Martin Blog

The mornings around our house usually begin close to 6:00 am with Abby being the first to wake. Oh wait, Lance is usually up before that working out. Abby gets up and sometimes wakes up the household doing her morning chore of unloading the dishwasher. Bang, Bang is how I typically wake up. It's better than Gavin demanding "I want cereal!"  which only stopped a few months ago.  Now Gavin just finds Abby and she gets him settled. Thank you, Abby. Lance and Abby leave about the same time and we try to have a morning prayer with he rbefore she is off.

I usually wake the other kids up after Abby's bus comes around 7:00.  They like to take their sweet time doing their chores and getting ready. That is fine by me. We usually listen to the music cranked super loud to help us all wake up. "I get to pick the next song." is often yelled from upstairs or from the bathroom. Gavin just kind of goes from room to room checking out everybody and then usually settles on the couch with his blanky and watching a movie.

As it gets close to time for the big kids bus. 8:30, Gavin starts to get his shoes on so he can watch the big kids off. He loves running out there and hugging the girl neighbors.

Not sure why he looks this way. 

During the day the kids just run from house to house asking for snacks and playing pets. I am starting to get sad thinking this is all coming to an end for miss kate., kindergarten for her next  year.

This past weekend we decided to take a camping trip. I was shocked when Lance called me the weekend before and said let's go camping. Within a week we bought a tent, camping chairs, and lots of sleeping bags. We were set to go camping. It was so much fun. I mentioned to my friend, Nicole that we were going and she wanted to join. My girls were so excited to have their buddies come along.

Ethan was really excited for this camping trip. He knew what he was doing. He loved putting up the tent and making a fire.  Oh yeah, and whittling a stick.  You did not want to get in his way. It was kind of weird because he is usually so laid back. He insisted that he sleep under the stars. He wanted to "be tough".  It kept me worried through the night but he was happy.
It was fun seeing him in his element.

Gavin was all about helping dad blow up our mattress. 

Thank you Abby, for blowing up the kids beds.

He was so excited to sleep out under the stars. 

The Wilson's - Nicole, Brian, Amalia, and Sophia

He was so proud that he built this fire all on his own.

The girls had a club house.

The night wasn't too bad. The kids slept like logs. I wish Lance and I could say the same. I had to go to the bathroom so much. Isn't that the way it goes when you camp. The temperature was perfect.

Lance kept calling Gavin his camping buddy. "Is that my camping buddy?" Gavin would get the biggest grin on his face and say "YES!"

She always manages to get the craziest hair while sleeping.

Yummy, warm cinnamon rolls that had been sitting on the hot coals. So yummy.

Why is playing with fire so darn fun?

Here's the crew.

The place we camped was outside of Martinsville, IN (only 30-40 minute drive). Morgan Monroe to be exact.