Eli and Evie met their newest cousin, Rosie Murschall, in April. She is an amazing baby and we can't wait to see her again in August.

Evie's been working hard in gymnastics class all year. You can see the results!

25th Reunion

I recently attending my twenth-fifth college reuion and had a wonderful time catching up with old friends. Here we are looking dashing at one of the events.

Science experiments!

Here is Evie at the Toronto Science Museum, demonstrating a static electricity generator.

Queen Bees

Evie competing with her team, the Hee-Bee-Gee-Bees, at our town spelling bee. They got every word correct!

Eli's pet lizard

For his birthday in December, Eli got a new pet. Zack is a bearded dragon from the desserts of Australia. Below is a link to see an exciting video of Zack eating a cricket! Zack also eats salad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6O5l1P7fxg

Happy Birthday Eli!

Eli Whittaker Martin is 10 years old today. His first decade! He brings us as much joy today as he did the day he was born.

At 10, Eli loves Pokemon, reading, science, board games, tag and swimming. He's becoming very interested in world events and sometimes listens to NPR on his clock radio when he wakes up early! So far, he's supporting Hillary Clinton for president but he does think Obama and Huckabee have very cool names.

Scroll down for a series of pictures of Eli on his birthday.

Eli 2002

Eli 2005

Eli 2003

Eli 2006

Evelyn Turns 5!

Evelyn had a fabulous luau party for her fifth birthday yesterday, complete with ukeles, some wild limbo, and even a hulu girl cake. She was a very happy girl and thoroughly enjoyed herself as you can see.

Beautiful Sanibel Island

We just got back from 5 wonderful days with Terry's parents on Sanibel Island in Florida. The kids did a lot of swimming (in the pool only - they boycotted the ocean). All four of us went on a cruise of Tarpon Bay and saw herons, pelicans, cormorants, and other sea birds. Eli and Terry say dolphins on another cruise. And we did some bike riding. Evelyn loved it and said "this is the best bike ever!".

Happy New Year!

We welcomed 2006 with our neighbors the Westermarks. Here are Eli and Evelyn with their friends William and Katarina. We celebrated early with dinner and our own ball drop (ball conceived and created by our own Terry Martin, of course). Much more comfortable than Times Square and just as festive!

Evelyn and Emily

Over Christmas, Evelyn gloried in lots of time spent with her teenage cousins. Here she is with Emily Martin during a happy exchange of gifts.

Belated holiday greetings

We spent Christmas in Canada with Terry's parents and siblings. It was a lovely time except for a visit to the emergency room with Evelyn for an infected thumb (she was fine after a course of antibiotics).

Wrestlers!

I wanted to tell a story about Evelyn. This picture doesn't have anything to do with it except to illustrate that she is tough and physically talented (happily wrestling with her huge 8 year old brother). Here is the story: Over Thankgiving, her little friend Peter announced to his family that Evelyn was his girlfriend and he wanted to marry her. When a relative asked why he wanted to marry Evelyn, Peter expained "She is a very, very high jumper".

My egocentric children

My cousin Teann Nash has a website selling fabulous pillows and tote bags which you can personalize with photos and text. My mom sent each of my kids one of these pillows. She sent Evelyn a pillow with a picture of Eli and the text "My Wonderful Brother". Eli received a pillow with Evelyn and the text "Worlds' Best Sister". They promptly traded pillows because each (especially Evelyn) wanted a pillow with their OWN picture. Here is Evelyn with her new pillow featuring herself!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a child laden but still relatively civilized Thanksgiving dinner. In attendance were my friend Anne Holtzworth (our brave hostess), her children Liam and Ella, Terry's sister Jackie Martin, Jackie's husband Allan Giesen, and their daughter Penelope. Plus the four of us of course. Luckily the children didn't outnumber the adults but it was a bit too close for comfort!

In honor of Fred Sr.

A belated Happy Birthday! I thought about you yesterday as I was washing post-Thanksgiving dishes at my friend Anne's house. I was remembering the many Thanksgivings spent eating, washing dishes, and throwing the football in the street (playing in the street had the special allure!) at Omi and Opa's. Love from all of us!

It's a blog!

Wow, our first blog entry! Now I feel like a citizen of the 21st century.