Cousin Fun

I have to give props out to MY cousin, Josh for being the designated photographer at most Family Events. I would not have ANY of the cute pics of the cousins if not for him. So Thanks Cuncle Josh!

We got together for a Family Home Evening at Nana's on Monday night, and had some great times! And what would a Pederson (who just happen to be Norwegian) FHE be without the Bakkels! SOOO good.

We do our part in keeping the Red haired genes alive- Long live strawberry blond!!

We "heart" visitors

Things are all a buzz at the Martushev house. We have a very happy pair of girls as the long awaited visit from thier cousins has arrived and they could not be more excited. Ryan, Tonya and all 5 kids came to visit for the week and we are looking forward to some fun memories. We prepared and are fully stocked with paper plates and plastic utensils, the girls dress up's are out and just waiting for cousin McKena to say "Yes, I would LOVE to play dress up princess with you!", Sofia is already ALL OVER having a "brother" in the house with Mason there, and Ella and Devon did not skip a beat when we walked through the door and immediately started playing keep away with one another. Go Diego Go has made a reappearance on our TV per Spencer's request and Brooklyn, she just gets to walk around and look cute. Good times.

More Discovery Museum Gateway!

Just more memories from the Kid's Museum. It was a bit rainy, so we RAN out to the helicopter and tried to get some pictures of Sofia. We did not succeed too well. Ella never did get a seat. There were just too many kids!

Ahhh yes. My girls, newscasters extraordinaire. For those that know Sofia, she was announcing the news with hands out, "This is the news to all my friends". It was hilarious!

Ella's dream come true. An entire WALL made of magnets to slap on. I had to literally pull her away from this one. Notice her wet sleeve. We had just visited the water exhibit and unlike her big sister Sofia, Ella was all over that one!

But it was to this one that we pulled her to. She jumped right on there and sang, "Riding the Range, Riding the Range, Riding the Range- YAHOO!" A classic from Backyardigans episode.

This was another of the girls' favorites. A Mini Market with carts, bags, and groceries.

It took awhile for Sof to get her turn playing the "checker" but she was patient and it was worth it. Funny note: the next day when we went to the store, she stepped right up to the vacant register and started talking to people that were watching her. "What can I do for you sir?" "Are you ready?" It was awesome.

So fun. I should have bought more of the daily deal when it was so cheap, but I do have another 50% off coupon that we could use. Maybe sometime this Fall. There are too many fun Summer things that I cannot wait to do with the girls coming up!

Red Flame's the big double 3!

Happy Birthday Artyom! Since you are the only 100% Russian in the family, consider this your special birthday wish! I also thought I would let others in on a few things that they may or may not know about you.
SO. Here is a top 5 list of things you may or may not know about the Red Flame and why I love him so much...in no particular order.

1. His love affair with Chunky Soup. (Yep. The one that tastes like soup, eats like a meal). I bought it one day with a coupon and he loved it!! so much that he called his mom via Skype to show her the can and tell her all about it. It still makes me laugh.
2. His contagious laugh. Honestly, I think it was one of the things that made me fall for him. If you want someone to laugh at your joke, tell it to Artyom. He even does the ultimate "faux-pas" by laughing at his own jokes...each and every time.
3. The throat clearer. This may or may not be considered a public service announcement, but if you happen to hear Artyom clear his throat, RUN. RUN AWAY. If not, you will be fortunate enough to hear a story that will last no less than 15 minutes in length. It gets me every time, but without fail, if that throat is cleared, he is just getting started on planning to talk a very long time.
4. One Word. Merlin. Have you seen that show? He loves it. It is one that we can actually both watch together (which makes me happy!). He never misses an episode and laughs whole heartedly through most of it. He always asks me, "Chair, didnt you think that was funny?!" I just smile and say yes, I did. Just not as funny as you did honey.
5. Diet Coke addict. Yes. His name is Artyom and he is an addict. "HI ARTYOM!" He had a goal once to not drink Diet Coke on Sunday, a worthy one I thought. Well, more than once did I catch him sneaking a can late in the evening. This one I fear, I will not be able to break no matter how much I would like to. If he ever decides to go through de-tox, I will be calling on each of my siblings and friends to take a night in turn as you guard the soda stash.

Happy Birthday Artyom. I for one am so glad you are a part of my life. Your girls and I love you so much and hope you have a great 33rd!

Discovery Museum Gateway...Part 1

We took Sofia to the Discovery Museum Gateway when she was "bitty" and thought that the price tag was a bit steep for what she would get out of it. So when a "daily deal" came around, I jumped on it and bought a 4 pack for the family. We headed out one Saturday and had a blast! A few Happy Meals later (can I just say how glad I am that they are all just $2.99 now?!) we walked in. The girls immediately had sensory overload (it was hilarious to watch em!) and we just ran, literally from place to place. The Red Flame took so many cute pics, I will have to do a double post! Here are a few the girls wanted to show Grandpa through the phone one day...I had to do my best to explain how the blog worked...Not sure it sunk in. For what it's worth...

The girls in the "real life" play house. This thing is AWESOME! It has mini everything from furniture, to windows, its just too cute. I loved seeing them play. We went back to this house many a time while we were there.

Sofia taking after her Papa and working the construction site. This girl was not intimidated by all the boys, one bit and used her cuteness to get the boy to her right to help her out. All she did was look at him, and he helped her pull it up! So I had to snap a pic of the after shot. Her face, looking all triumphant, and him standing by, just to make sure...hehe. It was pretty cute.

Big girl

As most kids do (and I am assuming boys do this as well, since we have yet to get one) both Sofia and Ella love to watch me put my make-up on and on occasion, I may or may not have let them put some play make-up on themselves. I'm reliving my childhood through the 2 girly-girls I have and I love it!

Well Ella said she needed to go potty, so she ran upstairs to go. It was a few minutes later when she had not come down again that we knew there was something going on. Artyom went up to check on her and he called me upstairs yelling, "Dont be mad, and get the camera!" Uh-oh. NOT what I wanted to hear. Well I ran upstairs and decided not to get mad and get the camera as I have learned (only took a few years...) that whatever it is (minus life threatning) will eventually be laughable. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday. Luckily this was one of the times that even later that night, we had a chuckle. Our big girl...thinking it's already time for make-up.

This is liquid eyeliner by the way. You can see the "wand" as she kept calling it, in her hand and the small (once filled) container of black eyeliner in the other hand. Let me tell you how much fun I had getting that stuff off her skin...

The blur of the holidays

December was NOT a good month to the Martushev family. It started out wonderful. Grandpa was coming to visit, I had a TON of things planned for us to do, Uncle Russ was coming from Hawaii to spend Christmas with us and we were going to have us some fun!

Well it did not exactly turn out that way....Read the post entitled "Cause in five years Ill laugh about it" and you will BEGIN to see why.

It WAS great to have my Dad here, and it WAS great to have Russ here as well, but my visions of Christmas morning were halted with Ella and her ear and then Christmas Eve, I started getting sick. Ithought it was nothing, but by the next morning, I could barely get myself out of bed. I did, and ended up on the floor watching the girls open things. Later on (see below) I actually did drag myself to the couch, and there I remained for hours. These are what is left of my Christmas Day nighmare that put me in bed for 2 days straight-missing all the fun. So today, I am grateful to the Red Flame for taking the precious pics of Christmas morning that he did.

Below you will see what happens when you dare lay on the ground at our house. Your two neices will make a princess out of you! (Uncle Russ wearing one of thier princess crowns- such a good sport!)What made me laugh about this one, was that Santa acutally brought the bike for Sofia and the Barbie car for Ella....They seemed to have a different idea.

The prized play kitchen. Definitely a high-lite of our Christmas morning!

Two cute girls (if I do say so myself- rocking thier Christmas pajamas)

Once they found thier princess outfits, off came the pj's and on came the princess dresses. Yep. That's me after I made my way to the couch. Thank goodness Ella is hiding my face!

I felt soo bad! I wanted to be much more involved with the kids but this is how I spent Christmas morning. On the floor with my pillow!

I only wish I could see Ella's face as she opened this- priceless!!! At least Uncle Russ seemed to catch it!

The two princesses at work in thier kitchen. LOVE IT!