Random playtime photos

Here are some random photos of the kids at play over the past few weeks.


Playing on a firetruck with Meme. This is outside a children's clothing store.


This is a funny story. Claire lined up the chairs from her little table in the kitchen in front of the TV while she was watching "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse".


Then, she decided that Baby Stella and Mickey Mouse wanted to watch too, so she went up to her room to get them.


Apparently, Baby Stella was unhappy in the chair, so she pulled David's exersaucer over and plopped Baby Stella in there, and continued to watch her show.


Claire playing with her "house". I highly recommend this toy. She has played with this since she was 14 months old when I bought it. She really could have started playing with it earlier. It is well worth the money.


David on his play mat. This is how I left him.


This is where I found him a couple of minutes later. He is quite the little mover.


His favorite thing to do with this toy is to scoot over to the arch and chew on it. All those fun toys hanging in front of his face, and he just wants to chew on a piece of foam. Go figure.

Halloween Preview

Claire has been talking about her bumblebee costume ALL WEEK LONG. She insisted that we try it on. I also needed to make sure David's was long enough so he put his costume on too. I highly recommend Target for costumes. These were $15 each. (Pardon my messy guest/craft room in the background.)

Claire the Bumblebee! We're still working on our "buzzzzzzz".

David the Dragon! He even has wings and a tail on the back.

Sew What?: October

Here are some sewing projects I finished up last month and some of my current works-in-progress.

Claire's dress is just a standard A-line dress with a contrasting fabric band around the bottom and a super-cute flower pocket. Claire had her hand in her pocket all day long. David got a matching romper out of the leftover fabric. I can still do this while he is short.

This is David's "puppies" according to Claire. The reversible side is the puppy fabric and I cut out one puppy to make an applique on the side you are seeing. It is nice to get 2 wears out of an outfit before washing and ironing.

Another short romper for David with a snail applique.

Matching pants for Claire's pumpkin dress from last year. These pants really are the same color as the pumpkin applique even though it doesn't look like it in the photo.

In progress ...

I finally learned how to use the utility stitch function on my mom's super-nice embroidery machine. I spent the day over there on Saturday while Will was at the Bama/Kentucky game and Meme and Poppy played with the kids. These pumpkins are on both David and Claire's fall outfits for this year. Fortunately, Meme did the applique on Claire's dress and I just had to do this one. I hope to have them finished by Saturday in time to wear them to the Pumpkin Patch.

Claire and David also got matching "Roll Tide" outfits (this is what Claire said when I showed her). I love this elephant head applique in gray/red/white check on gray pique background. I actually traced this applique from a friend's Hannah Kate outfit. I hope that is not illegal-I think it's okay as long as I don't sell it? I don't do copyright law. We are taking the kids down to Tuscaloosa in a couple of weeks and they will be in style with the Bama crowd.

I have a bittersweet relationship with smocking. It takes a really long time to smock and construct a dress. But, the finished product is so beautiful, I decided to start another dress for Claire. Now that regular TV is back on for the fall, I can smock while I watch TV at night after I have put the kids to bed. This is a dress for Claire. She will probably wear it in the spring. The fabric has cute little bicycles all over it. The top photo is the smocking, which is about halfway finished at this point. There will be some lime green in there too. The bottom photo shows the bicycle fabric and the Madeira hem on the bottom of the dress.

Just a Swingin'

We were able to squeeze in a quick trip to the park this afternoon after Claire's nap. She loves to swing more than anything else. We have had many a meltdown when it is time to get off the swing or share the swing with someone else. Today, she got to swing with Daddy on the big swings. David and I got to swing too. I hope that all of you were able to get out and enjoy the beautiful semi-fall weather that we had today.

Disney: Part II

What we did while we were there: The Pool

This trip, we stayed at the Beach Club which has the most awesome pool at Disney-Stormalong Bay. It did not disappoint. The pool was awesome and Claire loved it. Most kids who stay at a Disney property say that their favorite thing is the pool and it was no different with Claire. She loved the pool! As you will see in the photos below, the pool is like a beach, sand and all. Claire did not like the sand at first, but she quickly warmed up to it. The lifeguards even put shovels and pails out for the kids to play in the sand. But, her most favorite thing of all was the waterslide. They had one just for kids. She squealed with delight every time she came down. She was a little fearful at first, but after she tried it once, there was no stopping her. She would go down that thing over and over again for an hour at a time. They also had an "big kid" waterslide that was very fun. Will and I both managed at least one trip. Will also took Claire down the big waterslide once. (I vetoed any additional trips down the big slide after I found out.) We spent 4 out of 6 days on our vacation at the pool. Claire had a blast and the parent with David got a little R&R in the shade. By the way, Hurricane Hannah's Grille by the pool has the best Pina CoLAVA drink. I highly recommend it ... especially after a day at the pool with 2 small kids. Cheers!

Claire and David loaded in the stroller headed to the pool.

Waiting for the pool to open on our first day. Who knew it didn't open until 10am? We got there about 9:45 and got the best shady seat in the house.

Still waiting for the pool to open. Claire posed for a photo before she got wet.

David in his float ... he was not a big fan (of the float or the hat).

Daddy and Claire playing in the sand. The little sand bar was in the center of the pool. Oh what fun! I love the lighthouse in the background.

David took several naps at the pool ... and who knew that pool towels made such good swaddling blankets.

Here goes Claire down the waterslide.

And there is Daddy waiting to catch her at the bottom.

The kids waterslide was on the back of this shipwrecked boat. The "big kid" waterslide started at the top of the boat where you see that tube, went over the walkway, and came out in the big pool on the other side.

Will and his baby boy. Look at those rosy cheeks and little fat belly. Is that Santa?

Daddy helped Claire build a sandcastle.

Then she sat on it. She was not happy. She is probably saying, "my hands dirty". She did not like to get the sands on her hands. She quickly ran into the water to wash off.

David had a fun time kicking his feet in the water.

Look at my sweet beach babies. Don't worry ... Will was standing close by while I was taking this photo.

Thoughtful Thursday: Joy!

This chapter talks about how raising children helps us embrace God's joy. We make sacrifices as parents, but we also reap transcendent joy. Mary, the mother of Jesus, is a good example.

"My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me - holy is his name." Luke 1:46-49.

There was a lot of really good stuff in this chapter, but for brevity's sake, my favorite parenting pointer was this: we will experience increased joy in parenting when we pray prayers of thankfulness for our children. What does this mean? Well, most parents' prayers for their children fall into 2 categories: (1) God, protect them; and (2) God, change them. What is wrong with these 2 types of prayers? Nothing. But, if we only pray for protection, we will probably have to constantly fight off fear. If we only pray for change, we lose sight of our children's strengths.

Why are prayers of thankfulness important?

(1) It will give you a new perspective. You will focus on positive qualities in your children and appreciate the privilege of living with them.

(2) It will remind you how faithfully God cares for your children who have put their trust them.

(3) It will give you a more stable foundation on which to build a relationship with your children. We should rejoice in our children rather than show obsessive fear for them and constantly harping on their failures.

Practical application for me:

(1) I will not obsess over negative things in my children and lose the joy of parenting. I will focus on and thank God for the positive things in my children.

(2) I will not be consumed in fear for my children's protection.

(3) I will be my children's chief encourager. I want them to know that regardless of how the world treats them, there are at least 2 people (mom and dad) who will also delight in them.

Disney: Getting there

I am sorry for the delay in posting about our trip. I have been swamped at work and home since we got back. The photos are finally on the computer now and I want to jot down a few favorite memories from the trip before I forget. I will probably break this story down into 3-4 posts so stay tuned for more to come. I promised my friend Jadie that I would put some Disney photos up ASAP.

DAY 1: A car ride, gasoline hunt and a clambake.
We pulled out of our driveway at 2:40 a.m. C.S.T. We were nervous about finding gas with the price hike and gas shortage rumors that were swirling due to Hurricane Ike. Georgia had plenty of gas, but it wasn't cheap. Florida had plenty of gas too. We stopped a lot to eat, potty, etc. We arrived at our hotel at 3:30 p.m. E.S.T. That is 12 hours total. In the car. With 2 kids.


David and Claire on the way to Orlando. Claire's mug shot was taken when we left that morning. She stayed awake for about 3 more hours before she finally went back to sleep!

We stayed at the Beach Club resort at Disney. Our first night We checked into our hotel and freshened up for dinner. We met our friends, Jessica and Buckley and their son Max (he is 2 months older than Claire), for dinner at Cape May Cafe for a traditional New England Clam Bake. I don't like clams, but they looked cute in the little buckets. Claire had a cupcake for dinner. That is all. And she got some stickers in the lobby.







After that, we headed out to the lake shore/Boardwalk area outside of our hotel and walked around for a little while. Our friends headed to Epcot for the fireworks and we headed to BED.

Buckley, Jessica and Max.


Our family on the shore with Disney's Boardwalk in the background. (It was too dark to be taking pictures.)


Will and Claire on the "beach" after dinner.


This was Claire and David's room. A little Disney magic ... and poof! Mickey and Minnie stuffed animals appeared on Claire's bed. A little welcome gift from mommy and daddy. I highly recommend a visit to the Disney Outlet store at Opry Mills before you go to Disneyworld.

Stay tuned ... tomorrow, we hit the pool.