Happy New Year

From the Martin family to yours, we wish you a...

Show Us Your Life Schedule

This is the schedule from January thru June for Kelly. I wanted to post it here so I would remember where to look!! I am really excited about some of these posts!! Hope you will join in!

Jan 8 - New Year Resolutions
Jan 15 - Weight Loss Tips, Diets, Workout Ideas
Jan 22 - Favorite shopping spots - stores and on-line
Jan 29 - Fashion Tips
Feb 5 - Beauty Tips - favorite hair and makeup products
Feb 12 - Valentines - Favorite date and/or gift
Feb 19 - What do you collect?
Feb 26 - What is your typical day like - I'd love to hear from single girls/Work at home moms/SAHM's
March 5 - Favorite Charities
Mar 12 - Share your mission trips
Mar 19 - Best Cleaning tips
Mar 26 - Best Organization ideas
April 2 - Idea for Teacher gifts
April 9 - How you met your husband/fiance
April 16 - Tips for saving money
April 23 - How you picked your kids names/future names
April 30 - Favorite books/ children books
May 7 - Show us your town
May 14 - Show us your Favorite Things/Things that make you happy
May 21 - Random Acts of Kindness Ideas
May 28 - Show us your china pattern
June 4 - Tell us your proposal stories (single girls - send your boyfriends to this post!)
June 11 - Activity ideas for kids
June 18 - Show us what you make (etsy/crafts/website shopping!!!)
June 25 - What is your favorite Bible Verse and why?

Emma's Room (in progress)

We are in the process of redecorating Emma's room. She is so excited about this! We got new bedding for her for Christmas, and now the room needs to be changed a little to match. We are going to take the flower wallies off the wall and paint the wall pink. The two shelves on the wall, as well as the letters that spell out her name, will be repainted black. All of her baseboards, closet doors, and furniture are white, so they will offset some of the black and pink. And her bedding...black and white zebra with pink accents. I think this will turn out really cute. She got a new white desk for her bedroom from Santa, as well as a really cute white/crystal lamp from Aunt Beene and RaRa, so these will really help. I am thinking about sprucing up the lamp a little with either a pink or zebra ribbon or some black beads on the shade. At a later date, I have a little project for the closet doors I want to try. I will post pictures when we are finished!! Let me know what you think!!

Mac's Birthday Party

I am busy planning Mac's 3rd birthday party, and here is the theme....



Big shocker there, I know! Batman is his new thing. Anytime you would ask him what Santa Claus was bringing him, he would say Batman (and he was right!!). We have found a cake and bought most of the supplies, now I just have to finish the invitations and get them mailed!!

Mac and His Puppy

This morning, Mac got up and said his puppy was pottying. He went to my hope chest where I have a preemie diaper from when he was born and got it out to put on his puppy. I laughed and asked him if he wanted a pull-up for his puppy, and he said yes. I thought it was just too cute.

On a side note, I gave Mac this puppy after he was born while he was still in the NICU. It was bigger than him then!! I can't believe my baby will be 3 in a month!!

Christmas Pictures

Christmas this year was great!! We got to see most of our family (Irene, Randy, and Mikayla couldn't travel home because due date for Miya is so close). We had several different get-togethers, and as I was posting pictures, I realize I didn't get any of the get-together at our house with Randall's family.

Memaw and Pepaw's House

Mac relaxing and checking everyone out.


Emma and Charlie


Mac, Emma, and Charlie...they love that baby!!


Emma, Becca, Charlie, and Mac


Becca opening the socks we gave her.


Mac opening presents.


Emma opening presents

The Camo tent and tunnel


Mac going through the tunnel.


This gift from Gramps was the hit of Christmas!!

Gramps and Grammy's House

Randall and teh book "Game Plan for Life" by Joe Gibbs


Emma's box of goodies


Mac's box of goodies- Look at the tongue. He was concentrating too hard!!

At Our House


Putting together my shelf for the bathroom.


Mac helping Daddy open presents.


Emma's Hays shirt


Emma's rain boots


Mac opening presents. There's that tongue again!!


Emma's present from Mac


Mac's Batmen from Emma

Our Christmas was great! For now, the Christmas decorations are put away, and we'll enjoy this time again next year!!

US Military Tribute

As we are celebrating the holidays, please remember to pray for the troops and families who can't be together. If you've never been through a military deployment with a loved one, maybe a husband, brother, or son, you can never understand what these families go through and what these servicemen and women miss. I am so thankful for these soldiers...as many of you know, Randall was in the Army National Guard and my brother is in the Army. We have gone through several deployments with both of them. Randall missed the birth of Emma (he met her when she was 2 months old) and we have missed Christmas with Randy. Please watch this video and prayer for the families and soldiers.

Santa Claus

This year's Christmas Eve is an experience I need to blog about so I will remember it for years to come!! First off, we tried to get both kids in the bed about 9:00. Well, after getting up a few times, Mac went to sleep, but at 11:00, Emma was STILL awake!! I finally had her come back to the living room and sit in my lap, and she was out in 5 minutes. I put her in her bed, then Randall and I went to bed a little after midnight. At 1:45, Mac comes into our room and says, "Momma, get me up." I told him to hand me his pillow that stays by my side of the bed. He told me he couldn't because his hands were full. I had him hand me what was in his hands, and I quickly realized he was handing me things that had been up front from Santa. I aksed him if he cheated and went up front, and he said, "Yep, I played." I thought it was too cute. We ended up getting everyone up about 6:30 to see what Santa had brought!!


Santa's annual meal at the Martin house: cookies, milk, and a McDonald's Cheeseburger. Emma started the cheesburger thing when she was a year old!! All her idea!


Mac's goodies: Batcave, puzzles, tricycle, Batmobile, portable DVD player, Tow Mater, Classic Batman cartoons DVD. Can you tell he likes Batman? Batman themed birthday party in about a month!!


Emma's goodies: desk and chair, Cabbage Patch Baby (whose new name is Grace Snow), Nintendo DS game, Barbie Christmas Carol DVD, "school" stuff to go with the desk, portable DVD player.


Mac with his tricycle. The pole on the back is so we can push and help steer until he learns to ride it alone, then it comes off!


Emma with her desk.

Feeding the Reindeer

This is a tradition we started last year, and the kids love it!! We got our reindeer food this year from Miss Renee and Mr. Wayne, Mac's babysitters. We were afraid that, because of all the rain, we wouldn't be able to put out any food this year, but the rain subsided just enough on Christmas Eve that we ran outside and put out the food. If you don't do this, you can easily mix up your own food...just mix some dry oatmeal with some glitter and you have reindeer food!!

Jesus' Birthday Cake

Every year on Christmas Eve, Emma, Mac, and I make a birthday cake for Jesus. I want to make sure they both know why we have Christmas, so this is a tradition I have started with them. I let the kids picked out every detail of the cake...the kind of cake, the kind of icing, and the decorations to put on the top. We have a great time doing this. On Christmas morning, we get up and sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus, then I let them have a piece of cake.


All the cake makings that Emma and Mac picked out.

Emma and Mac stirring the batter for the birthday cake

Emma putting on the green sugar crystals.

Mac putting on the green sugar crystals.

Christmas Goodies

Peppermint Chocolate Ritz

This is a new goody that I tried this year, and they are wonderful.

What you need:
1 pkg. Baker's Semi-Sweet Chocolate, melted, slightly cooled
1/4 tsp. peppermint extract
1 sleeve Ritz Crackers
1 candy cane, crushed

Make it!
1. Mix chocolate and extract.
2. Dip crackers in chocolate, turning to completely coat each cracke. Carefully scrape off excess chocolate. Place crackers in a single layer on a wax paper covered cooke sheet. Sprinkle with crushed candy.
3. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, or until chocolate is firm.

Party Mix

You can find this recipe on any box of Chex cereal. I always make mine different, but I usually have the Rice, Corn, and Wheat Chex, along with Cheerios, peanuts, and pecans. I also double or triple the spices on it.

Puppy Chow

This is Emma's favorite!!

What you need:
9 cups Rice or Corn Chex (I mix it)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Make It!
1. Into large bowl, measure cereal. Set aside.
2. In 1 qt. microwaveable bowl, microwave chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter uncovered on high for 1 minute. Stire. Microwave about 30 seconds lo9nger or until mixture can be stirred smooth. Stir in vanilla. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Pour into 2 gallon resealable plastic bag.
3. Add powdered sugar. Seal bag. Shake until well coated. Spread on wax paper to cool. Store in airtight container.

Any goodies you like to make and share with friends? Send me the recipe!! This is the kind of "cooking" I like!!

Presents, Presents everywhere!!

I absolutely love buying gifts for Christmas, and luckily, this year, I'm almost done!! A few more gift cards to buy and stick under the tree, and that's it!! I love seeing the Christmas tree full of presents underneath! I was really worried that Mac would really be into the presents this year, but he hasn't bothered them. I can't wait until Christmas Eve when the kids get to open all their gifts from Momma and Daddy!!

Music Monday

Ok, I usually don't do many of these, but the theme for Music Monday over with TARA is Christmas, so I decided I would participate in this one.



This is by far my favorite Christmas song, and this is my favorite version!! Hope you like it!

Christmas Party and Polar Express

Just a few pics from Emma's class Christmas party and Polar Express. They got to wear their pajamas one Friday, watch the Polar Express, and drink hot chocolate. For her Christmas party, they did a book exchange.

Harding University Baseball Players

A few weeks ago, Emma's class had some baseball players from Harding University come to her class to read books. The head coach's son, Ryan, is in Emma's kindergarten class. They had the best time. They even took a picture that was in the newspaper!!