Why I don't need TV (part 2)

That last post of mine was missing two videos...Let's see if I can get them to upload this time... they'll be well worth the watch.  Our boys are great sources of entertainment!

Gregory was gracious enough to play both Goldilocks and Daddy Bear.  He maintains his masculinity at the end by beating up and chasing off Goldilocks with a stick (who is now imaginary).  :)

Finally, there's Emmanuel.  He's such a sweetie!

Here he is playing his favorite game on his Mommy's phone.  

We absolutely adore how he tries to mouth the words!

Why I don't need TV...

As you can see from my previous post (yes, it's Pete again), I recently uploaded pics from our digital camera... well, I found a few darling videos as well.  They all reminded me of how blessed I am to be father to such darling boys and the proud husband of such a wonderful mommy/wife!  Here's one of the videos I found... (more later if Blogger cooperates).  Enjoy!

Is he trying to light the candle?  It appears so... he's so cute!  (This was taken after the famous Childrens' Mass video.)

Closet transformation

--This post was written by Pete.--

Apparently lots of people have "that one closet" that they're always afraid of going into because of the amount of clutter that has built up... I had a closet like that, but I hated it more for it's uselessness... It was far too deep, you'd have to crawl up into it to get anything into the way back and plus the doors were so narrow that I always felt claustrophobic.  In sum, it was a waste of space and it soon became "that one closet"... we'd just throw things into it that we couldn't find a space for.

Here are some before pictures:

You can't see the doors because they're hidden.  (Yes, I'm being sarcastic).

The doors weighed a ton and the magnetic release thing didn't work correctly, so opening the closet was already a pain.  It was the type that you were supposed to push in and then the spring would push the doors out and they would be released... well, I'm not sure if it was the weight of the doors, the '70s carpet that was rubbing the bottom... or just the fact that the doors were no longer square to the frame.

Regardless of the fact that the doors didn't open well, I just didn't like the closet... I wanted to get rid of the whole thing, but Theresa didn't like my idea of eliminating the whole thing (that might be noticeable).

What she suggested was just make the doors wider and so...

Several hours of labor later and way more dust than I anticipated, and voila!  The space was transformed from a closet into...

An office!  OK, so it's not ideal to have an office in a closet, but when you're an amazing mother of four little boys who works from home, this comes in handy!  The desk fit just perfectly!

Anyway, I much prefer the use of space now.  Would I do it again knowing what I know now?  Probably... I'm a sucker for projects.

Melt in Your Mouth Pancakes!

Well, since I'm on a roll...

Eating plant-based does not have to be LIMITING!  That's why I've been inspired to share a couple recipes here.

We don't use butter; we don't use eggs, we don't use milk.  

So are things like pancakes off limits?  Not at all!  

You just have to be willing to be adventurous!

Melt in Your Mouth Pancakes!
(recipe created by me! based on a couple pancake recipes I've used in the past and adjusted to fit our new plant-based style.)

Before you begin any breakfast recipe, you must have the right liquid refreshment...this morning's choice to sooth my throat is hot tea with a splash of almond milk. :-)

You'll need 2 mixing bowls.  Plus 3 bananas (or 4 if you don't have applesauce), 1 cup of applesauce, stone ground whole wheat flour, baking powder, dash of salt, almond milk, 100% pure maple syrup, dash of cinnamon and extras if you want: carob chips or dark chocolate chips or blueberries or raspberries or whatever!

Start by mashing your bananas in the small bowl.  I didn't have applesauce so I mashed 4 bananas.  Started mashing bananas at 7:20am.

Be aware, you might want to keep little pieces of a banana out to keep the natives from getting too restless!

Cute little native :-)

 In the large bowl, place 3 cups of stone ground whole wheat flour, Hodgson Mill is SO TASTY!

Add 2 Tbs baking powder and MIX.

Add mashed bananas & 2 cups of vanilla almond milk! Stir well.

 Okay normally you want to blend 1 Tbs of ground flaxseed with 3Tbs of water and then add it to the mix.  (Acts as egg replacement, but flaxseed has been found to be great for regulating hormones - so good to add to any meal! Even has been known to increase a woman's libido...no, really!)

  I'm doing this step differently by just adding the flaxseed and water right in, oops!  Not to worry, it'll still taste good!

 Without applesauce, it might not be as sweet as you or your family likes.  To sweeten healthfully, add 1-2Tbs of 100% pure maple syrup. 

 Just a dash of cinnamon, mix and we're ready to cook them!

It's now only 7:32am!  Quick and EASY!

Adding blueberries or chocolate chips (or carob chips), makes the pancakes fun! 

 (But don't add them until the pancakes are poured onto the pan or else it will make the batter grey and the pancakes grey too, which isn't the biggest deal - just not as appealing.)

 After you pour batter in the pan, drop the chips or blueberries onto each pancake...

 Flip!

 Breaking little bits off to feed the natives and keep them at bay while you finish the batch helps tamper down on the number of uprisings...

 Serve and ENJOY!

Cream of Broccoli Soup!

Whose HUNGRY for Yummy-Healthy?!

Hi! So, we haven't posted on this blog for a while...oops! looks like over a year! lol! Well, I'm changing that! (This is Theresa posting now.)

Here's a recipe I recently posted on FB!

How to make plant-based Cream of Broccoli soup!

yeah, I know I look goofy, but I got my new Forks Over Knives cookbook today!!! Over 300 recipes for great plant-based eating!
And I'm going to walk you through one of our family favorites: Cream of Broccoli Soup!

Okay! you need some potatoes, fresh broccoli, onions, bell peppers, garlic, cashews, carrots, celery, thyme, salt free veggie broth, black pepper, dash of salt.
1st - skin and cube potatoes! The way I see it, eating plant-based is not about what you canNOT eat but what you CAN! If you like potatoes, put extra in!
started prepping potatoes at 5:45pm

Okay, I missed the photo but blend 1 cup of cashews and 1 cup of broth - until smooth, set aside.
Here are the onions and celery (and I didn't have carrots, but you're supposed to)

in just 1 cup of broth, cook onions, celery (& carrots) for 5 minutes over medium heat.

stirring occasionally ;-)

while that's cooking, chop garlic & bell peppers. After the 5 minutes is up ADD peppers, garlic and potatoes and continue to cook for 2 more minutes.

Then ADD 4 more cups of broth and chopped broccoli!

plus 2tsp of thyme ... hmmmm that's about 2 tsp right? Lol! I'd drive the rule followers nuts in my kitchen!
Plus! 1/2 tsp of pepper and 1 tsp salt. SIMMER and cook until potatoes and broccoli are soft - at least 10 minutes. (I usually have to go 13)
While cooking, I read part of a book, checked FB, had a drink...

Here is my blended nuts (I was out of cashews so I used almonds! Don't be afraid to bend the rules!)
And I've just tasted the potatoes, perfect! Mix the blended nuts into soup!

Stir them together well!

Then you will blend half the soup in the blender, but in small increments. So, you scoop it out carefully and blend. 

Then add the blended mixture back to the soup and stir!

ENJOY! When we were taking our first bites it was 6:40pm. Fast and healthy!!!
Your family might be a little hesitant at first...

But one bite and they LOVE it!

Gregory was licking his bowl clean!
I dare you to find any leftovers with this yummy plant-based cream of broccoli soup!

Welcome to the family, Emmanuel!

Emmanuel Philip Martin - Born March 21, 2011 - 7lbs, 11oz, 19 1/2in. long.


He's the sweetest baby!

Our very belated Christmas Letter...

2010, Where To Begin?

To be honest, we weren’t going to do a Christmas letter this year. It seems that there is always some curveball that gets in the way, however, after reading some of your Christmas letters, we were inspired to share our crazy life with you again.

It indeed has been a wild year! Yes, we are at a new address (again!), but I’ll get to that shortly. Let’s see, Gregory turned five this year, learned to read and write and attends kindergarten. He loves it – and although it does come with more runny noses and some potty humor, his mom loves it too because some else can have a turn answering all his questions! The child really has a mind like a trap – for example, we were speaking about my aunt (his granddad’s sister) and we reminded him that he met her when we stopped to visit her on the way to New Orleans from Maryland. “Oh yeah” Gregory said and I thought he didn’t quite remember, but Pete asked, “what movie did we watch at her house?” (Who in the world would remember that? He was only 3!) “The cat one!” Gregory said…sure enough, Artistocats…it blows me away how much he remembers and he amazes us like that all the time. He is our treasure, our big helper, and our instigator of all things rascally!

Louis turned four this year, and has had quite a year. Finally diagnosed last year with Mastocytosis, we have been working hard to help fight the symptoms and the disease in order to allow him to live as much a normal life as possible. He and his mom even took a trip to Tucson, AZ for the Mastocytosis Society Conference and while there met with a renowned microbiologist/ nutritionalist. Long and short of it, we have to do a lot of monitoring of external and internal triggers to keep the symptoms at bay. We have a caring bridge site you can visit to learn all about his wonderful, tender, painful, and heroic little life: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/louisfm Also a fundraising site was launched by his uncle Paul (my sister Grace Marie’s husband) to support Louis: www.helpLouis.com

Leonardo is an amazing two year old. He can verbalize better than either of his brothers could at that age and he has such a sense of humor! It is such a blessing that he can speak so well, because we get a remarkable peek into the mind of a two year old. He is so carefree and lively! He doesn’t really seem to have any fear (not even of getting in trouble), but if we start the countdown he will usually obey (although reluctantly!). He also has an excellent memory and can keep right in step with his big brothers. He is joyful, rough, funny and lovable – delightfully surprising all he meets!

Theresa is full of life, literally! We are expecting baby #4 in late March – and yes, it is another BOY! We laugh at God’s humor and are delighted to help build up another man of God. Theresa also continues to have success in her Mary Kay business this past year, having earned her 3rd Mary Kay Career Car! She is a leader in the Mary Kay world and an inspiration to all the women she meets. She also created oil paintings, worked with Pete in marriage ministries, and continues to write on life (and has been a guest contributor to the Office of Life for The Courier, the Diocesan newspaper).

And lest we forget the pater familias! Peter completed his Licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL) in Studies of Marriage and Family at the John Paul II Institute in December of last year. He continued to work from home and together we did marriage ministry for our parish. To make a long story short, in September, Peter was offered a position as the Director of the Office of Life for the Diocese of Winona, MN. After refusing in the past to even consider it, something was different in September and we both truly felt this was God’s will for us. So, Pete boldly works on the front lines, carving a fresh, new and yet, faithful outreach to engaged and married couples, pro-life ministries, teaching true human freedom in dignity and sexuality, and directing the Safe Environment program protecting children. What a remarkable blessing indeed! We are humbled by God’s constant generosity towards us.

So, here we are in Winona, MN! Ready to start a new year and embrace whatever it is God has in store for us this year! Living for God can be confusing, trying, uncomfortable, unsettling and sometimes painful, but one thing about it is that it is never boring! And more than that, despite all the difficulties in doing so, placing yourself completely in God’s hands, you are supported, you are strengthened, you are loved…

May God bless you! And we pray you had the most Blessed Christmas and that you experience an amazing, adventurous New Year!

Minnesota Living

Well, we've been here over a month and a half and we just had our first big snow. It is beautiful here in Minnesota and the people are really nice. I (Pete) love my job and I am grateful to God for this opportunity.

Theresa is doing well... in case you haven't heard, we're having another boy and he's due March 21st. She continues to be super mom as she takes care of the boys and keeps up her Mary Kay business.

Gregory loves his new friends in Kindergarten and we all love his teacher... she is teaching him so many songs!

Louis and Leonardo enjoy being home together. Louis recently went with Mommy to Tucson, AZ for a Mastocytosis Conference... you can read more about it here.

Here are a number of photos and a couple of videos for your enjoyment! For the videos you will have to click on it to play it... there are three.

The Great Move North

For those of you who haven't heard, we've moved! (Well, almost). I (Peter) got a job with the Diocese of Winona in Minnesota and we moved out of our house in Louisiana three weeks ago. We spent a week and a half with Theresa's family in Louisiana and took three days to travel. We took a day and a half off in Kansas where we spent time with Theresa's relatives and we got to see Uncle John and Aunt Kristen too! We arrived in Wisconsin about a week ago and we will move into our new home in Minnesota tomorrow!

I'm posting all the pictures I had from the last several months. We've not been real good about keeping up with the Blog, but we'll attempt to do much better.

Welcome Summertime 2010

We just wanted to share with you a selection of pictures from the past few months. Enjoy! (You'll see a small icon in the bottom left if it is a video... clicking on that picture will start the video in another window.)

Have you met Leonardo?

I've been meaning to do an exclusive blog just on Leonardo for the longest time... I always feel bad because we don't seem to take many pictures of him, yet he's so darn cute!

I hope you'll enjoy these pictures of Leonardo. He's such a precious boy and always so happy!



The videos are not the greatest quality because we have resorted to using our phones ever since our camera died, but they show some pretty cute moments of the little guy. I added some of when he was young just to show how he has grown. (Just click on the video to watch... I think there are 12 altogether.)

Belated Update

Well folks, with the completion of my STL, I can finally get to some of these things that I have put off.

We haven't updated our blog in six months, so I basically just went through and added a collage of photos. Our digital camera broke sometime in the last 6 months, so we rely on our phones. There are quite a few photos (I think 75), so take your time and enjoy! (Too much has happened in the last six months to summarize here, so I'm hoping the pictures will tell the stories.)

God Bless you all was we await the celebration of Christ's Birth!

We're way behind

Sorry for the long pause! Even though we will soon be seeing most of the family and friends who view this blog, here is a quick update via pictures and videos.



And two amazingly cute videos:

From My Videos

From My Videos

Our House (Part 2)

There is only one more video of the house: the backyard. Not included in the videos is the ground-floor basement that is not finished. It is used for a work-out room and another play room for the boys. The apartment is the last part of the house. It is just a one-bedroom, but it is cute and perfect for Naomi, our nanny. It is an ideal situation. Again, God has tremendously blessed us.



And we found some bonus videos (they were on Theresa's phone):

In the first video Leonardo is only 3 months old.




He was 4 months old in these last two.


Actually, no, Louis did not shrink, that is just an incredibly large chair... you know, kids are so much bigger these days that they have to accommodate with an over-sized chair.


Isn't he such a sweetie?



This last video was just taken this morning. Louis actually started singing this song in bed before we let them out of their room. Gregory chimed in and they were actually singing in unison. We asked them to sing it again for the camera... The funny thing is, they've only seen that show once at their cousins and it was a while ago. I don't even know the name of the show, but they obviously liked the song!

Our House (Part 1)

Well, we're finally getting around to uploading videos of the house. Sorry it has taken us so long, but here you go! Our camera was full after doing this first group, so we'll post another blog with Part 2. Let me just say that we are incredibly blessed to have this house and are grateful to God for his continued generosity to us, his little ones. Enjoy! (It takes about 3 and a half minutes.)










Did you see poor little Louis trying to get in? You can even hear his faint call for mommy. Most of the time all he really has to do is push on the door, but he hasn't learned that yet.

Mardi Gras!

Here's a little look at how the Martin's spent their Mardi Gras:

Finally Updated!

Sorry for the long pause... here are the much awaited updated pictures of Leonardo. The poor little guy doesn't get his picture taken much, but alas, we can only do so much! Leonardo has been a very healthy little boy and has been cooing and smiling at us for some time now. He will finally be baptized on March 7th at our Parish here in Metairie.



Gregory and Louis have been getting along very nicely with each other and have been excellent big brothers to Leonardo. Here are a few pics of them... our camera hasn't gotten a whole lot of use these days as you can see!



Finally, here are a couple of short videos of Leonardo:

The video's a little dark, but it's cute to hear Gregory say Leonardo's name!


In this video Leonardo is getting a lesson from Daddy on how to laugh. Daddy's not so good at it considering the cough that he's had...

Finally, for those of you who would like to see videos of our new home... well, we're still unpacking. We've got pictures up in one room of the house, but it's still a work in progress. Thanks for visiting our blog!

God Bless,

Pete, Theresa, Gregory, Louis & Leonardo!

We're home... again

Well, we made it safely to New Orleans... Praise God! Thank you all for your prayers! We had a lot more work packing the POD than we at first thought, so our departure time was delayed by five hours... we left at midnight and drove a total of 150 miles the first 5 hours! The fact that we had been moving boxes for 7 hours straight on top of the fact that we were both up late the night before made for some pretty rough driving conditions and we spent quite a bit of those hours parked at Rest Areas. It's funny because I decided to drive at one point in the wee hours of the morning and made it as far as the next rest stop! We didn't get to Atlanta until 3 or so the next afternoon.

I was able to get some sleep there and thanks to that and good strong coffee, was able to drive straight through the night to New Orleans. We were exhausted, but we are very glad to be home.

We slept a few hours that morning and then later that afternoon visited our new house:


It is a huge old house with a lot of charm. We look forward to moving in next week when our POD arrives.

We're home!

There is so much excitement in our home! Little Leonardo is such a cutie and the boys just love him! He's doing just fine... we all had dinner together and Gregory and Louis are very excited and already want to know when he can start playing with them. Here are a couple of recent pictures:

Benvenuto Leonardo Benedetto!

We are pleased to announce the arrival of the third Martin boy: Leonardo Bendetto. Leonardo arrived at 7:27am on November 7th, 2008. He weighed 7lbs, 3 oz. and had blond fuzz. Theresa labored for a very long time and gave birth to Leonardo naturally after only 2 pushes (she was amazing, much to the doctor's dismay who didn't have time to get his gloves on... they in fact told Theresa to stop pushing... yeah, right)!

Leonardo is named after Pete's maternal grandfather Leonard and Pope St. Leo the Great. Benedetto is Italian for Benedict, our current Pope. Leonardo has not "transitioned" well and has been in NICU. His breathing was fast and his blood sugar was low. Being that he was born 1 day before the 38th week, he is technically considered a premie, but all is well now. They just want to make sure that everything is perfect before allowing him into the room with Theresa (which should be soon).

We hope to have Theresa and Leonardo join us at home tomorrow (Sunday), but who knows. Theresa's mother Liz will visit on Monday and stay the week and then my parents will be in town on the 18th and stay for a week. We thank everyone for your prayers and will update this with more pictures when we have Leonardo closer to us!




































Gregory and Louis love to visit and play in the room... they're anxious to meet Leonardo... they saw him from a distance, but since they've both had colds recently, they're not allowed into NICU.