Scott's 40th birthday party

I had decided several months ago that I wanted to surprise Scott with a party for his big 4-0. Little did I know how difficult it would be to pull off! My first plan was to hold something at a restaurant (read: no clean-up for me!) but after Scott's grandfather passed away I thought I should scale back a little, and keep the guest list short.

Finding a party date for a person whose birthday falls two days before Christmas is not an easy feat! I settled on the 27th - only to have Scott tell me he had taken a job for that day (sigh). Oh well, I knew we would have a good time, even if things weren't going to work quite like I had planned.

As it turned out, I succeeded in surprising Scott, who only knew that his parents and sister were coming for dinner. Many thanks to The Moms for helping get supplies, etc! Evyn got a kick out of having so many other kids at her house, she enjoyed showing them around and playing little hostess.

Unfortunately I didn't get many pictures, and those I did take didn't turn out well. But you get the idea.

checking out the old pictures of Scott, from baby to present




a few of the girls, doing crafts

Christmas 2008

We got home late (and full from much tasty Italian food!) Christmas Eve from Lori & Larry's. It was midnight by the time Evyn got her snack arranged for Santa 's arrival: cookies and chocolate milk, plus carrots and an apple for the reindeer.


Christmas morning we all slept in, then lounged around in our pj's opening Evyn's gifts.



Santa remembered to bring glitter glue! Evyn was overjoyed.



Don't worry, she'll grow into it! We got her the Yamaha CGS102 half size classical acoustic guitar. I think Scott and Evyn will be learning together.



She wasn't interested in using the pick, she preferred to use her fingers - like she saw her cousin Elisabeth do the night before. One of the reasons we chose the Yamaha was for the finger-friendly nylon strings.


Balloon rockets! Probably her least-expensive gift... and the one she's enjoyed the most so far.




After lunchtime we made our way to Scott's parents house for more gifts, and dinner.


I should have taken pictures of Evyn & Scott playing
the Hyper Dash game - lots of fun!


Evyn sneaked up on us with the camera and caught this shot:

Christmas Eve 2008

Evyn's self-portrait, posing by the tree, and and our late night
out at Lori & Larry's for the Christmas eve festivities!

Merry Christmas!

Here it is - Christmas Eve! Whether we're ready or not. This year we'll be moving at a slower pace - the Reed family get-together has already passed (we missed it because Julie was too sick) and the extended Martin family is postponing their gathering until January, due to Grandpa's recent passing. So unlike other years, where we have either attended or hosted 8 or more events within 2-3 days, Christmas 2008 will consist of 3 get-togethers in 2 days. We're happy to be able to linger, put our feet up for a bit, and enjoy the holiday.

This past weekend, while Julie was still recuperating,
Scott took Evyn to see Santa!


We hadn't intended to "do" the whole Santa thing - and haven't in past years. But this year Evyn took a sudden self-led interest in the St. Nick stories, and became convinced that he would be visiting our home this year. We discussed it, and decided to allow Santa to bring her some gifts, at least this time around.

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Our builder has been hired! Once the township approves our building permits we can schedule a firm start date, but construction is expected to begin in early January. We're running short on time before the Littlest Martin joins us, so let's hope that January is free of too much bad weather that can slow us down!

Baby is doing well - very active, and not staying in one position for more than a day at a time. Only 82 days until our due date! Julie's belly is noticeably bigger, the last week or two, though she's still hanging out at +7 pounds over her pre-pregnancy weight. Thumbing through Evyn's baby journal we realized that the two pregnancies are almost identical, at this stage (right down to Julie getting a nasty cold in the 27th week!) which is interesting, because they've been very different up until this point! S/he should would measure around 15" long and weigh about 2.5 pounds this week. The baby has been quick to respond any time Julie uses a noisy hair dryer, blender, or cranks up the music in the car.

Tonight we're off to Larry & Lori's house, for our annual Christmas Eve festivities. We have a new theme this year - Italian - as Lori, Michelle, Leo, and both Larry's, are all cooking traditional Italian food for us.
Christmas morning will be a quiet one - the last with just the three of us! - before we head to Scott's parents house in the afternoon.
Then, Christmas night, we'll stop by the Dave & Leslie's to visit with the Hartsough's. We'll try to squeeze in an update between then, and Scott's birthday celebration on Saturday :)

We hope you have a wonderful Christmas! Much love to you all~