Automatic camera timer? Check. Nice background? Check. Santa Clause hats? Check. One goofy husband? Check. Two kids that don't like to look at the camera at the same time and smile? Check, check. One mama staying up way past her bedtime to decide which picture to go with for our Christmas cards? (Yawn) Check! We hope you all are having as much fun as we are getting ready for the holidays.
Some new shirts
Merrick's is a crab and it says "Someone's crabby"
and Memphis has a Dear and it says "Little Dear"
But I'm pretty convinced that these are girl shirts because they are a little snug on my boys. Memphis looks okay but Merrick's is definitely a girl's shirt because it's tight around the arms which is a huge sign that it's a girl's shirt. Oh well, still pretty darn cute.
I've been staying busy with a few crafts around here especially with Christmas just around the corner and so here are a few of my favorites from the "Studio" for the boys.
Pirate stencils with acrylic paints.
I had to do matching shirts for the boys mostly because these colors turned out so well together.
Merrick kept moving so I could not get a good picture of his pirate pants that I sewed together out of some super cute pirate flannel fabric but they are both mine and Merrick's favorite pants.
Here Merrick is feeding Memphis cereal puffs that have been tested through the stapler first. If they didn't get crushed to tiny little bits from the stapler then they passed the test and Merrick would slip them into Memphis mouth. Merrick thought of this all on his own and just for the record there were a lot of cereal puffs that did not pass the test. Now the real question is do I tell Sean about what happened to his stapler or do I wait until he tries stapling something and crumbs come seeping out along with the staples? Hmm.
This year I decided to make the kids their Halloween costumes. Merrick being in the pirate phase that he's in we thought a pirate costume would be just right for him so here he is in his one of a kind pirate costume. We had a Harvest Festival for MOMS club last Friday and it was a pretty hot day so we opted to leave his white shirt off.
Someone said he looked like a Gypsy :0( One negative point for my home making skills, huh?
And then of course we couldn't have our pirate attend the party without his faithful parrot, could we? So, needless to say Memphis was Merrick's parrot this year. Sorry for these blurry pictures but Memphis is still pretty wobbly and I got a bit nervous with him on the bench.
Memphis won first place in the costume contest. One positive point for my home making skills, ha!
When I need some time to get ready in the mornings I put Memphis in the crib to sort of "protect" him I guess (whatever that means right) but of course Merrick has to get into the crib with him. Sometimes Memphis doesn't mind, he enjoys Merrick's attention, but sometimes Merrick turns all boy and I have to separate them. It's usually around the time that Memphis starts giving me the look that he's giving me in these pictures.
Here Memphis is reaching his breaking point, can you tell? Look at those eyes.
Merrick is all over him; rolling, squishing, bumping, pushing and of course kissing.
When Memphis gives me the sign that he's had enough I take him out of the crib and put him on the bed but Merrick follows him (and he's fast getting out of that crib) so I play musical beds like at least 10 times where I'll put Memphis in the crib and then take him out and put him on the bed and then put him in the crib and then take him out all the while trying to keep him safe from Merrick and get ready.Merrick thinks its a game so as soon as Memphis goes out Merrick goes out and as soon as Memphis goes back into the crib Merrick goes back into the crib. So in conclusion I pretty much look like a slob every day because when you mix this type of brotherly love into your morning routine let me tell you it gets old fast and as long as my main body parts are clean and my clothes don't smell I'm good to go.
And this last one is of Merrick when he was 4-6 months. This was his very first feeding but as you can tell he was not very thrilled with what was on the menu (super diluted rice cereal) yuk who can blame him. 
