ft. pulaski

Today I decided that we would take advantage of Spring Break and take the kids to somewhere that I have always loved, and that captivated me as a child. We went to Ft. Pulaski, a confederate War fort! This is a big deal around here, and was the first assignment for Robert E. Lee when he graduated from West Point. Also interesting was the fact that it was EXACTLY 146 years ago today when the Fort was surrendered to Union forces in The War of Northern Aggression. (ok, I'm pretty sure that my mother laughed at that...you may have had to live in my house when I was growing up to be amused, though.)

So, we went to Ft. Pulaski....

We took a good look at the moat first thing, and, lo and behold, there was an alligator in there! Talk about excited boys of mine!!

So, then we walked around, exploring the old underground tunnels, looking at all of the casements, out of the windows, climbing on cannons, and all of those fun boy things :)

And then, with me being a little overly ambitious, we got Shiloh, her stroller, me, and both of the boys to the top of the Fort....think old timey castle where they attack people from on top of the outer wall. So, I was just looking at the pics again, and it kinda seems in at least the first 2 that we are at ground level....I promise, we're not. We were WAAAAY up there!




After all of that, I needed to feed Shiloh, so we thought that the jail would be a nice shady place to sit and feed her while the boys ran around and let there imaginations run wild. Imagine it....2 boys, ages 3 and 6, turned loose in a jail from the 1800s to play, play, play! (they loved it!)

It would not have been a Martin family outing without someone getting hurt and making mommy's hear skip a beat or two, so Kaleb obliged (he's ok now, but note that if you look closely, there is also a bruise on his throat. Playing in the jail ended up getting a little rowdy) :(


We had alot of fun! I'm really glad I decided that we should get out of the house and enjoy the last weekday of spring break. We kinda miss having K around in the daytime, so this was nice!!

update on tyrone

I know that this has been a long time coming, and I am sorry. Tyrone has had a lot of things going on and lots of changes, but it is hard to share these things, because I have to weed out what can be said here and what can't, which I posted about here.

So, what can I say? Tyrone has transferred to a new base. As I couldn't say where he was at before on this blog, I can't give his new one out, either. But, by all accounts, it is bigger and better, which is great. Tyrone is also doing what he was trained to do now, which is a huge morale boost. I don't think that anyone wants to work really hard to learn valuable skills, and to be one of the top people in their class at that, only to be given menial chores. Before, Tyrone's whole platoon was basically working on people's "honey do" lists (funny thought, huh?) Now, Tyrone is somewhere where he feels important, and useful. And, best of all, he is being treated with respect and like he has something to contribute, which had been lacking of late where he was.

I do have Tyrone's new address, and, unfortunately, I have decided that I cannot give it out over the internet at all. I will be happy to mail it to whoever would like to send him things, so e-mail me (or mom) your address and I will pass it along. I do not get to talk to Tyrone as often as I did, which is hard, but is just one more adjustment for us.

The most significant change about Tyrone being at this new base is that I can hear the relief in his voice. This is a blessing that we've been praying for. He is more upbeat and positive these days, and it's a direct result of the people around him giving him credit for being an intelligent soldier with important things to contribute. Oh, and guess what? The other day he called me for a quick "hi, how are you?" on the office phone and he had to stop to give orders to some people under him...how cool is that? He's been waiting a long time to not be low man on the totem pole!

Anyway, I want to thank everybody for praying for all of us, and especially Tyrone. Slowly but surely, this deployment is going by....

in the martin household, today will always be known as...

...the day that Bailey finally made her own baby food and then felt incredibly silly for having ever been intimidated by it. :) So, I decided today could be baby food making day....and we made...

apples
bananas
avacodos
sweet potatoes
pears
plums
carrots
zucchini
brown rice
oatmeal

and I may have gotten a little excited with it all....anybody have an extra hungry baby or two??

All I have to say in closing is "YAY ME!!"

7 months

Sweet Shiloh is now officially 7 months old! She definately has her own little sparkling personality! She continues to be the happiest baby that I have ever met, but has her likes and dislikes!

*Shiloh has figured out that some people are STRANGERS....and, at times, even well known and well loved people are not okay. Sometimes, you just need Mom! You can tell when this is going on, because her bottom lip slowly starts inching out, until it is waaaay out there, and then her nose scrunches a little, and then there are a couple of quiet tears, and then really real (really loud) crying. poor baby.

*We have now introduced all of the stage 1 foods (except prunes. why would you do that?) We liked everything...except peaches. Who doesn't like peaches? She'll scarf down some carrots and butternut squash, though! :)

*Shiloh can go from sitting to being on her tummy. The method leaves something to be desired, but it IS effective. She does a face plant and then kicks her legs out behind her...I've learned to put something soft in front of her when she is sitting on hard surfaces. Doing this prevents lots of tears!

*Courtesy of my mom, Shiloh will get VERY excited and shake her rattle, or whatever else is in her hand, when you sing "Shake shake shake, shake shake shake, shake the rattle, shake the rattle!" It's pretty funny.

CHICAGO!! (or, melissa the hero)

Last night, Melissa and I got to go out and have a girl's night!! Her mother kept her children, and mine kept my children (THANK YOU MOM!!!) and we went out! This has been been more than a month in the planning stage, and it was great! First, we went out to eat at Applebee's, where I told Melissa that it was a little strange to not have to get crayons from the hostess. Dinner was wonderful, and then it was off to see the musical Chicago!

The Broadway in Savannah group is so talented! Right from the beginning, it was captivating...I almost forgot where I was....until a very loud THUMP about 45 min. into the show. It was obvious that someone had fallen (Have I mentioned that Melissa is a nurse?) She looked at me and said "I think I should go" I said "Go!" and that was the last I saw of Melissa for a little over half an hour. Of course I knew that if nothing was wrong, she would have come right back, so I got more and more concerned.

Finally, at the very end of intermission, she came back. An older gentleman had fallen and hit his head. He had seemed fine, just in need of a stitch or two, was lucid, answering Melissa's questions about his medical history, when he suddenly started seizing. So, Melissa and her help (another medical professional came to help from the audience....he was an EMT...unfortunately, he was also drunk.) EMS was a long time in responding, so Melissa was busy keeping him from hurting himself and keeping an eye on his pulse, etc.

When she finally got back, she was sweaty and out of breath, but boy! was I proud of her! I was so glad that she was there to help and has the commitment to get up and go when someone needs her. YAY for Melissa!!

Anyway, then we enjoyed the rest of the show and headed back to the house, where I laid out everybody's church clothes, was lucky enough to get a call from my wonderful husband, and then passed out!! It was a great night, I am so so so glad we got to have a night out together. Thank you, Mom, for allowing me to go out and have fun! It was a great gift!

the everyday craziness....

This first one is of Shiloh and Kaleb bonding....yes, this is what my house sounds like :) But I love how Kaleb does things with her (although he is still a 6 year old boy...quite evident! hehe) and I love how she loves to make him laugh. Also, you can see when she notices the camera and starts hamming it up even more!

AND...here is the next big thing....American Idol, watch out!

And this was all in the 45 min. since I just picked K up from school....and it's now officially spring break. Wish me luck with that!! Now, I totally understand if you need to go take some Advil, I already have! :)

funny things my boys say

1.) We were sitting at the table, eating. All of a sudden, Kaleb strips off his shirt and says "Mommy, LOOK! I've got BIG muscles!" I started to reply, but before I could, Gabe leaned forward (towards K), squinted his eyes, and said "But Kaleb, where?!" (Kaleb was not amused)

2.) Gabe is working on his manners, and he pretty reliably asks to be excused when it's appropriate....except for it doesn't sound like "excuse me"....it sounds like "accuse me!!"

3.) Kaleb has more wiggly teeth. Somehow (where do kids get these ideas?) he thought that his new tooth was growing out of the tooth beside it, rather than out of his gums. But, now, that other bottom tooth is about to come out. In Kaleb's mind, this meant that he wasn't going to have ANY teeth soon if they all fell out before a new tooth could grow in....I hope I explained that clearly. He came to me completely listless last night, asking me what he was going to get to eat if he couldn't chew anymore...it took a good 20 min. to figure out what was going on his his mind!

4.) I was being very silly, jumping up and down, making funny noises and strange faces, all for the benefit of Gabe and Shiloh, who were laughing at me alot. I said "I know, I'm silly" And Gabe (whom I have trained well, and whose wife will one day thank me--we can hope--) said "No, Mommy, you're not silly, you're BEAUTHIFUL!!"