The Party

The three cousins


Parker blowing out his candles


Parker and Ford enjoying their Curious George cupcakes


Cole and Maryn


Didn't Sarah do a great job on the cupcakes? I told her she needs to quit doing calligraphy and decorate cupcakes as a side job. She said she'd just be fat.


Mark, Parker and Maryn in the bounce house


The bounce house- almost as big as our house! Parker jumped in it from the moment Mark and Joseph inflated it until they took it down around 8 that night. He did come out for meals and a nap. And occasionally to play with his new toys. My friend Andrea was very concerned about how much energy he was using since the child cannot spare any calories!


Ford coloring

That's all for now since I know at least most of the family really just wants pictures...

Parker's 3rd Birthday

The birthday boy


After naps Parker and I decorated cupcakes and then we all ate them and opened presents. In addition to the cleaning trolley he got a shed and construction trains for his Thomas set and a coffee maker from Maryn.


Maryn enjoying her cupcake




The infamous cleaning trolley. Parker was up at 6:30 and after we sang Happy Birthday to him the first thing he asked about was where his cleaning trolley was. Can you imagine what a disappointment it would've been to him had we not gotten it? After we put together he wanted the kitchen light turned on so he could see to clean. This was all by about 7am.

More later...

A New Post Already!!

A couple of Sunday pictures. Why will they never look at the camera at the same time with a smile? How hard can it be??




Can you believe I am already writing another post? This pregnancy has been fine but I have been really tired up until about a week ago. My OB was not faxing my thyroid results to my regular doctor's office (I have hypothyroidism.) so I had to take it over there myself. My doctor upped my medication so I think that has really helped. And I went ahead and started taking iron pills for anemia- which I usually get when I am pregnant- so I think those two things have really helped with my energy level.

The countdown begins for Parker's birthday. He turns 3 next Sunday and then his party is the following Saturday, the day after Mark's next big exam. All Parker is asking for is the "cleaning trolley."

If you know Parker at all you know he loves to clean. His favorite toy for a long time has been his vacuum cleaner. The vacuum has been with us to the beach, to Auburn... it provides hours of entertainment. Well, the cleaning trolley might rival the vacuum. He saw it in a catalog in January and has still not forgotten about it. It came on Friday and is in the garage. I think I would officially be the worst mom in the world if I had not gotten it for him. And we also ordered him a play coffee maker from the same company. Another of Parker's favorite past times is to use an old coffee maker we have to put grounds in and some water and make me some coffee. I'll let you know how these gifts go over!






What, you might ask, is this contraption? The conversation went something like this...
me: Parker, what is that?
Parker: a car transport
me: oh, of course. a car transport. (you know the big trucks that carry cars to the dealerships...)

Since this initial invention we have made improvements such as putting the baby doll stroller on top. Parker has been pushing it around the house all weekend. Very creative.

I've Been Tagged

Guess I had better get started on this new post since Sarah tagged me days ago. But I've been busy!! Mostly shopping for Thomas the train additions to our collection. AC Moore was having a sale, buy one get one free and on Monday my friend Meg and I went to stock up for upcoming birthdays, Christmas, etc. They also had a 55% off coupon in the Sunday paper. Now usually you can't use those with other sales but they missed that somehow in their computer system. So I went to the register with a $27 Useful Engine Shed and $27 set of construction trains expecting to pay $27 (buy one get one) and the cashier asked if I had any coupons. Being the honest person that I am I said I didn't think I could use them with the sale and she said let's check. So we did. $13!!! And Meg got $130 worth of merchandise for $35!!! We were ecstatic! Alas, today they wised up (is that correct?? Abby??) and discovered people were basically ripping them off so we were only able to do buy one get one free. But who is to argue with that? So Ford is now getting started on his train set as I got some things for Sarah.

On to the tagging...
What was I doing 10 years ago? I was a sophomore at Auburn in secondary math education, studying hard (ha!! late night trips to Tiger Time with Abby for cheese grits and chocolate shakes kept much studying from happening) and getting ready to be engaged. Mark had already bought the ring and would torture me by getting it out and looking at it in front of me without showing me. We've obviously never been good at keeping secrets from each other so I knew it was coming soon. Joseph graduated from high school at the end of May so Mark waited until June 1st to ask me.

5 things on my to do list today (which we will call tomorrow since tonight all I have to do is watch American Idol. Go David Cook!!)...
1. Petting zoo at Parker's preschool at 10
2. Lunch with Nicole after that
3. Visit with Andrea
4. Call and order Curious George stuff for Parker's birthday party
5. Cook dinner for my family- chicken crescent squares

5 snacks I enjoy...
1. CHOCOLATE!! dark not milk
2. Cheese-Its
3. Auntie Ann's pretzels at the mall
4. cookies
5. ice cream- preferably chocolate!
As you can see I am not a healthy eater, especially at 28 weeks pregnant.

5 things I would do if I were a billionaire...
1. Gift money to friends I have that are in need
2. Take the kids to Disney World (sure, we'll do this one day but sooner if we had lots of money!) with some friends and family
3. Fly family to visit me (and help out :) ) whenever possible
4. Give more to our wonderful but small and somewhat poor church- and to Djard's mission in Brazil that Mark helped with (does that need to be two separate things?)
5. Save for college and retirement (boring but necessary)

5 bad habits...
1. love, love to pick- my kid's ear wax, pimples, finger nails, etc. When Parker was a newborn he had a lot of dead skin on him from being born late so I would sit and nurse him and pick it all off. Poor kid!
2. complaining (just asked Mark to give suggestions... he said "I'm not touching that" After I said #2 he did say that crossed his mind... grrrr)
3. being too busy to sit and play with the kids
4. horrible eating habits
5. road rage- this is getting better since I've had kids and quit driving on the interstate as much since I'm not teaching downtown

5 places I have lived...
1. Brentwood TN
2. Hollifield Hall- 1st floor my freshman year and 2nd floor my sophomore year
3. Northpoint- subdivision in Auburn with duplexes with Susan Anderson and Anne Spencer, my freshman roommate who I got potluck and ended up being good friends with
4. Glen Haven apt. with Mark in Auburn when we were first married
5. 13631 Shiella Caruth Dr in Huntersville, our current home


5 jobs I have had...
1. Children's Shop in Nashville (creative name, huh) It was a kids boutique that I would never be able to afford now that I have kids. They paid me horribly but were only open until 5:30 and not on Sunday.
2. Hollifield Hall front desk answering phones and checking in visitors
3. Party Depot in Auburn- I had a lot of fun here especially when I got to do invitations
4. Piedmont Open Middle School- ah, the days of being a middle school math teacher. Sometimes I miss it, other times not so much.
5. tutoring math when Parker was a baby

I want to know more about...
1. Abby
2. my dad- since he never posts and this would be fun
3. Andrea (although your blog isn't really about this kind of stuff...)
4. Emily but I know she's got WAY too much going on right now so don't really do it :)
Those are all my friends that actually have a blog. Note to friends: Get a blog!!!

Pizza Bear

Wednesday night we went to the mall to look for some dress shirts for Mark and decided to go to Build A Bear. Our friend Lilli made a bear for her baby brother Liam before he was born and I thought that was such a great idea. So we decided to let Parker pick something out and make it for the baby. He chose a dog that he named Bear. Only a 2 year old (almost 3!). At Build A Bear you can also buy a device that makes a sound to put in his paw that roars or makes whatever noise your animal makes. You can also record your own. We made a recording of Parker saying, "I love you, Baby Pizza." It is the sweetest thing you've ever heard!

We've been reading You're All My Favorites lately. Not sure the author. It's the cutest story about three little bears who each worry that their parents love the other bears better. The oldest is a boy who we have named Parker Bear. The next happens to be a girl, named Maryn Bear, of course. And the baby is a boy- we will have to get the author to rewrite us one for a third girl if this baby is a girl!- who we call Pizza Bear. So we have taken to calling the dog Pizza Bear. Hopefully this will suffice when the baby arrives and has to have a name other than Baby Pizza. And hopefully Parker will give up the dog.

Of course I forgot to bring my camera but he and Maryn had a great time. They had a bear in a stroller that Maryn just pushed around the store the whole time. She is going to get the baby a little lovie like her "babies" to give to Baby Pizza. So a fun night at the mall for the Ray family. Coming soon... my answer to Sarah's tag but I had to get this done first. And it really does fulfill Sarah's purpose anyway, to move the Easter post down from the top!

Easter (a little late)

Mark wanted to dye Easter eggs Sunday after church so we put Maryn down for a nap and let Parker do the eggs. I put them in a basket on the dinning room table with what was left of the kids Easter candy. Tuesday the kids and I went to the grocery store and came home to find Max, our beagle, had eaten about 8 of the eggs, shell and all. Needless to say I put him outside for the rest of the night. YUCK!!


Notice our Auburn egg, front left


My own little preschool. We had Cam over to play last Monday and they had such a great time. Parker and Cam love playing together and Maryn does her best to keep up with them. She LOVES Cam. I see a huge crush in her future, big brother's best friend. They were so cute all sitting around the table eating their snack and watching Baby Noah.


The church Easter egg hunt.




Easter Sunday- neither of my children wanted to be still for a picture.



Parker's Easter parade at school. His class were lambs. Fortunately their costumes were not too elaborate.

Parker got to ride in the wagon because he was having a rough morning. After almost an entire year at preschool he is going through a phase where he wants to stay home with me. I broke down and let him take his teddy bear to school who appears to have participated in the parade. Maybe this week will be better...

Look Out :) Auburn... Here We Come

Sarah's mom made this adorable outfit for Ford to have his picture made in. He went with Granny for a photo shoot with a baby bunny and a lamb. Isn't he handsome?!


Sarah made a delicious dinner Friday night- cheese grits, asparagus wrapped in prosciutto, and a pork tenderloin on the grill (by my dad).


My future Auburn cheerleader


The goal was to get the three kids in a picture in their sunglasses. You can see how well it went!




Ford rearranging the fridge


Aunt Sarah swinging the babies around. Isn't she 19 weeks pregnant? I am hoping her belly looks a little bigger when we're at the beach so I'm not the only enormous one.


Parker driving the excavator.


Digging and dumping out the dirt.

We went to Auburn last week, Wednesday through Saturday. It was such a great time! We left around lunch time on Wednesday so we could pick up Dede (aka Debbie) at the airport. The kids did pretty well in the car. By the time we got to La Grange, GA Maryn had had about enough so the rest of the trip was a little tough- but oh so much sweeter in Olivia!! We had lots of room! I even attempted a nap on the back seat with Parker but Maryn would have none of it. One of my favorite little silly things about the minivan is that the seat belt receptors (surely there is a better word for that?) have a little home in the seat so you can put them in there and they don't stick into your back while you are lying down- with a seat belt on of course. What a great idea!

Dede and Papa had not seen the kids, Parker, Maryn and Ford, since we had been in Seattle in September. The babies have changed a lot since then- walking and some talking too. It was chaotic but so much fun. They are building new houses in Sarah and Joseph's neighborhood and there was an excavator next door digging out a basement. Parker and I went to check it out Wednesday morning and the man driving offered to let Parker take a ride! It was the coolest thing ever. Parker got to actually dig the dirt, swing the bucket around, and dump the dirt out by himself. What a nice man to let him have such a great experience! Papa came out just in time to get some pictures.

It was a typical Martin get together filled with LOTS of good food (breakfast casserole, chocolate cake, cookies, cheese grits, Warehouse Bistro... all a pregnant woman's dream), shopping, and great conversation- especially planning our upcoming beach trip! Thanks Sarah, Joseph and Ford for letting us invade your house. And Papa and Dede thanks for making the trip. We love getting to see you all. Oh, and to Shealy and Granny for babysitting the kids so we could have a dinner out. You're the best!!