Theresa's New Car!

Most everyone has already seen Theresa's Car through e-mail, but I wanted to post the pictures here. In case you're unaware, Theresa earned this brand new 2009 Saturn Vue with her hard work as a Mary Kay Director. It's an amazing accomplishment! Way to go Theresa!


Oh and I added more pictures to Cute Louis' album... he turns two in just two weeks! He is just becoming such a cutie... don't get me wrong, he's always been cute, but he's only recently shown us his cute and unique personality.

Life

Here are a few cute videos of the boys...

From Cute videos

From Cute videos

From Cute videos

Just having fun

A special delivery arrived for Gregory just two days after his surgery and it was such a blessing because it was the first time he was able to laugh. He was so excited to receive both cookies and balloons! Here is a video of both he and Louis playing.



Here are a few pictures from yesterday's fun. With the new baby arriving in just 13 weeks, we were discussing the new sleeping arrangements. The boys came up with a unique solution:

Busy July

July was a busy month for us. We celebrated the 4th of July with friends and also re-celebrated Gregory's birthday as well as my own (Pete).



We also attended John and Kristen's wedding in Pittsburgh. Yeah John and Kristen!! It was a great time:



Here's a cute video of Louis dancing... it's a little misshaped because the camera was turned, but it's still cute.



Now look at the video again and notice the boy behind Louis. That's his cousin Daniel Roy. Here's how he gets his groove on:



And then after that, we flew down to New Orleans where Gregory and Louis got to hang out with Nanna and Grandad and all the cousins while Mom and Dad flew to Dallas for the Annual Mary Kay Seminar:

"I think it's going to be a Louis"

That is a direct quote from Gregory after being asked whether he's going to have a baby sister, or a baby brother. We found out that he's right, it's a boy! Below are some images of the 20 week old baby boy. Please pray that he continually grow strong and healthy.

Oh, by the way, Theresa did earn the car!!!



Gregory and Louis got an additional piece of furniture to go with their new BBQ. Daddy built them a picnic table which is just the right size for them.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Gregory!

Gregory had a very exciting birthday and would love to share it with you:



Here's a video especially for Grandad and Nanna.



Thank you everyone who made this a great day for Gregory!

Celebration Time!

Excitement is in the air at the Martin household. Theresa and I celebrate 7 wonderful years together today, Gregory turns 3 on Friday, someone else turns 31 the following week and John Slattery is getting married to Kristen next month! The new baby is growing strong and healthy (we'll do the 20 week ultrasound soon). And Theresa's business continues to grow strong. She's going to earn her first new car soon! (See the Saturn Vue below) We're all looking forward to that and we constantly are amazed by the good work she has done!



Louis has become the little entertainer. Check out these next two videos to see a glimpse at how our household has changed now that Louis has discovered "his own voice."

--WARNING-- this first video contains children screaming. We would advise that you turn the volume down (or off) and if there are small children watching who may have a tendency to copy what they see, you may not want them to watch.





--FURTHER WARNING-- the following video was too funny for Gregory to handle on a full stomach and hence was cut short because his father had to clean up the mess. Again, if there are small children watching, we would advise that they not watch this while eating or drinking.



So, while Louis is busy entertaining in his own way, Gregory has been learning all sorts of new songs that both he and Louis love to sing. Here's Gregory singing "Three little monkeys." Much thanks goes to our wonderful babysitter who has taught the boys many of these songs!



Theresa loves the way Gregory says "Doctor". Since you're probably going to play the video again now, Gregory worked really hard at learning how to make the telephone... the sheep in the middle of the song comes from Louis who's playing with a farm ... and don't you just love how Gregory finishes his songs?


Finally, a special thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for visiting... we always love to see you!

Viva il Papa!

As promised, here are the photos of the Papal Mass:



Gregory and Louis wanted to do something special for their cousins, Nate and Zach who turn 5 today:

Pete meets the Pope!

There will be more pictures of the Pope's visit (especially since we got to go to the Mass as a family), but I wanted to show off this one right away. I just received it this morning from the Vatican (their photographer took this photo).

So, what the photo doesn't reveal is that I actually shook the Pope's left hand (since the fellow in front of me was kissing his ring.)!! What did you say to him, you ask? Well it was the man's birthday, what do you think I said? "Happy Birthday", of course! What an amazing experience and how blessed I am to have met both JP II and now Pope Benedict!

Gregory has some news for you!!

This video was made on St. Patrick's Day, but the news is still very current!

He is Risen!

Happy Easter everybody! We have so much to be grateful for! Theresa is doing very well in her business and I (Pete) am finally getting started on my thesis! I have a wonderful director who is willing to help me throughout the summer to complete it in time so that I can finish with everything in December. Here are some cute videos of the boys who never cease to make us proud.


This first video is an example of how Louis adores Gregory.


This next video is part of the Martin morning routine. If laughter is the best medicine, then we're pretty healthy here.


Have we mentioned recently how adorable Louis is?


A great imagination and an expanding vocabulary go well together:


Easter Pictures

New videos!

OK, so I still succumb to peer pressure... everyone else had their blog updated, so I had to do something. For those of you wondering what we've been doing, here's a few videos showing how we spend our time:



Thanks to Uncle John for the Veggie Tales CD... we love to listen to our favorite characters singing!



It may look a little weird because I held the camera sideways, but I wanted to catch the footwork! Louis loves dancing... and cookies!



You know how they say that kids enjoy the packaging as much as (or more than) the toy? Well, that was the philosophy behind this creation. It's a nice little castle, but it gets pretty crowded when they both try to get in.

Just a quick update. Everyone is doing well. It's back to school for me (Pete) and Theresa is working hard and doing very well with her MaryKay Business. We're supposed to get some snow tonight, so we hope to use the new sled Nana got the boys for Christmas...

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

For Christmas we went to New Orleans to stay with the Slatterys. What a wonderful time and how blessed we were to spend our Christmas vacation with them. The boys truly enjoyed being at Grandad and Nana's and Gregory always asks when we're going back.

Here are some pictures of the past month's activities:

Thanksgiving!

OK, so it's been awhile and obviously we're a little behind, but regardless, we still feel it necessary to post some of these pictures. We were blessed to be able to visit the Martin's for Thanksgiving which is always a good time, but is unfortunately too infrequent. It is so nice to be able to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa and all the cousins. Getting back to the farm is nice too, although it was a bit cold to do much outside. Enjoy the cute video of Louis dancing and the photos!

Happy All Saints Eve!

We took the boys out "Trick-or-Treating" for just a little bit this year. We went to Pete's workplace and showed off their costumes (see pictures). We then went to visit Pete's school and after that stopped by some of the neighbors'.




Louis has officially decided that walking is the way to get around. He still gets pushed down, but that no longer stops him from getting back up and waddling around.


Theresa earned this piano from Mary Kay (hence it's pink)... the boys both love it.

Happy Birthday Louis!!

Louis' Birthday present... both Gregory and Louis enjoy the new "house".



Louis celebrated his birthday with a little cake and a lot of cuteness!



This is just an adorable video of our two motorcyclists... Louis' even dressed for the occasion!

Walking, talking, happy Louis!!

Maybe this is not a good sign, but one of Louis' first feats was to say "No".


OK, so this is not a shot of his first steps, but close. He doesn't care for walking much, but I suppose if a bigger guy (i.e. Gregory) was there to push us down all the time, we may stick to crawling too!

If you look behind Louis you will see his crib "boxed" up. This was the only way to keep Gregory from crawling into the crib. He found all sorts of ways of getting in, so now Louis sleeps in his little castle. The cardboard doubles as a great surface to put stickers on and to color on.



Here's a cute shot of Louis saying "Mama".


Finally, here's a shot of our happy little guy praising life...

Gregory the Great

Gregory is definitely two... he gets into all sorts of mischief:


But, he's so cute, it's hard to stay upset with him for long. Here's a minute-long video of an unscheduled and unplugged concert that Gregory put on for us in the living room. Enjoy!

Louis!

Many of you want to see more of Louis. This post is dedicated to the cute little guy (who's not so little...) Here he is "winking" at the camera. He only does it twice in this video, but he can bring tears to the eyes of those behind us in Church with his cuteness!


We still have to get a video of him walking, but here he is showing us how big he is:

Congratulations Theresa!!

This is Theresa's Professional photo as a New Independent Sales Director.

Many of you know that Theresa became an Independent Sales Director this summer. This is the culmination of much hard work and dedication on her part and a little baby-sitting and patience on mine. We celebrated her Directorship this weekend both with other Mary Kay Directors and Consultants and with our friends here in the DC Area. We had a wonderful day for a BBQ and many of the parishioners from our Church came to congratulate Theresa and to enjoy our back yard. The many children who joined us were a joy for Gregory as he was able to show them around his stomping ground. It was a good time had by all.