My Newest Crafty Creation and Bennett Jammin'!

I have to tell you... I am SO proud of myself! Like I've said before, I'm THE least creative, crafty person on the planet. Literally. But lately, I've been searching around on blogs and getting the crafty itch. The tutorials I've found have seemed pretty easy, so I've done a few.

The latest one I did was make some pillows for my couch. Ooo I'm so excited just looking at the picture! Aren't they SO cute!


They're so cute AND so easy AND so cheap! Listen to this: I made these pillows out of placemats from Target! No lie! I saw this idea on a blog from Thrifty Decor Chick. Here's the placemats pre-stuffing.

All you do is seam-rip the bottom of the placemat, enough for your hand to fit in. Then, stuff some pillow stuffing into it ($3.00 a bag from Wal-Mart) and sew back up the seam.

Here's the finished product! I LOVE them!

The other day the boys and I were in the car. I, of course, had my music on. When we got to the parking lot, I turned around and saw Bennett eating his bagel and jammin' out to the song. It's so cute!

Reenactment

Remember this?


And the response that followed??


Well, my hilarious sisters who have nothing better to do with their time decided to reenact that scene recently when we went out for a sister's nite out.


See?


Don't laugh... it will encourage them.

Praying Falling Asleep in the High Chair

This child has never fallen asleep in his high chair. This child is usually not ever THIS tired! But after a LONG week, this child was THIS TIRED.


Phil and I were eating our lunch and feeding Pax. We looked over and Bennett was nodding and the top of his body was swaying all over the place. We immediately did what any good parent would do in this situation....


... we grabbed both cameras and captured it all on tape so that we can pull it out and embarrass him when he's in high school.


It's really pretty sad. We let him drift and drop his head and sway his body for nearly 5 minutes because it was so funny!


Poor baby!

Pax thought it was pretty funny, too!

Happy Birthday, my little Samuel Bennett

Two years ago today, I had the most surreal day of my life. Right behind getting married, the thing that I had waited for my whole life, hoped for and begged God for really happened! Our son was born and I got to hold him in my arms. After going through the loss of our first baby, we tried for several years to have another baby. After what seemed like an eternity of waiting and praying, God gave us our son. The night Bennett was born seems like yesterday because I can remember exactly what I was feeling, thinking about, and all the emotions I was experiencing. It was so surreal! It was THE most amazing, wonderful and awesome experience of my life. I cannot put into words how incredible that night was for me and Phil. One thing's for sure.. I couldn't stop crying! It was overwhelming! I treasured every single thing about the delivery process because I had waited SO long for it!

Bennett was born at 11:35pm. I had actually been into the hospital earlier in the day because of a false alarm, and was sent home with no action going on at all. We left the hospital around early afternoon and decided to go straight to Bill and Ruth's to eat lunch. On the way there, (I am not kidding), I began to feel pains. I was like ok, this is nuts. I just left the hospital. There is no way I'm having contractions! So we went on. While I was eating my sandwich, the pains began to get stronger! I was like holy cow! What's the deal?! By the time we walked out, I was hunched over needing help getting into the car. Crazy! We went home because I was so embarrassed to go back to the hospital when we HAD JUST LEFT!

As we got home, the contractions were coming 3-4 minutes apart. My sister (who is an ER nurse) told me to get my tail up there. I was still like, I just can't go back up there... I just left! Anyway, I was to the point that I couldn't sit down, stand up, even talk without making this horrible wailing noise because of the pain! Ha! (Ask Phil. I think if he wouldn't have thought that I would have punched him in the gut, he would have been laughing at me!)

We made it to the hospital around 5:30 or so. Shortly thereafter, and even before (since my mom beat me to the hospital!), my family all came. I mean, they ALL came! It was so awesome! I have to attach this picture below. It's one of my favorites! This is all 5 of my sisters waiting outside the doors that say "Don't go beyond this point". They knew that Phil would be coming out with the news, so there they were waiting to be the first to find out what happened!


After only a couple short hours of labor, Samuel Bennett was born! It was amazing! I totally fell apart after he entered the world. They handed my baby to me and I just couldn't believe it! Like I said, there's no words for it except "surreal". Holding him in my arms was just too good to be true. I just kept saying over and over "We've waited so long for this!" Phil was absolutely amazing. And he was misty-eyed as well.


We kept Bennett's name a secret until the very end. NO ONE knew our name. We handed out a very cute paper at the hospital to all our visitors that told our story. It also explained Bennett's name. His first name, Samuel, came from the story of Hannah in the Bible. Hannah dealt with infertility and the strong desire to have a baby. I held on so tightly to Hannah's story during my years of waiting for a baby that I felt like we were friends! I Samuel 1:27-28: "She gave him the name Samuel, saying 'I asked God for Him. I prayed for this boy and the Lord has given me what I asked of Him. So I have given him to the Lord. He is given to the Lord as long as He lives.' " Samuel means God has heard. Yes, he did!


Bennett was a name that Phil and I both loved. We tried to find other names that we liked as well and we just couldn't! We loved it even more because its meaning is Blessed One. And, some of you are probably wondering why we named him Samuel Bennett, yet he goes by his middle name?? I used to be one of those people who HATED it when people did that. Now I'm one of them. Phil did not like the way Bennett Samuel sounded, so in order to use both of these names, I had to agree to it.


I am so grateful for Bennett! He is so awesome! My favorite thing he does right now (and there are some cute things!) is when he hugs Phil or me while patting us on the back and says "Buddy!" Yes, he sure is my Buddy! I've spent everyday the last 2 years with him and it's been amazing. Now I can't imagine life without him.


Happy Birthday, Buddy! We love you so much!

Bennett's 2nd Birthday Party

Whew! We had a fun but busy weekend! We had Bennett's 2nd Birthday party on Saturday morning with both of our families. Like I said last year, I don't plan to let the boys have friends parties for at least a few more years. I don't know how I would fit all our family as well as friends in our little house! I think we'll have to have it at the park then! Ha!

Bennett is in L-O-V-E with Cars. I can't put into words how much he cherishes and adores his cars! It's seriously funny. The kid has to be holding a car at all times, and if he's not holding one (because we don't let him take them to bed), he's talking about them. Up until we close his bedroom door at night, he's talking about something related to Cars.

So, there was no choice but to give Bennett a Cars Birthday party! I found a few ideas on some blogs and changed them up a bit and we decorated Cars-style! (I'll put a post up on the different things I made and from which blogs I got them a different time.) But, here's the "donut display" put on a homemade racetrack with racecar flags!

We LOVED the Cars donuts we had made from a local donut shop. They were a HIT! (See below!)

And they were big, too!

Here's the birthday party decorations!!!

I made a picture display to show every month of Bennett's 2nd year of life.

Bennett was so excited when he saw his Cars donuts! We had to tell him he couldn't touch until it was time. It was so hard for him!! (See what I mean?? Notice Bennett has Mater in his hands!! He CANNOT be without a car at all times!)

Lightning holding Bennett's birthday candle

Singing Happy Birthday to Bennett! What you can't see is the other side of the kitchen with 20 people singing to him.... he was like "what's going on?!"

He clapped before and after he I blew out his candle.

Ummm... Bennett loved his donut, to say the least.

He got messier this year than he did last year at his first birthday party!!

Wow. Where'd he learn to eat like that?

I love this pic! He was on a sugar high by this point! He ate the WHOLE donut! By the way, notice how decked out he is... wearing his Cars houseshoes and his "2" t-shirt that I, ahem, made him. Yes, you read right. This totally uncrafty mom made this t-shirt! This is SO not a big deal to most people, but for me... well, let's just say that I didn't think I'd ever sew a stitch in my life!

In Bennett's words, "messsyyy!"

Bennett got several Cars things for his birthday! He got the Cars movie! It's a good thing because we've had my parent's/Connor's copy held hostage for months and I'm sure they're ready to have theirs back! Thanks Gammy and Pops!

Bennett got a Mac truck that he ADORES! He can't believe he has this. He's SO excited! (I'll have to tell you later... not online for everyone to read, ha!... about how Bennett says the word truck. Let's just say that Bennett can't say his T's very well, and he replaces them with F's. Put 2 and 2 together. I'm afraid he's going to go to church and talk about trucks and the teachers will think that's the way Phil and I talk at home!!!! Ahhhhh!!!!)

This was the best family shot we got. Excuse Bennett. He was drunk with tiredness by this point, so he resorted to sucking his thumb... which is what he does when he's ready for bed.

Little Pax was at the party too!! He's still trying to learn to crawl!

Here's Bennett with all his wonderful gifts that people brought him. Seriously, he is SO blessed! What awesome presents!! He got several Cars as well as a Crab blow-up pool and another blow-up pool with a slide. He also got a Cars plate/bowl/cup, Cars socks, blocks, an outfit, a puzzle, and lawn mower that blows bubbles, and several fun and way cool boxes to play with! :)

Happy Birthday to Bennett on Thursday!

Gammy Makes Me Happy!

My mom stopped by after school the other day...

My boys love their Gammy!

She can always get them to smile!

Easter Sunday

This was definitely an Easter weekend we will not forget because it was unlike any other. Just as the Scripture says, "He bestows on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair " (Is. 61:3), we experienced the power of that verse this weekend. I don't know what I'd do without my little boys. They are so precious to me and Phil. And they are a bright, shining spot in our lives!


Here's one of all 4 of us on Easter morning...taken by Mr. Tripod :)

Phil said, "Jump!", so we did...

I love my boys!

At this point, Bennett was D-O-N-E.

This is funny.. they both have the EXACT same expression!

I can't believe how happy Bennett was later on in the day, despite not having a nap. We've been talking to Bennett about Easter and how Jesus was raised from the dead on Easter. He says, "Jesus, Happy Easter!" That's right, buddy, that's right. :)

In the afternoon, we went to my Aunt's house and had a delicious lunch. Bennett hunted Easter eggs for the first time. It was SO much fun getting to watch him figure out what he was supposed to do.


OK, this is hilarious. Here's everyone yelling and pointing at Bennett telling him, "Over heeere, BENNETT, come HERE, here's an Easter egg HERE, come pick it up!"

It took him a little bit to figure out the drill, but once he did, he was picking up eggs right and left! He even came in 2nd place with the most eggs! hehe!

Little Pax didn't get to hunt this year... but he sure was cute watching!



Me and my sweet sisters... Molly was out of town for the weekend so she was not here, but we missed her!

Later on in the day, Gram came by to see the boys...

Then, Easter evening, we had a really fun time with just the 4 of us opening Easter baskets with the boys outside. It was so fun watching them! And the weather was awesome. This is Bennett "sitting by" Pax... translated, he thinks we mean "sit on" your brother... ha!

This cracks me up! Here's Bennett's face when he first sees his Easter basket.. it's like what's in there for me?!?!?!!?

Tearing into their baskets...

We got the boys some Veggie Tales DVDs, a few CDs to jam out to, and of course a few little toys.

Bennett is in LOVE, I mean LOVE, with Cars. I can't even express how much he truly loves these things. He wakes up asking for Cars, goes to bed talking about Cars, and screams if he can't hold his Cars all day. He's attached.


I LOVE this picture!

Profile shot...

And this is my FAVORITE! I love "back" shots. I think this will be blown up and framed. :)

Sweet Paxen Blake!

And Samuel Bennett!

What precious boys God has entrusted to us. I'm grateful.