Photo Drop

I am really loving being a realtor!

In the past couple of weeks, I feel like I have hit a stride where I am more confident in my abilities and thus am able to work from home more and more.

This freedom has resulted in some good times and great pictures!

I also have to say I genuinely love the job of being a professional realtor.  It is right in my wheelhouse to get to work with people and help them to find the right home.  I love the math, the problem solving, the scheduling!  Most of all, I love the relationships I am creating with customers and fellow realtors!

Here are pictures too cute not to share, but with no specific theme:

We will be sad to see Nicole and Liam move, but are so excited for this next phase of their adventure!  I know Brandon will be happy to see them when they cross the pond next week!

(Alexander and I had been at the park for over an hour and a half at this point....he is hot and tired, but not unhappy, I swear!)

While waiting for Nicole and Liam to get to the park, we did some turtle watching.

On one of my work from home days this week, we enjoyed a morning at the Young Philosopher's Club at the mall

Being around the older girls, Potatoes managed to play with play doh for 15 minutes straight while only taking one tiny little taste!

Usually play doh lasts all of 5 minutes, because most of it has begun the digestion process.

Afterwards, the tots went driving

Lucy and Kiera driving the taxi

Xander and Brynlee taking hot dog orders

He had so much fun, he asked for hot dog keys the rest of the afternoon!

I forgot to take pictures until it was just Laura, Nicole, and baby Liam left, but we had a little get together after school on Wednesday.  Lucy and Kiera had already headed home.

I feel so blessed to have such great friends who don't mind the casual atmosphere of my somewhat organized home!

 My curly-headed cutie pie

rocking his Jordans

My mom got us this beaver get up that always looked too big.  I finally put it on him, and it was way too small...with no foot holes!

Perfect for pictures, though!

driveway painting

Sometimes he gets chick-fil-a ice cream on the way home from school if he has nice hands with his friends

This little guy keeps us laughing

The other day he started singing wheels on the bus, prompting me through the song.  In his version, the baby said, "wah, wah, wah"

the mama said, "I love you"

and the daddy, well he said, "I love you, puppy"

This kid knows how much Daniel loves Zoey!

He has this funny obsession with trees.  He likes to sit on our shoulders and be ran into the low hanging branches....

He loves to run down the street, yelling "RUNNING!" and then fall (purposely), say "oh no!" and then get back up and do it again...and again...and again...

Daniel is out of town right now, and Xander is really missing him.  He wakes up saying, "daddy home?" and likes to say "hi daddy" to all the pictures of Daniel around the house.  When we saw the turtle at the park, he kept saying, "daddy turtle."  I'm glad Daniel went on this short trip, as I think it will help prepare for when he leaves for a much longer time come November.

When he sees pictures of himself, he says,"Tay-toes!"

We love you, Potatoes!

Hurricanes & Hotels

With Hurricane Irma being ghastly big, and Potatoes being a terrible car rider, Daniel and I both felt it was better for me to be safe and head out of dodge for this massive storm that could hit our area.

Originally, my plan was to take the storm as an excuse to head to Atlanta, but when the storm started tracking over Georgia, it seemed pointless to follow her path and call it an escape plan!

While prepping for the worst, I was in frequent contact with friends around town to see what their plans were.  Alyssa said, with a toddler and a dog, she too felt it was better to simply get out just in case.  She had a suite booked in Hattiesburg, MS and offered for the Martin crew to join, while both our husbands stayed behind and took care of things around home.

Though we were blessed in our area with no storm damage, I am so glad Alyssa and I hit the road!

All packed up and on the road!

Zoey sat in the third row with the Ramirez pup, Murphy

She is not accustomed to being left out in the back, and even crawled on top of Alyssa's bag for a bit, trying to get up closer to the front!

Leaving after nap on Friday, we arrived in Hattiesburg late.  

Everyone was happy to stretch their legs!

The dogs went immediately for a drink-

We quickly closed the lid and set out a bowl!

All of our stuff somehow managed to fit on the little cart

These two had so much fun in hotel living!

A fun trip to Michael's for hotel room fun

The hotel had a closed in patio so we could all sit outside and enjoy a popsicle

These two!

Play doh fun

Strawberries and Cheese

Potatoes thought the lamp was a punching bag

I ended up having to hide it behind the curtain to save the shade!

There was an apartment complex that had a little playground and a small dog park right next door.  It was great to get some energy out for both tots and pups.

We weren't able to leave the dogs in the room much, because Zoey would howl, making Murphy bark (but Zoey'showling was far louder and lasted longer).  Being that there were a lot of evacuated families with dogs in the hotel, it was not a good idea to have the animals start in an uproar!

When Hurricane Irma began to break up and show it was not going to head to FWB, we quickly packed our stuff and headed home.

After screaming, Potatoes finally fell asleep on the ride home- for about 20 minutes

I am extremely grateful to Alyssa for letting us high jack her evacuation plan!

Though there were moments when being in a hotel with two tots and two pups (with my toddler being extremely active and physical) was extremely trying, it was really nice to have no cleaning, no cooking, and lights out during nap time and at early toddler bed time!

Home again!

Grandmomma and Gammie

We had a wonderful time visiting with both Grandmomma and Gammie last week!

I thought having the grandmas in town was the perfect opportunity to take Alexander to the zoo for the first time.  Though I have mixed feelings about zoos, animals are definitely little man's favorite thing, so I wanted hime to have the opportunity to see animals up close and in real life.

It was also his first train ride!

I was surprised by how timid he was.  He enjoyed watching others feed the animals, but was very resistant to doing so himself.

Our little joey

Kiera and family joined us for the fun!

Kiera was much more bold in feeding the animals (it was not her first time-she's a pro!)

Two curly headed cuties

Gammie brought Potatoes a new book, Rodzilla, about a Godzilla-like toddler

It quickly became a favorite! "Rah-rah!"

We had a pool party that Grandmomma oversaw

All the tots loved hanging out together in the pretzel!

Grandmomma tried to enjoy cereal in piece, but this guy jumped in her lap and stole her spoon!

Just chillin'

Beach Day

Potatoes loved being buried in the sand, and after Daniel buried him time after time and took a break, he attempted to bury himself!

We went out to lunch and Potatoes played so much in the fountain, it became a shirtless affair for this little monkey

My mom and I went to get pedicures while Daniel took Potatoes rock climbing

Uncle Adam was in town to join the fun!

While he was a natural climber, he actually enjoyed bouncing on the padding below as much or more than climbing

Driveway party while we wait for daddy to come home!

We had a wonderful visit and feel blessed to all be able to come together.

Now on to write up our adventures in Mississippi during Hurricane Irma!