Sew many ideas!!!

I was very fortunate to receive a sewing machine for my Birthday :) Thanks to Mike and his Family. The crafting world can be overwhelming to say the least, I am often either so overwhelmed I don't know where to start, or there is just so much i want to do I don't know which project to choose. I have to admit I love being crafty, or rather I love the process of figuring things out. so i decided to start by making dresses for Merci and my two nieces. So I bought some yellow fabric that was already shirred. I cant believe how naive I was in the fabric store, I honestly thought that I could just cut the dress to length and sew a seam down the back and girls would be off twirling in their beautiful yellow dresses. Well i am happy to say that the dresses turned out adorably, but it certainly was a learning process, by the third dress ill have to say i had so many new techniques i had learned and had PLENTY of ideas on how i could do it better the next time. all in all i enjoyed having a project. Next time i will buy fabric with a little more give though, i had Merci wear hers to the children's festival and by the time she was done running around there was a rip at the bottom of her dress :(

Merci and her friend Jordy at the Children's FestivalSorry i don't have a very good shot of her in it, my goal is to get a picture of all three girls

Time to start Swingin

Mike, his Dad, and his Brother Mark have been working on and off (Due to Rain) on building a play-set in the backyard!.!.!.! I am so excited! its not even finished yet, and it has already changed our life so Much :-) We are so blessed to have Mikes Dad help us on these projects. if it were left to us we would probably end up with a beam and one lonely swing on it. But because I know I have a Father-In-Law who is a craftsman, I get to dream a little bigger. Our play-set is going to have 2 "Big Girl" swings, or so Merci says, and a Baby swing for Bennett. It will also have a slide, a deck up top and my favorite part........a clubhouse below!.!.!.! I know! all I can say is I was never so blessed as a child. Here are some pics of the beginning stages:-)The Kids did so well while I worked. My Job: Getting the Yard Ready.........Let's just say it was hard workOh, and by the way, the only reason it was my Job to get the Yard ready is because I have a very BUSY husband, and I'm not very patient........plus I'm weird and like projects like this :-)I'll post more when it's complete

......and so it begins ;-)

Here Bennett is working on his newest accomplishment. We have also been pulling ourself up on EVERYTHING! His favorite place is in the crib when he is suppose to be napping :-)

Some Pics of our little cuties :-)

Kids being Kids :-)

A rare find.....any mom knows that a picture with both of your kids looking at the camera and actually smiling, is a rare find. That is why I Cherish this photo

Merci and Bennett

Merci Dressing herself (in the month of December......Brrrr)

Merci Painting :-)

Bennett sitting in our freinds Purple Bumbo chair........Priceless

Little man is 6 months old

Our little man is not so little these days:( it is so sad when you look back and it feels as if you have hardly taken a breath and already your children are 3 and 6months. it is so funny to me the different perspective we as parents have taken with our 2nd child. With Merci I was praising every accomplishment and preparing her for the next milestone with eagerness. But with Bennett, although I do prepare him for the next milestone by exposing and giving him ample opportunity to achieve these milestones, my fists are not up in the air pumping with exuberance, my heart is often sad to see that the time is passing just as swiftly as it did when Merci was his age. I am excited to see the man this little boy is going to become and pray everyday that my children will be a light in this dark world, but as a mother I often have to remind myself to just BREATHE! here are a few of their recent accomplishments and favorite activities

Merci:

• Loves being outside

• Loves Dancing, singing and role playing (we are now into the "okay mama you say this.....and then I say this.... and then we will do this.....")

• Loves helping brother with anything and everything

• can trace her name and sing the song we made up for it. (It has been a process to get this girl to sit down and color or work on letters, she is constantly moving around.)

• can hit a ball with her bat 4 times out of 5 on average

• Loves dressing up

• Loves Cinderella, and adores the life size Cinderella doll her uncle Jay got her for Christmas

• We are going to start a more structured Pre-school schedule so please pray as we officially start homeschooling.

Bennett:

• has been sitting up since 5 months old

• loves his baths, he's a total splasher and loves to kick his feet when you lay him down in the bath.

• has his first 2 bottom teeth

• loves to smile at EVERYONE:)

• Loves playing with (or watching rather) other kids at church, and Loves playing with the little boy I watch on Mondays and Fridays, even when Parker's screaming because he doesn't want Bennett to mess with him.

• Just started solid foods and loves his Avocados

• we are still working on him taking a bottle so that mom and dad can get as few dates in.

• Hes taking two 1hr naps and a few cat naps a day:))))

• I thought he was a poor sleeper, but as it turns out he actually sleeps longer than his sister did, its just that she went to bed later and therefore didn't wake up till morning. I guess I just was wising he was like his sister who slept from 11-7 he sleeps from 8-4 nurses and then goes back to bed till 7.

update.....finally

I keep hearing how much i need to do an update........so sorry:( I cant find my camera cord and so i haven't been able to upload any new pictures. and personally i enjoy reading blogs that put pictures up, i love seeing how much the children have changed since last i saw them, so i guess I've been putting it off because i assume others are the same way. Mr. Bennett has changed so much, he is our little smile guy, which ironically for our Combs family pictures Bennett didn't smile hardly at all......Kids, they are so unpredictable:) we do have a case of the no naps, and still waking up at around 2am, and for as many times as I've read the baby whisperer you'd think I'd be able to figure this little guy out. but we are putting him on a pretty strict schedule which he seems to thrive on, it is so foreign to me, Merci was on a pretty lose schedule just as long as i did E.A.S.Y (eat,activity,sleep,yourself) with her she would take 2 three hr naps and still sleep through the night, Bennett.......not so much. I'm singing hallelujah if i get an hour nap out of him, more typically he's a 45 min nap taker. Which i hear from Mikes mother that she was lucky if mike would even take a 45 min nap, so I'm assuming it must run in the family. Michael and i were so spoiled by Merci, she slept through the night at 6 wks, so you can imagine the frustration we feel with Bennett still waking. but i blame part of it on the fact that he is still in our room :( but Merci and Bennett share a room (or at least Merci shares a room with Bennett's crib) so i just cant figure out how to transition him in there with out completely disturbing her. i know i probably sound desperate, but if anyone has any suggestions or knowledge on the area i would love your advice. hopefully i will be able to figure out my camera situation this weekend and put up some new pics of the kiddos:)

Merci's 3rd Birthday

Can I just say........... I did things right this year:) I gotta say I love parties, but i don't always love all the stress of putting a party together for a 3 year old. so I decided I would have a family members only party at our house this last Saturday, and a Friends get-together at a local indoor-play-area on Merci's actual birthday last Thursday. I loved it and more importantly Merci loved it, I think she loved it mainly because it felt like for the past week we have been doing something special in honor of her birthday. here are a few pictures of Merci's special day(s)

Merci playing with friends Abi and Craig

Playing with best friend Jordy and cousin Aubri

Showing off her new kicks.......Sweet! I love them, thanks aunt HannahCool hat.....Right? Thanks Mimi and Papa Combs