan LOVED the water. Riley, not so much.

I got bored, and Riley didn't care at all that I was covering him in sand. HAHA!

Beach Bums!

Steve out in his kayak. He had a blast!

So tired after a long, hot day at the beach. I came home with some sand dollars and a sweet tan!