It's Been a While!

Hello All! It's been a while since I've been able to post here.  Everyday there was the intention yet the day would pass without being able to post.  So to update, we have been busy with everyday life around here but are enjoying all of the activities that Spring brings!  All three kids have started swimming lessons and Christian will start soccer this coming week! So we will have soccer practices 1-2 evenings a week now and Saturdays are full with 3 seperate swim lessons, a soccer game and ballroom dance lessons (for Shawn and I).  Yes, you read that correctly! I was able to convince Shawn to take ballroom dance lessons with me! We had some friends invite us to take it with them and although both husbands are not quite in love with the idea they still go.  They even try really hard and do quite well every week.  What lucky gals we are!

The kids are really enjoying their swim lessons and look forward to it every week.  Gabriella is in a Parent/Toddler class so Shawn goes in with her and essentially plays and helps her get used to the water.  Mia is in a class where she goes in on her own and they learn to get comfortable with the water independently.  Although I thought she wouldn't go in on her own I was quite surprised that she was very willing and very cooperative with the teacher. She had a great time and was sad when it was time to get out of the water.  Christian too loved his class.  He has to wait an hour and a half before it is his turn to get in so that is the least fun part for him.  I'm sure it's the longest hour and a half ever! But when he gets in he loves it.  In his class they taught him how to float on his back, dive for rings on the pool floor, and to dunk his head under water repeatedly.  He did well with all except the floating on the back but that just takes practice so I'm sure he will get it eventually. 

We also finally got to take family pictures! Although they are not of the whole family :(  I held off thinking we would get to take them when Alex came to visit but we were sooooo busy that we never got the chance.  And now I have no idea when he will be back up to visit so decided to go ahead.  Him being on his own is tough for this Mama! It is a constant reminder of how quickly they grow and reminds me to enjoy each and everyday with our 3 little ones. I hope to see him soon but since he works it's not so easy to just fly him up here.  I will post those pics soon and will be sending you all some copies as well.  There is something a little special in the works for you Grandparents and Great Grandparents that didn't get your Christmas presents yet! I am sorry it has taken so long but with the constant cold and snow around here it was difficult to get these done until the weather warmed up a bit.  So be looking for these in the next few weeks as I am working on them now and hope you love them!

As for me well I have been a sewing machine lately! With spring in the air I have found myself in the mood to sew lots of fun clothing for my girls!  And I am loving my new serger and think that it is one of the best gifts ever!  Shawn has been busy with work and although he has one of the worst bosses ever he makes the most of it and continues to do his best.  We have had a few shakeups in the last few weeks though.  First we received notice that he may receive orders for one year in Afghanistan and if he got them he would leave this May.  So for a full week we were terrified that he was going to be gone soon. It put a halt on everything we were planning. But with God's grace we received notification that the orders had been cancelled and that for now he wasn't going anywhere. What a relief! There is still the possibility that this will come up again and we knew that coming in so we can only pray that it doesn't happen to us.  But with 2 more years here you just never know. 

Then soon after we got an even bigger scare.  One of Cancer.  Shawn was feeling some pain in his lower abdomen so he went to the doctor to see what the cause was.  During the examination she located a couple of cysts and said that they needed to do an ultrasound because there was a possibility of cancer. Whoa!!! What?!?  We were terrifed! And now we had to wait several days for the ultrasound to see what we were dealing with.  So many things crossed our minds but mostly we worried about our children.  As you could imagine we just felt like God had given us this beautiful family and wonderful life and now it could all come crashing down.  Only he and prayer would get us through this and we would fight it if this was our path. And one week later we would find that it WAS NOT cancer and our family/life would continue on as usual.  Thank You Lord!  Wow, we can't be anything but greatful.  Many of you may be wondering why we didn't mention this to you and the truth is NO ONE was told because in truth we felt it was difficult knowing and we just didn't want to impose the same feeling on any of you.  Why are we sharing this now? Well I guess it's just a little reminder of how truly precious all of you are to us and to each other.  Cherish the moments, even the bad ones, hard ones and especially the sweet ones.  You just never know when it could all change.  We love and cherish all of you even though you are so far away.  And although we may not speak to you as often as we should we love you none the less. 

So we leave you with LOTS of great pics of our adventures in the last few weeks.

Swimming Lessons

Gymnastics

Gabriella at a playdate in a dress I made for her

Saint Patrick's Day - I made this skirt for her and one for Gabriella as well but for some reason can't find a picture of Gabriella with her



Gabriella in her brother's hat. She just loved it and wore it all day



And our new puppy! His name is Loui and he is a very sweet Shit Zu. 

And a couple of pics of my latest work.  I have actually made about 6 other dresses/shirts for the girls but will post pics later.

A reversible shirt for Mia that can also be used as a dress for Gabriella. Love Double Duty!

And remember that free fabric that I posted about last time?  Well here it is in a Spring Dress for Mia.  I also had enough to use as an accent on Gabriella's dress and will post that one later. 

I will post more often now that things are truly back to normal around here!  We Love You All and truly feel we have the BEST and MOST AMAZING family ever!