Celebrate | Amos is SIX!

A few weeks ago Mosie turned SIX!! I can't even believe it. We actually celebrated Amos & Solly's birthdays with a snake birthday party (more soon) in October, but I couldn't let his actual birthday go by without ado. So, on his birthday, we got him & his friend Marci out of school early and went to see the Grinch! It's SO cute! We had popcorn that we passed around and cokes for everyone! AND an almost empty theater since we went during school hours. After the movie, we played at home (Amos tried out his new rip-stick) and had pizza for dinner. 

At six:

+favorite thing: snakes

+loves: drawing (mostly snakes)

+favorite color: red

+does not like school ("because he isn't learning anything")

+does not like mornings

+does not like to be cold 

+can read

+can count to infinity (well, he's made it to 7,000, so ...)

+has decided he's a Gamecock fan 

Mosie man, I sure do love you and love being your mama. You're such a joy (hard, but a joy). Six whole trips around the sun doesn't even seem possible, but I truly love who you are and who you're becoming. Keep growing big & strong, sweet boy! 

amos goes fishing

Last week Amos got to go on a very special fishing trip to the Everglades with Pop! They left early on Wednesday and drove 14+ hours. They fished and got rained out several days in a row, but Amos had the time of his life. He fished with the big boys, saw alligators (even got to hold one!), swam in the hotel pool (aka belly flopped for hours), and had all of the big guys' attention for days. He was in heaven! 

I'm so thankful Amos got to take this trip. I know he'll remember it forever. From the long car rides, to the torrential downpour every day, to jumping in the hotel pool for hour, to the alligator wrestling show with Marcos. I've loved hearing blips about the trip already and know more and more will be told in the coming days as Amos remembers. Thank you Pop for taking Amos and loving on him in this special way! 

Amos is FIVE!!!!

Amos! You're FIVE!! One whole hand! Wowzers. I hope that you (always) know how special you are and how proud I am of you. For your birthday this year we celebrated with opening your presents first thing...an army canteen & glider bike (want & (boy did you want it! You asked for one almost every day since Solly got his)) , a camo shirt (wear), Time Magazine Beautiful Phenomena issue (read), new (to us) yellow Converses (need). After opening presents we loaded everyone up for a trip to Gravitopia (thanks again, Groupon!) and then had lunch at Chick Fil A..your pick! You & Solly rode your glider bikes around the drive way all afternoon until it was time for family to arrive for a supper of hotdogs + s'mores & an awesome volcano cake Haley made (it even had lava)!

This year has been a big one for you! We've traveled (you picked up Puerto Rico, Canada & lots of states up the East coast), you started preschool and became a big brother for the third time. You've seemed to really enjoy school and we've enjoyed hearing all about your days. I've loved seeing your heart when you tell us about being kind to kids at school or getting texts from your teacher about what a sweet helper you've been. 

Your favorite thing is volcanoes. You've studied (obsessed over) them for some time now and know so much about them. You can name tons of them, tell us where they are, what kind of volcano they are and give us their history. It's mind blowing, really! You also like Bruno Mars and have recently discovered Queen and David Bowie. Your favorite color is still red and you love to go to Gravitopia. You still love Ba and the hot tub too. You're very much a daddy's boy at this age and want to be where he is, doing what he's doing. 

I  hope that you know how much I love you and love being your mama. You're constantly challenging and stretching me, making me a better mama every day. You're one special little dude, Amos! 

Amos' first day of school

 

  Our sweet Amos started preschool last week and has been loving it! We're super fortunate that his school is about an 8 minute walk from our house and the weather has been nice, so we've been able to walk him to / from school just about every day. He really loves his teacher, Mrs. Mandy, and has made sweet friends already. 

One of my favorite things has been chatting on the way home about whatever he's done that day. We talk about who he played on the play ground and what story they read as well as what letter they're working on during writing time. I also love hearing sweet stories from the play ground...so far my favorite: 

"A little three year old girl from the K3 class told me that I'm crazy, but she likes me the best..." (while stating almost in a confessing manner that he wasn't actually being crazy) 

Cheers to new things this year. Mosie, you're a rockstar and I'm so proud of you! 

Amos Goes to School

Mosie!! I can't believe you're really going to school! I am so excited for you. You love to learn and already your 4 year old brain is so smart. Daddy and I loved going to meet your teacher and the other kids in your class and seeing your class room with you. I can't wait to see all of the things you learn this year. We'll pray for your day on our walk to school and talk about all the things you did on our walk home. We'll find fun things for show-and-tell and go on all the field trips. Little guy, the world is yours. Keep exploring and learning and filling that super smart brain with all that you can! Mama is so proud of you!

Amos is FOUR!

Amos Michael Martin, I'm afraid that I've blinked and now you're FOUR!! Seriously, I don't know where these last four years have gone but I sure do enjoy being your mama! You are such a fun, intelligent, interesting little person. You're also sassy and very stubborn… I'm not sure who you got that from.  Thank you for bearing with me as I learn how to be a mama to a four-year-old…it's a lot different than being a mama to a two-year-old! You definitely have your own opinions about things and have certain ways that you like things done (i.e.: chocolate milk & a show in the morning ... in that order) … and sometimes a lot of the time your way doesn't line up with mama and daddy's way, but we're learning together. I've loved watching you grow into your own little person and it is mine and daddy's greatest privilege to shepherd and mold you (and your brothers) into caring, kind, gentle but fierce little Jesus lovers. 

I am so, so, so proud of the little boy that you are growing into. You are so stinkin' smart that sometimes I can't wrap my brain around it. You can count to 100+, you can count by 2s and 100s (to 7,000 one time - with a little help), you can speak some Spanish (mostly vocab words), you can write your name and most of the alphabet, you know mama's phone number and our address, you are creative and love to paint (especially when mama's painting), and you love daddy and to be doing anything that he's doing. You're still obsessed with American Ninja Warrior (hence the cake that I worked super hard on) and nerf guns (you, daddy & Solly have a nerf battle almost every day when he gets home from work). 

You're a great big brother. But, you're still learning every stinkin' day how to share (we're selfish people, bud...all of us), how to speak kindly to Solomon & Ez (and mama too) - we're working on taming that tongue of yours (and mine, always) [James 3: 5-6] & remembering that God gave you Solomon and Ezra to be your best buds forever. You may look just like you're daddy, but you're mama when it comes to attitude and temperament. You know what you want (you recently told daddy that you didn't like a sword he'd made you out of scrap wood & when he asked you why not, you said, "...well, I just don't like it.") and you're sassy. Sheesh. Parents of mine, please accept my apology for my sassiness as a kid. I'm getting it fed to me by the spoonful these days. 

Moose, I think you're wonderful. I truly love being your mama, even in when you're sassy and stubborn and a total daddy's boy. You make me be a better mama. Thank you for loving me just as I am & always sneaking in a, "you're beautiful mama," just when I need it. You're a special boy, Amos. Happiest 4th birthday to YOU, my biggest boy! 

wild explorers

my little wild explorers

We're LOVING this warm weather. We spend hours in the morning wandering around the yard, finding silk "woms" and roly poly bugs (even though I'm the only one that will touch them), blowing bubbles and splashing in buckets of water and mama made puddles. We leave the front door open and let Ezra hang out in the house in the boppy just inside the door - so he's never too far away. 

I'm thinking of creating my own version of the Wild Explorers Club for these guys this summer (a membership is on my birthday / Christmas list for Amos this year). I love the idea of weekly adventure assignments and a way to keep up with what they accomplish. I'd also love to incorporate our friends / family (camping trips with Papa to the land // fishing trips with Pop in his boat..things like that) -- stay tuned! 

Amos' favorite things | (almost) three and a quarter

Favorites at (almost) 3.25:

Color: red, orange & pink 

Thing to do: nerf guns

Very best friend: Papa 

Place to go: Gravitopia

Food: cheeseburgers

Drink: chocolate (almond) milk

Show: Umizoomi & (American) Ninja Warrior 

Thing in the entire world: nerf guns

What else do you love?: "balls...basket balls..aaannnnnndddd guns" 

My sweet Amos! You're one funny, adventurous, loving, happy, nerf gun loving little dude. You're a great big brother to Solomon & I can't wait to see you with Baby Martin 3. You're growing and growing and tell me all the time that you're going to be bigger than Daddy (just promise me it won't be too soon). You love studying things and being read to (I think Daddy finished 3 or 4 Narnia books with you last year). You're also bossy and want things to be done your way (sorry...being first born I know how it is...mama's working on making sure you know things don't always have to be your way). I'm soaking in the days at home with you & trying to not let one single one slip away, as I know before long life will change again - we'll be moving into our white house and adding another baby to the mix. I hope you know how much mama & daddy love you, how much Solomon already looks up to you, and how proud of you we all are. You're amazing, Mooshka.

[Amos' favorite things | two and a half]

Amos 1, 2, 3

Just Because ...