Happy 2nd Birthday, Huston!

Happy Happy Happy 2nd Birthday, Little Man! There truly aren't words to express how much you've changed our hearts and lives for the better. Today we celebrate a milestone, how much you've grown and learned over the past two years...but it's a little bittersweet as we can clearly see the reality of just how fast time flies. Thank you for this incredible ride you've taken us on thus far; we look forward to all that the future has in store for you and our family! The love we have for you is immeasurable...truly unconditional! 

Happy Birthday, Huston!

Te Amo!

"Amo!"  

That is H's {Spanish} version of "I love you!" {We're all learning Spanish around our house}. Last night after we said prayers with H, he said "Amo!" before either one of us said "I love you," or "Te Amo!" to him.  He's been repeating it back to us for awhile now, but this is the first time he's said it without being prompted.  It melted my heart and brought tears to my eyes. These are the little moments I want to hold on to forever and ever and ever...

 #PreciousMemories

Ho Ho Ho!

Here comes Santa Claus

Here comes Santa Claus

Right down Santa Claus Lane...

Our first 2016 visit to Santa resulted in this photo...

To put it simply, Huston wasn't a huge fan of Santa. In an effort to try to make him more comfortable, I held him and tried to get as close as possible to the guy in the big red suit. H absolutely, positively was NOT going to sit on Santa's lap without getting terribly upset, so we ended up with a photo of him sitting on Momma's lap with Santa looking like a statue beside us! It's cute...but not exactly the Santa photo I had in mind.

The very next day, Daddy took H back to visit Santa...

Once again, not exactly the ideal Santa photo I had it mind...but at least we have a pic of just H with Santa.

Later that same week, we visited Santa's Village and made a a quick stop {literally less than 30 seconds!} to try out Santa's lap one more time...

I promise our little guy was instantly happy again the minute we picked him up off Santa's lap. And he is perfectly fine looking a pictures of Santa...he just wants nothing to do with Jolly 'ole St. Nick in person.  Since the day after Thanksgiving we've been asking, "Huston, what does Santa say?" Although sometimes he gets a little confused and responds with "Gobble Gobble Gobble!" {which makes me laugh every.single.time!}, his little voice saying "Ho Ho Ho!" is pretty much the cutest thing ever.  

We'll always have the memories {and the photo documentation} of the year H would have preferred for Santa to have just stayed at the North Pole.

Click here to see last year's {happier} visit with Santa Claus.

Ho Ho Ho!

Merry Christmas 2016

Christmas cards from previous years:

2015

2014 and 2013

Merry Christmas from the Martins!

All the Pumpkin Pictures

Just to give you fair warning...this post is pretty much the definition of a photo dump. It's the last day of November, and I am just now getting around to posting all the pics from our pumpkin patch excursions. I totally planned it this way...wanted to give you a break from all the pumpkin pics that dominated your social media feeds in October.

Huston at the Dallas Arboretum Pumpkin Village, 2016

Visiting a pumpkin patch was one of the top "to do" items on my Fall Bucket List this year. While there are still several items on the bucket list that have yet to be checked off, I will go ahead and pat myself on the back and say we excelled at the pumpkin patch task! 

First stop: Storybook Ranch

We visited Storybook Ranch in McKinney on the first day that it opened {September 24}, so they were still working out a few kinks...which actually worked out in our favor! It wasn't even the slightest bit busy, so we enjoyed all of the activities {petting zoo, hay maze, pony ride, wagon ride through the 1800s western town} without having to wait in line.  My life-long friend, Brandy, and her kids {Preslee & Jake} were in town and joined us for this adventure.

Next up: Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch

The Pumpkin Patch at Flower Mound was a little overwhelming {i.e. crazy crowded}, so we didn't take the time to wait in line for any of the activities {hayride, pumpkin patch train, bounce houses}...but we still had a great time with our friends Chelsie and Cameron! 

Final stop: The Dallas Arboretum

This was our second year to visit the pumpkin village at The Dallas Arboretum...and it didn't disappoint! There's a reason it's referred to as the best pumpkin patch in the state. We went on Columbus Day {since I had the holiday off and Ryan doesn't work on Mondays} thinking it wouldn't be as busy since it was a weekday...WRONG! It was packed! However, I have to say that the Arboretum employees do a fabulous job making it as efficient as possible to park and get through the admission line.

Sooo...after visiting these three fabulous pumpkin patches {all on weekend days}, I feel like I learned two valuable lessons for next year:

1.  Go early in the season,

and

2.  Go early in the morning!

Halloween 2016

Oh...Halloween!  

The {tiny} golfer and his caddies

We had So.Much.Fun "trick-or-treating" with our tiny golfer!  

Although H had zero interest in stock-piling candy in his Halloween bucket, he managed to at least look like he knew what he was doing...

 He must be a pretty special golfer to get TWO personal caddies...

Even Lily got in on the trick-or-treating action...

And I can't leave out the pics of a boy {and his dog...in a box} in his jack-o-lantern jammies...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2016!

One Year Photos

Since I finally posted the pics from H's first birthday party, I might as well continue the theme and share his one-year-old milestone photos. The photographer who took his 3-, 6-, and 9-month milestone photos is in Kansas. Given our busy end-of-summer/early fall schedule, we knew we weren't going to make it back to Kansas around the time of Huston's first birthday...so we  took a leap and found a local DFW-area photographer. We had so much fun working with Jaime {Storyline Photography}, and we were so pleased with her photos!

Here are our favorites...

 A few pics with Momma and Daddy...and Lily, of course!

All photo credit: Storyline Photography

Other milestone photo sessions:

3-months

6-months

9-months