The Life of the Marty Party: June 2010

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Once Upon a Time...

...at a castle in Reading, PA

parents of the bride and VERY SPECIAL friends of ours!

Krista and Jesse we miss you! It was so great that we got to sit by you for the ceremony and the reception!!!

her father gave her away to a fine young man ...they washed each other's feet and took communion together...

and then they kissed their first kiss as husband and wife the first of thousands of kisses for the rest of their life...

...she tossed her bouquet from the castle tower

they danced and danced...

they had their cake and ate it too...

Q played the role of emcee

she wore beautiful shoes...

...and...

...they lived happily ever after!

We love you Mr. and Mrs. Clark and Alisa Hoober. We are so happy we were able to be there to share in your very special day.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Great Time with Great Friends

Sophia made flower hair pins for all the girls and then we went to her "salon" and she styled our hair...I asked for a side ponytail. It only cost 25 cents and she did a great job!

this is me at Sophia's salon

Q and me

One of the things we miss the most about living in Lancaster is being able to spend time with our best friends from college--Jon and Dawn and Kyle and Kim. Q and I traveled to PA in June for the wedding of our special friends Alisa and Clark {we met years ago through HOPE International}. ***BONUS***We are always excited to stay with Dawn and Jon when we are in Pennsylvania...and they are always SUPER HOSTS! Thank you Dawnie and JD for having us and also for inviting Kim and Kyle so we could all hang out just like old times. We love you and miss you all so much.

Kyle and Kim

Jon and Dawn

Dawnie and Me (we met in 1986 and we've been bff's ever since)

Sophia taught me how to hula hoop...we had so much fun and laughed a lot.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Cornhuskers

We Martys LOVE sweetcorn on the cob! Q always sends the kids out to the backyard to shuck it for me...

...glad to see they have fun with that

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Bigger Backyard

Backyard "BEFORE"

The power company came to our house and removed 6 evergreen trees because they were getting too close to the power lines...the bonus for us is a much bigger backyard! It almost doubled in size.

there's a walking/biking path behind our house that goes around the lake and all through our city so the workers just backed their truck right down the path and into our backyard to chop down and grind up the 6 trees...

Backyard "AFTER"

...crazy kids

this is the path that goes all the way around the lake...and to the playground...and the sledding hill...and the pavilion...and the sand volleyball court...and the fishing pier...
It's great for running, biking or taking an evening stroll. We LOVE IT HERE!

this little opening into our backyard from the path was inadvertently made by the guys with the big truck.

The big pile of mulch...great kindling for our fires this winter.

Q has been working tirelessly back here pulling out underbrush and weeds and burning burning burning to shape our new bigger backyard. We would like to eventually have a nice fire pit back here with a patio and some pretty landscaping around.

I will definitely post our progress! ...so many projects

Q and I have been married for 16 years. We've been through so much together from traveling the world and living overseas to the births of each of our 4 children and everything in between. Our marriage is stronger than ever and for that we are very grateful. We do not take it for granted and we're always working on staying close and improving our relationship. Marriage definitely has it's ups and downs just like every part of life, but we've chosen to relish the good and to learn from the bad and grow through it. In 1996, we started our life together in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where Q was an associate pastor for 5 1/2 years. Our life changed forever in 1999 when we had our first baby...a girl. In 2001 we had a boy.
In 2003, Q began working for HOPE International. We moved our little family of four to Kiev, Ukraine for the first 15 months and then transferred to Lancaster, PA where the HOPE headquarters is located. We lived in Lancaster for 4 years. During that time we happily welcomed our sweet baby #3, another girl.
Then, in January 2009, Q resigned from his position with HOPE and we moved our family overseas to Krakow, Poland to join Q's parents and siblings in a family business. The business was called "More Than A Cookie". We baked and sold gourmet cookies and brownies, ice cream, and specialty coffee drinks. Our passion has always been to further the Kingdom and support ministries close to our hearts so the idea was to give a portion of every purchase to support children's ministry.
In December 2009, we moved back to the states yet again. This time to the home we know and love *Minnesota*. [We have since sold the rights to our family business in Europe]. It has been a great experience to reconnect with family and friends after being gone for 6 1/2 years. I was able to start up my cleaning business again and I still love it. Q is back with HOPE International working as the development representative doing fundraising work here in the twin cities and Chicago as well. We feel so blessed to be part of such a great organization.
In May 2010, We bought a house on a lake...which is so fitting for Minnesota...and we have really enjoyed getting settled into our life here. Have you heard the saying "new house new baby"? Well, we found out baby #4 was on the way only 4 months after we moved in!*SURPRISE*
We evened the score with another boy and our party of five became six last May. We know each one of them is a special gift from God and we are enjoying this incredible journey of parenting together. It's not always easy but we can't imagine our life without any of them. We feel so blessed.

Eden is 12 years old. She is a beautiful, sweet, fun and very creative girl. Eden enjoys sewing, drawing, painting and any kind of art project. She is also very talented in singing. She's played fall soccer for the past 2 seasons and this year her team even won the championship. It has been such a joy to watch her grow into a young lady {preteen}...it could not be more true "the years go by so fast" we have enjoyed every stage so far. What a great big sister and help to Mommy and Daddy she is! She is very responsible and is always watching out for her little brothers and sister.

Truman is 10. He loves sports. His most favorite is football...any version...He plays on a city league team, he plays on the Playstation, he plays with his friends at school and with just himself in the backyard while narrating the play by play (this version is especially fun to watch out my kitchen window) and then of course there's his favorite NFL team, the Vikings, he loves to watch on Sundays...he even collects football cards. He also plays on the traveling basketball team and he is very good. He was on the track team in the spring and he won several blue ribbons in that as well. He's just one of those athletic kinda guys.
He also really loves fishing! His biggest catch was on a guys' weekend with Daddy when he caught a 24 inch Northern.
Although Math is his favorite subject in school, like his sisters, he is also very good in art and he even has his own little creative side.
He has such a great sense of humor. He's always making all of us laugh. He is a total entertainer. But, he is also one of the most thoughtful, sweet and sensitive boys you'll ever meet. We love this about our Truman. Most of all he is so happy to finally have a brother! It's been so fun to watch him with Jude.

Briar is 5. She started Kindergarten this year and so far she loves it. She goes for half days. In the morning she rides to school with Truman and then she comes home on the bus at noon. I love getting her dressed in the morning and doing her hair in fun braids or piggy tails, buns or curly buns. I want to take a picture of her every day because she is so stinkin' cute! Briar also played soccer for the first time this fall. She did a great job. She's not terribly aggressive or anything but it was still really fun to watch her.
She is such a fun little girly girl! She loves to play kitchen, babies, Barbies, Polly Pockets, dress-up, make-up...I guess "girly girl" would suffice! She even has her own little sense of humor. I wish I could video tape every moment right now because she is so adorable and she says the cutest things in her sweet tiny voice.
Briar is my best helper in the kitchen. I love that she doesn't just get bored with it half way through and quit. She always helps until everything is completely done.
She has been loving her new role as "big sister". She is definitely Mommy's little helper. Briar always helps me with bathtime for Jude and she loves to change his diapers and even burp him. I have loved watching her with him. It is truly precious. Every day when she gets off the bus she runs to give Jude a big hug and kiss!

Jude Blaser Marty baby number 4. Arrived on May 21st at 10:27am via C-section.
Weight: 7 lbs 6 oz
Length: 21 inches.
We didn't know we would ever have a 4th baby, yet here we are...completely in love with this little boy. He has completed our family. We are all crazy about him.
Jude is such a perfect "baby of the family". He is so laid back. He is very patient...it's like he knows there are 3 siblings to compete with for our time and he's totally okay with it. He's such a little love nugget speaking of which he already has so many nick names including but not limited to:
Ju.d.ju
juju.b
jude dude
lovey love
the man
the one
total munch
munchabunch
love munch
kicky bubbles
honey love