Fort Worth Visit

This past week, Ethan and I drove up to Fort Worth. I had a two day workshop in Grapevine and Dad and Rocio were long overdue for a visit with Ethan. We arrived late on Wednesday night and the whole way up there Ethan chattered about going to "Abuleta's" house (yes--it's misspelled--that's how he said it) and how nice papa and abuleta are, and how much fun it was going to be. He didn't go to bed that night until 11! That's the latest he's stayed up in his whole little life--once he hit the pillow, though, he was OUT! Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures at their house, but there will always be next time.

My workshop was on social thinking disorders and how to provide effective treatment--GREAT workshop! I was really inspired and feel like I have an idea about the direction I want to head in regard to professional education and practice. I would definitely recommend checking out Carol Gray's Social Stories website (www.thegraycenter.org)as well as Michelle Garcia-Winner's Website (www.socialthinking.com). I met a great Speech Pathologist from Durant, OK and a mom of a young man with Asperger's from Indiana. We're looking forward to keeping in touch.



Friday night we got to hang out with Uncle Ron, Aunt Amy, Austin, Kyle and Dylan. We went for pizza at Mama's pizza and then followed it up with a game of Hulaballu (spelling?). Lots of fun!



Saturday I had made plans to hook up with an old friend from OT school, Merritt Kazda. She lives in Fort Worth and is an OT for Mansfield ISD. This past summer she was diagnosed with a brain tumor and has been undergoing treatment. Saturday was the Brain Cancer Walk in Fort Worth and she had formed a team called "Miles for Merritt". It was a cool, beautiful day on the Trinity River and Ethan and I had a great time listening to some local musicians, exploring the area for large nuts (I don't know exactly what kind of nuts--but they were big), and hanging out with Merritt and her family and friends. Merritt is someone I admired very much in school and as she reminded me (I had forgotten) we were officers of the National OT Honor Society in school. Ha! I wish her the very best and hope that you all will keep her and her family in your thoughts and prayers!






Finally, we headed down to Mansfield Saturday afternoon and spent time with Grandma and Grandpa. Uncle Mike and Aunt Michelle came over with Matthew, Nathan, and Kyler. The boys had a good time playing and hanging out with one another. I had to get a photo of all of them together.

We got home this afternoon about 3:45 and I'm definitely ready for a glass of wine and vegging out on the couch--It sure doesn't feel like I should be going back to work tomorrow! Crazy!

P.S. Dave got a job with Lowe's. He's working the EARLY shift (4 a.m.)! We're thankful that he's got a job! Yea!!!!

Night Visitor

Good morning. I wanted to share with you something that happened at our home last night.

After deciding to stay up a little later than usual for a Sunday night, Kellie and I were in bed watching TV when we heard a "tink" like the sound when glass cracks. Strange, it didn't sound like the TV show. Curious, she turned on the light and didn't see anything at first. Then she noticed it -- on our ceiling fan above the bed. A scorpion. I didn't give it time to fall down onto the bed, but if we had gone to sleep a half-hour earlier like we usually do...

Creepy doesn't even BEGIN to describe it.
And, yes, we were watching a Halloween movie.

I never gave much credence before to the rumors about scorpions coming in from the attic, but this one apparently made its way down the ceiling hole for the fan's wiring.

Happy Monday!

Fall Fun!

So, one of my dearest friends, Ms. Jenny Remington, reminded me that I hadn't published anything on my blog in...well...almost 7 months. Ha! So, I took some really cute pics this weekend while at the pumpkin patch and I thought, "Hey, it's the perfect opportunity to post some pics and say hi to whoever might still be checking this blog--which, I don't blame you if you gave up. Ha!

Another of my dearest friends, Sara, came down with her daughter, Kate. We invited Jen and her crew (Jer and Reid) to join us at the pumpkin patch on Saturday in Marble Falls. We went last year with Gran and UB and had such a great time--we had to go back. I brought Ethan's cowboy costume for Halloween (the same costume Dave wore at that age) and Kate and Reid wore their costumes. They were sooooo cute! It was quite hilarious to try to get a picture of the three of them looking at the camera (didn't happen--Reid was completely engrossed in inspecting the grass, Kate was laughing, and Ethan was..well..being two!).

We took a hayride and had a great lunch with our friends. There were lots and lots of different pumpkins and in the end we all adopted several orange friends to go home with us.

Hope all is well and HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Love, the Martini's

I'll try...last words of a desperate blogger

OK. So I'm not so great at this blogging thing. I admit it and embrace it! Ha! Well, I did have an hour this afternoon to finally upload all those photos on our camera that have been sitting there forever and put together a Smilebox. Hope you enjoy it!

I have say that I am quite bummed out about having to go back to work tomorrow. It's been a great spring break and a much needed time to draw energy from my friends and family. I have spent some time thinking that as I go into this last nine weeks of school I'm going to go about things with a different attitude. Instead of focusing on how hard things are (they are, but what's it going to help focusing on it), how tired I am (always), etc. I'm going to focus on what's going right and all the blessings in my life. So, maybe I should rephrase my statement above--"I may be bummed out that tomorrow I go back to work, but I sure am glad that I have a job to go back to!" How am I doing?

To all my friends and fam--thanks for being there! I love you guys!

Kellie

P.S. My friends Jenny and Jer are about to have a baby and I'm really excited about it! Say a little prayer for them!

Make a Smilebox photobook

How time flies!

OK. So, I've endured all the razzing I can take! Yes, it's been a long time since I posted anything--hey, I've been a little busy! In an effort to smooth over public relations, though, here's a new blog. Yea for me! Ha!

Ethan is almost 17 months old and he's full of enthusiasm for life. Everything gets an "oh" or "ah" accompanied by a look of amazement. He loves to examine everything, experiment (a good scientist like his daddy), and go on great adventures. This fall he's been going to the Child Development Center at my work two days a week and then my mom and Dave watch him the other days of the week. He and my mom have been exploring the greater Austin area in search of fun--they've ridden the Zephyr train in Zilker Park, gone to book readings at the library, visited Uncle Brad for lunch, and the list goes on. I miss seeing him and know that this is a fun time in his life, but am thankful that he is spending wonderful moments with his Gran and daddy. He's definitely a daddy's boy!

This fall we took a little trip up to Graham and stayed at a friend of a friend's house on Possum Kingdom Lake. My brother Brad and his girlfriend, Allison, along with my mom came with us. The weather couldn't have been better and we made new friends and ate some tasty barbeque compliments of Allison's dad, Larry. We spent some time on the lake (until we broke the boat and had to be towed back to the house) as well as in Graham--a small Texas town with plenty of character and lots of charm.

Other news on the Martini front--Dave will be graduating with his PhD in Analytical Chemistry!!! He defended his dissertation in late September and did GREAT! Ethan and I couldn't be more proud! His graduation ceremony is December 12th at the University of North Texas in Denton. I can't wait to see him in his graduation regalia! Yea Dr. Dave!

Not a whole to say about me--work is CRAZY and I try to get out and socialize a couple times a month with my BUNCO group and book club. I just finished the OTher Boelyn Girl, a historical fiction about Ann and Mary Boelyn who were unfortunate enough to know Henry the XIII. Good book--I would definitely recommend. I keep telling myself that I'm going to run or walk or do some kind of exercise, but that hasn't happened yet. Does chasing Ethan around count as exercise?

Well, I will honestly do my best to do a better job of posting blogs--I know our adoring friends want to know what's going on in the Martini household! Ha!

Blessings! Love, Kellie

Make a Smilebox scrapbook