Sewing...a blessing or a curse??

Did you know that I love to sew? I started sewing six or seven years ago. I did not have children, but I started even then with the intention to sew for children only. Starting before they came along was fabulous because I had time to go slow and perfect things.

I love the creative outlet that sewing gives me. I love dreaming up new things for them wear and then seeing them come to fruition. I love going into a children's clothing store, seeing something I love with an outragous price tag, and then being able to come home and make it.

Three boys later, it is really hard to find the time to sew like I want to. I have such good intentions...long lists of things to make for each of them. In addition to my ideas, occasionally they have things they want made. The reality is there is little down time in my life right now. Someone is up by 6:00 am, Philip and Daniel do not nap, and thus, I have a child awake and needing me from 6:00 am until at the earliest 7:30 pm. And then there are all the other things that need to get done...laundry, dishes, cleaning, paying bills, etc.

But when I do get to my machine, it is heaven. I relax and stitch away. Is it always relaxing? No...I'm generally trying to meet some deadline that is unrealistic and thus makes me hurry.

Which brings me to why it is a curse...mistakes! I worked hard these past two weeks to make the boys some bathing suits before swimming lessons started. I was developing my own pattern for the swimsuit lining and that simply takes time. I made Philip one and a t-shirt to match. Then I made them one set of matching bathing suits...

William actually has one too, but he was napping at picture time. As you can see, not much progress made on my matching outfits therapy. Anyways, they loved them.

The mistake...I put the buttonholes for Philip's drawstring on the side of the waist instead of at the front!! So he has two holes in the side waist!! You can't really see them, and I am going to try to take it apart and put two more in the front. So frustrating!!!!

Despite the mistake, the boys made me happy when they chose to wear these instead of any others in their drawer! That makes the effort worthwhile!

What We've Been Up To

Well I haven't written in over a week because we really have not been up to much. After our pool party last Tuesday, I continued to battle a little stomach bug that wouldn't go away. So we spent the rest of the week in the house. Besides not feeling well, it was really kind of fun!

We built everything with the Legos: the fire station, multiple fire trucks, bulldozer, steam roller, dump truck, fire helicopter, police boat, etc. We built it all!! We spent days in our pjs...a great start to a slow summer!

Memorial Day weekend was relaxing...again not much going on for us. The highlights were:

• a Saturday visit to Cameron and Heather's new house...so happy to have them in Mobile
• Sunday dinner with Dee, PawPaw, Cameron, Heather, and GrandAnn at the Gill's
• a Monday morning run with two strollers...it was Chris' 30 minute course...took us 40 minutes!!
• time in the backyard pool with Daddy for the two big boys
• a Memorial Day barbecue with Cameron and Heather

I didn't take a single picture over the weekend so you'll have to trust me that a good time was had by all.

Tuesday morning brought the beginning of two weeks worth of swimming lessons. Philip loved swimming lessons last year, so I thought this would be easy for him. Daniel is a little afraid of the water, so I expected more trouble from him.

It was the opposite! Philip cried...didn't want to leave me. Daniel was really okay until he saw Philip upset. I left them both crying and prayed (for their teacher's sake) that they calmed down. When I got back, they were fine!

The next day brought even more drama. Despite the fact that they told me swimming lessons was their favorite part of the day on Tuesday, they cried, kicked, screamed, etc. when I left. I returned to see Philip happily swimming the short length of the pool and Daniel in the deep end by himself "swimming" to the ladder.

We have five more days of this...hope it gets easier!

Yesterday we had Pape over to play after swimming lessons. Pape is Philip's friend from school. He can be high energy at times (as can all four year old boys), but I have found him to be a polite, considerate little boy. He, Philip, and Daniel had a ball playing yesterday. They started with Legos...

and then headed outside to play in the pool. Even Roxy got in on the fun!

Today begins a week of visiting with cousins. Meredith arrives today and then the Watson clan tomorrow. We are so excited to have this time to visit with all of them. I'll be back with more on that later!

Posititve Peer Pressure

We had a great day yesterday as we all headed to Fowl River for a pool party. Madison, one of Philip's classmates, invited us. Her grandparents live on the river and have a beautiful home and very relaxing salt water pool.

The boys had a great time swimming. It was William's first time in a pool and he loved it! He really wanted me to let go of him...he was sure he could swim!


Philip watched Madison swim all over the pool and decided that he might want to give up the noodle. Within ten minutes, he was joining her swimming all over the place!

Daniel realized that the fun was happening in the pool...not outside of it. I forced him to get in a try it, but told him that he could get out immediately if he didn't like it. He did like it and he quickly loosened up the death grip. He asked over and over again to get in and "swim." Really, he just let me hold his stomach while he kicked. Major progress from our beach trip a few weeks ago!

Have to include a picture of his new bathing suit. I can't say that I finally figured out the lining on the inside, but it worked. I still have some work to do before I "mass produce" them for the boys.


We had a picnic lunch with everyone else...(check out the beautiful view!)


and then swam some more. Philip, Daniel, and William definitely helped balance the gender ratio since it was us and four little girls. Here's Philip with his classmates: Claire, Madison, and Mary.

We had such a good time. The little boys fell asleep on the way home and even let me transfer them to bed!! Again, yea summer!!!

I have a problem...

It's an addiction of sorts. It drives my husband quite batty sometimes. I'm sure it makes some of my friends giggle behind my back. I know that the road to recovery begins with recognition of the addiction, so I am here on the world wide web to declare it.

I LOVE TO SEE MY BOYS IN COORDINATING OUTFITS!

It really does bring a smile to my face. I have no idea why. I don't usually dress them exactly alike...just same fabrics...same theme in smocking or applique. I've done it to Philip and Daniel since Daniel was born. I sometimes can't sleep at night because I'm dreaming up new coordinating clothes for them. Okay, enough confessing...I'm starting to sound a little crazy.

So anyways, I whipped up these pair of shorts for Philip out of scrap material. I bought a plain polo shirt and embroidered the crab on it. All of this was done to match two smocked outfits that I made for Philip and Daniel two years ago. I have to say that they looked pretty cute at the church picnic today!

We had a great weekend despite Chris' absence for the majority of it. We all enjoyed a fabulous meal Friday night. So nice to all eat together...no meetings for Mom or Dad! Chris had a work committment pretty much all day Saturday, so the boys and I headed to Walmart to buy a new "baby" pool!

It took me 2 hours to blow up 1/3 of it, but all three of them had a blast. Even our 11 year old neighbors joined in the fun! We pushed the pool up to the slide which resulted in some good times.

Even I tried it out...my bottom skidded the bottom of the pool and landed in the grass along with half of the pool water! Glad there are no pictures to share!

Saturday afternoon brought a wedding and then dinner with Chris and Caroline! So fun to catch up without the kiddies around...a rarity!

The church picnic today was great fun! The boys loved the jumpie...

and the food was great!

It was hot...good thing Philip brought his hat!

Chris made a run to Walmart and surprised the boys with this...

We have plenty leftover, so stay tuned for our watermelon popsicles! More time in the pool and then early to bed for everyone!

I have to tell the truth....I'm off to sew some coordinating bathing suits...we have a pool party on Tuesday and let's just say Daniel's hand-me-down bathing suit is just a little too big...

Summer is Here!

WARNING: This one is picture heavy...sorry, I couldn't help myself!!

Well, it's official...summer is here. Yea, yea, I know...summer doesn't start until late June, but in Mobile it's summer. The boys are out of school and it is HOT!

Our end of the year parties started last Saturday. Daniel got invited to an end of the year splash at his classmate, Sydney's, house. They had a jumpie and an inflatable water slide. They had bubbles, water guns, snow cones, chicken nuggets, pizza, juice boxes, fresh lemonade, etc. A little boy's dream!

Daniel had a good time, but he stayed pretty close to Mom the whole afternoon. I was excited to go and have this time with Daniel and his classmates. I know Philip's classmates and their parents pretty well and simply did not feel that way about Daniel's, so it was good to have the time to introduce myself!

As mentioned earlier, Daniel has a little fear of water, so he did not get on the inflatable slide. He did have a good time jumping and shooting the water gun! I think he missed Philip, but it was good to force him to socialize without big brother!

On Wednesday, the boys both had their official end of the year party. The parents got a jumpie for the kids to enjoy!

I started in Philip's classroom visiting while they ate their lunch.

Then, William and I picnicked outside and helped the control the jumpie. Daniel came out for a jump first. He seemed a little hesitant at first, but eventually he and Cam got the hang of it!

We then enjoyed a picnic with Daniel's class.

When Daniel wasn't looking, William snuck over and stole this off of his plate....

Next Philip came out to jump. Daniel had to get back in and join him...

William did not have to want for company...he had Charles and Mia to keep him busy!

Of course, the highlight was a special visit from Daddy!

It was a great day and I was so happy to sit outside and be there with the boys. I missed the capital campaign final report that I desparately wanted to hear, but I felt that being with the boys was more important (and fun).

Unable to let the real last day go unnoticed, I invited Philip's class to join us at Midtown playground for an ice cream sandwich and a little running around time. We had a blast.

Philip and Daniel enjoyed their ice cream sandwiches. They did a fairly good job at not making a mess.

On their first attempts at least. The second sandwich (that another parent gave them!!) did not go so well for Daniel...

Of course, William had to partake too...

Boy will we miss this group next year!

We promised to get together before the summer is up to have a little reunion!

Where did the time go??

And why do I not have a picture of his very first day at Trinity??? Here's other first days...

August 2007

August 2008

August 2009
Tomorrow is Philip's last day of school at Trinity Church's Children's Center. I don't know where the time has gone. Philip started in the Mother's Day Out program in August of 2006. He was 10 months old and went once a week. He's been there for four years and for the most part he has loved it!

Miss Kelley was his lead teacher for the first three years. They had a special bond that began when Philip was 3 months old and we began putting him in the church nursery. Kelley commented to me the other day on how much she misses Philip since he left her class and sits through church too!

This year with Mrs. Pat has been a great one for him. He loved going to school and really liked being with her. I could tell the feeling was mutual!

In his four years, he has learned a lot. Not so much academics...I wouldn't really say that is Trinity's strength...thankfully, we work on that at home! However, at school, he has learned that...

• Mom may leave him, but she will always come back
• sharing with others is a necessity for survival
• there are people other than his family that truly care about him
• learning is fun
• teachers are people that you trust, respect, and listen to just as you do a parent
• God and Jesus are topics of discussion outside of home and church
• so many other life lessons that I hope he'll always carry with him

He's made some great friends...Mary and Pape especially. We'll miss them both next year! His friends have led to new ones for me too, and for that I am grateful. I hope that all of our friendships will continue as we venture on to different schools.

Daniel too has had a good year. It started out rough. When we began in August, he was newly potty-trained and dealing with not having Philip around in his classroom. He adjusted and though, I would not say he loves going, he does go without tears these days! Here he is on his first day this year...

Daniel too will leave Ms. Kelley to head to Ms. Pat's PK-3 class. I think the transition will be a good one for him as Ms. Pat seems to be fond of him too!

Hello, summer! We are ready for the ability to relax and not have a schedule to attend to!! I'll be back with an end of the year wrap up!

Best Buddies

I am sitting here trying to figure out when it happened?? When did Philip and Daniel become such great friends??

I remember when Daniel was born. I was thrilled to have a second boy...a younger brother to almost 21 month old Philip. I hoped that they would grow to be as good of friends as my younger sister and I are.

About this time last year, I thought that they would simply never get along. It seemed that they were fighting daily. Daniel hit Philip when he got frustrated. The hitting phase turned into a biting stage. His teachers said hitting and biting were not a problem at school. Part of me was happy that it was contained to home...the other part sad that they simply couldn't get along. Of course, there were times that they played well together...

Sometime in November/December, I found that we were having a week of cooperation and friendship between them followed by a week of complete inability to get along. It was frustrating because during a rough patch, I knew how great things could be if they played together nicely. However, I knew that the rough patch would pass. With patience, we got through it.

It seems now that they simply are best buddies. In the past two months, we haven't had weeks of arguing. Don't get me wrong, it isn't always pure bliss, but for the most part, they truly enjoy each other's company. I guess Daniel has reached the age where he and Philip can do much of the same things. They can communicate well with each other. I think Daniel has lost the frustration of not being able to keep up with Philip.

Yesterday, I got them new coloring books at Target. For hours, they sat in Philip's bed coloring away. At dinner, I asked them both their favorite part of the day. Daniel said, "coloring" and Philip said, "being with Daniel." What more could a Mom want??

I love to see the protective nature in both of them. The other day on the Chick-Fil-A playground, a little boy grabbed Philip's neck and pushed him out of the way. Philip was crying. I calmed him down and decided it was time to go. At this point, the boy was sitting at his table with his mother. Daniel walked up to the boy, put Sheep BaBa (his new friend) in front of him and said quite loudly, "BAAA!!!!" That was it...a simple don't mess with my brother!!

Then Sunday, Chris and I were cooking in the kitchen with William. We heard Daniel screaming...waited a minute to see if they worked it out...and then went to investigate. Daniel was on the porch crying extremely hard. Philip had run upstairs to his room and was hiding behind the chair...thus proving himself guilty of something. The interesting thing...neither Daniel nor Philip would tell us what happened. Daniel had some bruising on the side of his head. Clearly, Philip hurt him in some way, but he would not tell.

I hope they stay this way forever. My friend, Caroline's, late mother-in-law once told me that she prayed that her son would have one close friend in school to help get him through those difficult years. I have adopted that prayer for each of my boys ever since she told me about it. In addition to that friend, I hope that the boys' friendship will be one that they can forever rely on. Oh, how blessed I am...