The Life of the Marty Party: July 2010

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Flowers for Mommy

We are all born with it. When we see flowers we want to pick them and give them to Mommy. I did it when I was little...now I'm the happy recipient.

It didn't take long after Eden was old enough to pick flowers and walk over and hand them to me, that I decided I would always be prepared to receive them. For about as long as I've been a mom, I've always had cute, tiny bottles or vases in my kitchen window--some extra short for the flowers that "come without stems". I LOVE IT! I LOVE IT WHEN THEY BRING ME FLOWERS! I LOVE FLOWERS! I LOVE MY KIDS!

I usually say in a somewhat-loud high-pitched voice "Oh thank you!!! This is the best day EVER!" They know I appreciate it and they love to make me all happy and excited!

Monday, July 26, 2010

Gramma Bonnie

My parents were in town for the kids' baptism and it happened to be the same weekend of my mom's birthday, so after a quick trip to Mall of America {the kids and me} with Dakota...everyone met at Olive Garden to celebrate my mom a.k.a. Gramma Bonnie. I had made her favorite, German Chocolate Cake [2-layer cupcakes] just for her and brought them to the restaurant. Happy Birthday Mom!

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Eden and Truman Baptized

Please watch this {less than} 7 minute video of the beautiful service. If you don't have 7 minutes and you just want to see Eden and Truman, start at 4 minutes and 30 seconds and then watch to the end.
For the sake of the video not getting too long the testimonies were cut short. Eden and Truman each wrote their own and then Q coached them on public speaking. They both did a great job. It was just a gorgeous summer evening, and truly a wonderful testimony to the community of what Christ has done for us.{the service was at a public beach and many people gathered to watch what we were doing--Praise God}

Eden giving her testimony

Truman giving his testimony

With Great Grampa Marty

With Joel and Sue, dear friends and godparents of Eden and Truman

Eden and Haley

Truman with his two best buddies, {cousins} Owen and Preston

with Grampa Bob and Gramma Bonnie

After the baptism service we had all the family over to our house for a celebration dinner.

Daddy prayed a special prayer of blessing over each of the kids.

With Uncle Josh (Q's brother) and Aunt Heather

With Alena

With Auntie Jessica (Q's sister) and cousins, Rose and James

With Uncle Ryan (my brother) and Aunt Cheryl and cousins, Nolan, Haley, Owen, and Preston

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

VBS 2010

(the groups of kids were distinguished by different colored bandanas)

Bouncy Castles on the church front lawn

Pony Rides

Eden and her friend from church, Ashley

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Anni in Minni

On July 20th, Q and I celebrated our 14 year anniversary. We celebrated with a weekend in Minneapolis. My parents came up from Wisconsin to stay with the kids so we could spend the weekend just the two of us. We stayed in a hotel on the west side of the city.

Our first stop was Kohl's...to buy Twins T-shirts.

...because we're goin' to a Twins game!

And, it's our first time at the new stadium. Target Field--"the best field in the country"! What a gorgeous night for a baseball game.

So fun to be right downtown and see the skyline from the stadium! The atmosphere was perfectly Minnesotan and all-American!

by the way, the Twins won!

On Saturday, we rented city bikes and rode around downtown. It was so fun!

Of course we had to ride by the metro-
dome (where
the Vikings play)

We had Starbucks...

Statue of Joe Mauer

We found this GREAT restaurant right on Lake Minnetonka for supper

Sunday was the last day. We enjoyed a very leisurely morning, checked out of our hotel, and went to Original Pancake House {our number one fave for breakfast in the twin cities}before heading home to the kiddos.

We are always so grateful for the gift of time together just the two of us. We spent a lot of the weekend talking about how happy we are to be together and dreaming about our future and how fortunate we are to have such a special marriage relationship. We truly are best friends and more in love than ever. By putting God first in our marriage, we've been able to work through the difficult times and come out stronger and closer than ever. We feel so blessed to have each other and we want to give all the glory to God.

Thanks again to my parents for coming up to stay with the kids! I know they always enjoy the time with Grampa and Gramma.

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