Happy Halloween! Happy Birthday Matthew! Happy! Happy! Happy!

Before I get any "well it's about time" comments, let me just say "I know, I know." The point is I'm blogging people. Let's move on. :)

I am just going to throw out some recent random happenings.

Leecie thought (well maybe I had a little bit to do with it.) that Halloween 2011 was her closest chance at being a part of the Oscars. What? Well, she had three, that's right THREE, costumes this year.

Costume #1 - Lolly the Clown

She wore this one to the Fall Festival we had at Church. Before the night was over it was ripped, had chili stains down the front and her headband was snapped in half. Hey, I guess she was just clowning around. Hehehe.

Costume #2 - The Pirate

Leecie was a Pirate for her Halloween festivities at "school". That costume had to walk the plank when she got home. Cupcake, Cheeto and Dirt stains for days. Argh!!!!

Costume #3 - Alex from Wizards of Waverly Place

This was my $1.64 costume from Dirt Cheap. Oh how I heart Dirt Cheap. Anyway, this was Leecie's Trick-or-Treating costume. It must have been magic because it made it all the way through the night without a single tear or stain. But I guess I should expect that from the cheapest costume huh?

Ainsley the MSU Cheerleader and Leecie the Clown having fun at the Fall Festival.

Love these girls. :)

Corbin the River Bandit.

This is NOT how he normally looks in this uniform. Normally, he is covered from head to toe in dirt.

Now this is Pigpen!

Corbin has not been hit by a baseball all year. The boy may be dirty, but he is fast. So fast in fact, that a car can't even hit him. That's right, a car, well a van to be exact. Corbin was running across the alley at Chruch the other night and didn't look before he crossed. He ran out in front of a van!!!!!!!!! As he ran out in front of the van he saw it, popped back and hit the side of the van. It took his breath away for a minute but as soon as he was able to, he took off running to me. Only Corbin could do that. I have no idea who hit him but I pray that they know he came away from it without a single bruise, scratch or broken bone. He was perfectly fine.

I just want everyone to know that I serve a MIGHTY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!

Ole'

Matthew may have been too big to dress up for Halloween this year, but you're never too big to wear the ole Sombrero at El Toro. Matthew turned 13 last week. I can't believe I have a teenager!!!!!!!!!! That does not make me old, just older. ;) ~ We are so proud of the young man he is shaping up to be.

We love you Matthew Earl Martin Jr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BODIES!

Matthew wanted to go to a Haunted House for his 13th Birthday so we loaded up and went to one of the biggest ones in the South, Arx Mortis. Spoooooky. These teenage boys cracked me up. The phrase that they came away repeating..."BODIES!!"

Josh, Wes, Brendan and Matthew

Potty Training & 4th of July

Ann Elise has officially graduated from baby to BIG GIRL. We took advantage of the long weekend to start her potty training. We decided to go with the 3 Day Method and I am sooooo glad we did. We are on day four and she is doing great!! - I still have nightmares about the boys potty training. - The first couple of days were a little rocky, well, actually they were rock-less, if you get my drift. Hehehe. She woke up dry the past two nights and so far has had NO accidents today. I pray this success continues.
We spent the 4th of July with the Martins this year. We ate way more food than any humans should and then the kids (Matt, Daniel & Kerry included) had their annual water balloon fight. Colby and I were forced onto the battlefield due to the wee little ones wanting to play on the water slide. I got off lucky with only a minor blow to the arm. Colby on the other hand, was majorly injured when she got hit smack dab in the face by my husband. Bad Matt! Bad! Bad! Seriously, she wasn't injured, just a little more wet than she had bargained for. :) All in all it was a great time. I even got to sneak in a little nap. I love naps! I just wish my kids loved naps so I could sneak in more myself. :)
(Sorry there aren't any pictures from the 4th. My sister has my camera.)

I'm A Big Kid Now!

Your eyes do noteth decieveth...or something like that!

I am actually posting on my blog for the first time in months. It's not as though I have had nothing to blog about, I just haven't been able to find the time (or energy) to do it. After all, I do have a husband, three kids and a house to take care of, oh, and a full time job.

Updates on the Fam!

Matthew - He has definitely developed the preteen teenager attitude. I have officially gone from knowing a little here and there to knowing absolutely nothing about anything. I fully expect him to start calling me Kelly any day now. So, there is lots of stomping, huffing & puffing, sighing, eye rolling and mumbling going on in the upper wing of the Martin estate. He is officially through with elementary school and will be moving on up to middle school this fall. I don't know if I am ready for all the middle school drama, but Matthew sure is excited about it. He is finally starting to fill out and out grow everything he owns. He is eating me out of house and home. If you were to have him over to your house for dinner one night you would swear that we haven't fed him in at least a week. All in all, he is coming in to the next phase of life and I am just going to have to admit that I am now just the co-pilot helping keep him on the right course.

Look at how he has grown up over the past few months. He is such a good kid.

Matthew & Corbin sporting their camo at the CAFB Air Show.

Corbin - What can I say about Corbin? He is predictably unpredictable. He can pull just about any stunt and yet somehow get away with it. (Much to Matthew's dismay.) He is Mr. Competitive! Mr. Must Have A Ball In Hand At All Times! Mr. It's Not Fair! But mostly, he is known around my house as Bo. In the last few months, Bo has managed to drop his cell phone in the Giraffe exhibit at the zoo AND he actually got it back. Yea, that is Bo for you. He somehow got to visit the book fair at school when he wasn't supposed to. Ask him how he managed that and he just gives you a little nod and a wink. He manages to end up with an after game snack when he isn't even on the team. Most recently he has chipped a tooth while eating pancakes. Yes he did and no I did not make them. :) He is catching for the 9 Year Old All-Star Baseball Team. My mom says that scares her to think about the bigger boys running over him. I have to remind her that we are talking about Corbin and that the bigger boys should be afraid of him running them over. That child is fearless, except when it comes to eating healthy foods and then he completely wigs out.

The traditional "pie-in-the-face" at El Toro for his 9th Birthday.

More birthday fun at home. From left: Matthew, Hunter, Corbin & Joe.

Ann Elise - She is growing up all too fast. She is wearing lipstick (ahem, orange highlighter), talking in full sentences, jumping off of everything she can climb onto, and, in true girl fashion, already gets frustrated with her hair. She has two BFFs, Lyla and Lilly Grace, and they are too funny together. They squeal, hold hands and boss each other around. I love it! She is such a little mama and to her daddy's delight she loves beesball, aka, baseball. She is quick to say 'bless you' and 'thank you much' and will give away kisses galore when the mood strikes her. She has ALL the men in my life wrapped tightly around her little finger. Her brothers are quick to her defense if we try to discipline her and even quicker to give her her way. (Well, except when it comes to any ball and Bo just doesn't give in to anything involving a ball. HA!)

Putting on her "lipstick".

Don't forget to rub it in.
Now smile for the camera.

Not that anyone really is interested in Matt and I, but we are doing good too. Staying busier than any two people should, running after three kids and keeping up with household chores. Okay, you got me, we really don't keep up with household chores, but it just sounds nice to me to say that we are. I really do need a maid if anyone wants to volunteer. :)

More fun time at the air show.
Baking in the sun.

Joe, Corbin & Me with Matthew & Hunter in the background.

Matt, the most handsome man at the air show.

I mean, check out that smile. It makes me melt.

If you see me running naked...

...just smile, wave and move on or I might just have to take you with me to Crazy Town after a quick stop over at Mama-needs-a-nap-ville. In case you might be as tired as I am and slow to catch on, I have had a somewhat challenging week thus far.
I have been struggling through this week with a never ending headache, sick children, no coworker for the third week, no makeup most days, running late everyday, a nice loooong visit from my dear friend Mother Nature, a trip to the ER, a sweater that insisted on wearing my makeup, a house that refuses to clean itself, a toddler who thinks the world is her own personal jungle gym, beds being dropped onto children by certain other children, back talking, arguing, stomping, did I mention the dropping of beds?, and so on and so forth, etc. etc. etc. Sigh........
So, if you see me running naked just smile, wave and move on.

A lot of catching up to do!

So, for all my blog followers (all five of you) I know I haven't updated my blog in quite some time so I thought it was about time. What do you think?

Here are a few highlights of what I have failed to blog about over the past six months or so:

Matthew:

-Went on not one but two beach vacations this past summer. Lucky!

-Played All-Star Baseball.

-Started FIFTH grade.

-Celebrated his 11th birthday.

-Swears he has facial hair.

-His hair has an attitude of it's own.

-Has officially started his preteen phase. Sigh...

Corbin:

-My darling baby boy decided he wanted to know what it was like to be the Energizer Bunny after he swallowed a watch battery that landed us at LeBonheur.

-Went on a mountain vacation with his Aunt Heddy and her family.

-Played All-Star Baseball.

-Playing D2 Soccer.

-Started THIRD grade.

-Started wearing deodorant and cologne.

Ann Elise (aka Leecie Bob):

-Is becoming more and more a girly girl every day.

-Turned 20 months old on Thanksgiving Day.

-Scaled my stairs while I was doing laundry.

-Learned to open up doors.

-Learned to play Hide-n-Seek.

-Decided she wanted to be acne free and consumed some of Mama's face wash.

The rest of the Martin Crew:

-My platelets are well under control as long as I take my medication. :)

-Went on a vacation to the beach.

-I turned THIRTY. Yikes! I feel old.

-Matt tore out our main downstairs bathroom back in August and put it all back together, well except for we have no toilet or sink, but other than that it is back together. LOL

-Our working downstairs toilet over flowed for 5 1/2 hours a few weeks ago and caused quite the mess in our room, bathroom and Leecie Bob's room.

-We finally got a tree up last week. All three of my kiddos helped decorate it and it looks awesome.

-We celebrated Papaw, Wes, Paw, Mimi, Mine, Matthew, Granny, Oyce, Josh, Kerry, Ainsley, Pop, Daniel and Heather's birthdays.

Wow! I have a lot of catching up to do.

Happy 60th Birthday Mimi!!!!!!

Matt's mom, Sherron, turned 60 on Thursday and her lovely children (more so her daughter and fantabulous daughters-in-law) threw her a surprise party Saturday night. The look on her face when she walked in was priceless and apparently photo-less since none of us thought to snap her initial reaction.
So, here is a little recap for your entertainment...

We placed an ad in the local paper for all to see that Sherron was turning 60. This is the picture that we used. WOW!!! How on earth did Papaw land such a babe? She was a drum major in high school, but I imagine more people were staring at those legs marching than the marching band.
Fast forward 40+ years and she is still absolutely GORGEOUS! (Man! I should have gotten another leg shot...you know, for comparison sake.)

Holly's birthday was on Saturday and mine is coming up this Saturday so we each had our own mini cakes. Now, rewind 20+ years and see what Sherron looked like at 30 something. Holly looks so much like her mom and has the same big heart. Happy Birthday Holly!!!

Here is Sherron and her crew. Don't we look like a handful? Left to Right: front, Corbin, Kaylen; second row, Matthew, Earl, Sherron, Wes; third row, Ann Elise, Kelly (that's me), Holly, Ainsley, Colby; back row, Matt, Kerry, Daniel and Loyce

Okay. Please don't make me try to name everybody in this picture because I would soooo leave somebody out. Anyway, look at how many people came to show their love for this amazing woman. I'm glad Daniel and Colby have such a beautiful, open house for everyone to gather.

Sherron, you mean more to me than you could ever know. I know there is a stigma out there when it comes to mothers-in-law and their daughters-in-law, but we became fast friends when I joined this family many years ago and that friendship has grown into such a bond that I could never have imagined. You are truly an inspiration to us all.

Now, for my favorite picture and the one that is going to get me banned from the family...here is my funny, big hearted, giving, loving, understanding, crazy, kind, humble, one of a kind, beautiful, twice my age, mother-in-law.

I love you! Happy 60th Birthday!

Check-ups

I had to go see the nurse at Dr. M's on Friday and have another CBC done and Ann Elise had her 15 month old check-up immediately following. Matthew went with me which was such a huge help keeping AE entertained.
My visit:
My platelets were down to 525,000 and my white blood count was up to 3,800, both of which is good news. I have to go back on Monday to repeat my CBC and see the nurse and as of now I am scheduled to see Dr. M again on the 17th. At my last visit with Dr. M he told me that is was looking as if I were going to have to be on medication from here on out. I guess that just means I will get to be visiting with Holly a little more often. :)
AE's visit:
Ann Elise had gotten sick a couple of times throughout the week with no other symptoms so I just chalked it up as drainage and didn't think much else about it until Friday morning when she decided to get sick twice at my doctor's appointment. As big of a help as Matthew can be, he does not do well with vomit. So he just handed me wipes and clothes and kept his distance until he was given the all clear sign. Ha! After Dr. G came in to check over little Miss Priss she ordered a strep test and a CBC just to rule out any infections before giving her any boosters. Well, AE did not like getting her finger stuck, then squeezed and wrapped in some foreign object - bandaid - so she screamed and pulled and screamed some more. She wanted nothing to do with me because I had to hold her down during this and therefore I was an enemy. Again, it was a good thing Matthew went with me because he loved on her for a while. She was mad at me up until I removed the bandaid and instantly the tears stopped and I was on her side again. Anyway, everything came back fine and Dr. G said she just has a summer cold so AE got three shots. :( She cried a little but nothing like from the finger stick. How funny is that?
She weighed 20 lbs. 3 oz. and was 30 1/4 inches tall so Dr. G said she could finally graduate from her infant carrier to a big girl carseat. Woo hoo! She loves being able to see where she is going, but I think she is going to have a difficult time adjusting to not being able to see what her big brothers are up to in the back seat.
(I haven't pulled out the old camera in a while, so no new picture to go with this one. How about a flashback photo instead?)

Matthew & Ann Elise

She was only three days old in this photo.

My...how both of them have changed sooo much.

Update

Just wanted to give you an update on my "unique" medical situation. I went back to Dr. Morris this morning and my platelets have come down to 968,000. Yeah. I am so thankful to the Great Physician that they have continued to come down, but my earthly physician thinks still thinks they need to come on down a little quicker so he doubled my medication and added something he hopes will help with my headaches. I have to continue to go back weekly until we can get my platelets to a "comfortable" level (and to monitor my white and red blood counts as well, this medication can effect those) so that Dr. M can take me off of the medication, do the bone marrow biopsy, and put me back on the medication. Yes, that's right, at the moment the plan is still to go ahead with the bone marrow biopsy. He is putting it off for the time being until he can get my levels down enough to feel comfortable about taking me off the medication temporarily. Apparently you cannot get an accurate reading while on this medication. We are unsure of when the biopsy will take place because it all depends on how long it takes my levels to come down, could be a week, could be months. Who knows, maybe he will nix the whole biopsy thing. A girl can hope, can't she? Anyway, we already know that the prayers are working because my platelet levels have come down so please keep sending them up. Thank you so much for your continued prayers and encouragement.

While I'm Waiting

Yesterday's visit with Dr. M went okay. We got to watch Dr. Phil and a little bit of Oprah while waiting and I only had to give the vampire lady one vial of blood this time. Yeah. Oh, and my platelet count was down to 1,170,000. Double Yeah.
Anyway, as if I weren't nervous enough about my visit, Dr. M comes into the room and the first thing he says is "So, do you want to have a bone marrow biopsy?" Well, duh, NO, but if I need one I guess so. He decided to go ahead and set me up for the biopsy on Friday, then start medication to get my platelets down to a safe level and see him back the first of the week to get the results. He then noticed that a couple of my tests that he had sent to Mayo hadn't come back yet so he left to see if he could call and get those. No such luck since it was after FIVE. However, when he came back into the room Matt asked him about how long I would have to stay on this medication, if it would be a permanent thing or just long enough to get my levels back to normal and come off or what. Well, I think Dr. M took his question wrong and thought Matt was asking if we could try the medication first instead of the biopsy so he put the biopsy on hold until we get the Mayo results and told me to go ahead with the medication. We think Dr. M's primary concern at this point is to get my platelets down and then move forward. So that is where we are, waiting once again. I go back on Tuesday at 9:30 and hopefully we will know more at that point. Until then we are PRAYING HARD that it is the Thrombocytosis Essential and that the medication (Hydrea) is doing it's thing and bringing my levels on down to normal. I take comfort in knowing that God does hear our prayers so please keeping sending them up. I know that God is soooo good and he will protect me and it is my prayer that I will PRAISE him no matter what.
This is one of my favorite songs.
John Waller - While I'm Waiting
I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am hopeful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it is painful
But patiently, I will wait

I will move ahead, bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience
While I'm waiting
I will serve You
While I'm waiting
I will worship
While I'm waiting
I will not faint
I'll be running the race
Even while I wait

I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am peaceful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it's not easy
But faithfully, I will wait
Yes, I will wait
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve you while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting on You, Lord

Peace

My bestest friend Hope sent this to me today. Even though I say I am handling yesterday's news okay she knows that I am really just holding it together and might lose it at any minute. When she told me she was going to send me something and then I got this I have to admit I shed a few tears. Thanks Hope. Love Ya!
God has such perfect timing.
Do not look forward to what might happen tomorrow; the same everlasting Father, who cares for you today, will take care of you tomorrow and every day. Either He will shield you from suffering, or He will give you unfailing strength to bear it. Be at peace then, and put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginations.