The Bentley Way of Life

Wordless Wednesday

2010-12-29T20:33:00.001-08:00

Sweet moments that I love

2010-12-29T08:24:00.000-08:00

I love these photos. I love that I can see the reflection of the Christmas tree lights. I love that Luke is holding Michael's thumb. I love that Luke is completely a "Daddy's boy."

Christmas 2010

2010-12-28T17:33:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas 2010 was wonderful. Santa was super sweet to both boys. Our house is overflowing with all the goodies they received. Lots of toy organization going on. We have all pretty much memorized the dialog from the movie Polar Express. I am working hard to catch up on my December Daily album. I will share photos of that when I am finally done. (Hopefully soon. Wink.)

Holiday baking

2010-12-23T17:53:00.000-08:00

Lots of holiday baking going on around the house right now. The boys and I have been working on treat boxes for their teachers at school. Sam is the expert "M&M masher." Luke is the expert "M&M eater." Martha Stewart is the expert treat box maker - and I am thankful she sells these.

Gifts for Sam's Classmates

2010-12-22T08:27:00.000-08:00

This has become something that we enjoy doing for each holiday. I am always looking for ways to get Sam involved in this process which can be difficult since he is 2. I got this idea from Becky Higgins and could not wait to make some of our own. Such a great idea! Sam LOVED it and was so proud of his "notey-bucks" he made for his friends.

Meet Lucas Michael

2010-12-18T18:40:00.000-08:00

I feel like I should introduce our new little-big guy. Lucas Michael Bentley (Luke) was born on October 27th 2009. He has brought us endless amounts of joy over the last year. We could not imagine life without him. Life with 2 babies under 2 has been crazy, chaotic and wonderful all at the same time. I would not have it any other way.

Worst blogger ever!

2010-12-16T19:39:00.000-08:00

That's me! I am going to "try" to make a better effort to keep this bloggidy blog updated. Our family life is a bit crazy right now with the babies and our work schedule but I want to make this blog a priority. So here we go...

New favorite photo!

2009-08-29T07:17:00.000-07:00

Here it is! My new favorite photo. Sam has perfected the "cheesy grin" and we cannot get enough of it!

Catching up!

2009-08-07T13:26:00.000-07:00

That is what I am doing around here lately. Trying to catch up on laundry, housework, blogging, scrapbook layouts, etc. I just need a few more hours in the day. I have been frantically trying to get Sam's 1st year documented before baby #2 arrives. Here is a shadow box frame I created using his 1st birthday photo. I get so emotional looking back as his photos - especially his newborn photos - and wondering where the past 15 months has gone. All of a sudden he is just such a big boy. Make it stop!

Happy Father's Day

2009-06-21T07:49:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day to the best Daddy in the whole wide world! We are so lucky to have him.

Sam's first swimming party!

2009-06-15T00:45:00.000-07:00

Sam had his first pool party this weekend. We invited my sister, Amy and my sweet nephew, Brayden over for a fun afternoon of swimming. It was going to be the cutest thing in the whole wide world! Two sweet little boys playing "nicely" in the pool. Perfect photos were going to be taken. Well - not so much. Sam created his own little "splash town!" Poor Brayden. He hung in there for a while but Sam was just out of control. I am not sure why Sam thought the duck should go on Brayden's head? Brayden will be returning next week for another pool party - but he will be bringing his own pool. (B.Y.O.P.?) wink.

I scrapbooked!

2009-06-10T07:04:00.000-07:00

I scrapbooked! I am working on finding a balance between "Mama time" and all the other happenings around the house. Unfortunately it seems to be late at night when everyone else is sleeping. It is totally worth giving up a little sleep to have some creative alone time. I cannot tell you how much fun it is to scrapbook our little monkey. I love the feeling that I am documenting his little story. I have a few layout shares. Enjoy!

Welcome Home Frame

2009-06-07T18:24:00.000-07:00

I am such a lucky girl to have Janet Hopkins live near me so I am able to take her local classes. They are amazing! It is so much fun to just sit and have someone else tell me where to "stick stuff" down. No thinking involved - I just do what she says and I end up with a fabulous project! Here is the "Welcome Home Frame" we created in our last class. It is 10X20 in size. We used a bunch of fun House of 3 goodies. I have to tell ya - I am hooked. So quick and easy!

Happy Memorial Day.

2009-05-26T05:57:00.000-07:00

Stamp shelf remodel.

2009-05-23T19:36:00.000-07:00

I give up! It was cute at first, but when Sam started chewing on the stamps and doing damage to the rubber/wood it was not so cute. (Did I mention that our 13 month old had 8 yummy teeth?) So I did a little remodeling around the stamp shelf. A perfect solution so far. Everyone is happy again.

Caught ya!

2009-05-04T07:56:00.000-07:00

Sam is FAST! He does not mess around when he is on a "mission." If I happen to leave the doors of my craft studio open for even one minute I hear a bunch of giggling and banging going on. This is what I find...

It was super cute when he was first crawling. I would hear him - and the bottom shelf would have a few stamps missing. I would think - aww, playing with Mama's stuff. Well - now he seems to be a pro. I can't say I blame him - I LOVE to play with my stamps too. Now when I have work to do in my craft studio I just bring Sam along and ask him if he wants to play with "Mama's blocks." LOL - I give up.

My baby boy is one!

2009-04-23T04:20:00.000-07:00

Sam is one! We had a wonderful day celebrating his birthday. We walked to a nearby Sonic for breakfast where we all ate ice cream. (in our pajamas.) Ha - great way to start any birthday! Then we were off to the Dallas World Aquarium. Sam LOVED it. He was a huge fan of the shark tank. We ended our day with dinner and a family celebration. Just perfect.

Guess what?

2009-04-13T07:20:00.000-07:00

Sam is going to be a BIG BROTHER!!!
The new baby is due sometime around Oct. 26th.
Michael and I are overjoyed with happiness!

We will continue perusing our adoption journey and look forward to bringing our daughter home from China. At this time our estimated wait is 24 long months. As most of you know we began our adoption journey September 2005. She is worth the wait and we are excited and extremely blessed that she will now have 2 older siblings to play with.
I do have a special request from our family.
Please take a moment to think of us every so often over the next 6 months or so and say a quick prayer that we continue to have a healthy pregnancy. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Happy Easter to you from Sam.

2009-04-10T08:12:00.000-07:00

Michael took Sam to visit the Easter Bunny and he loved every minute of it. Michael said he was just giggling out loud the entire time. I hope you all have a wonderful Easter!

Easter Photos

2009-04-09T11:07:00.000-07:00

I am just popping in to share a few Easter photos of Sam. He makes the holidays so much FUN.

11 things at 11 months.

2009-03-26T08:46:00.000-07:00

Here is 11 things at 11 months.

1. You are still not crawling but you have NO trouble getting where you needs to go.
2. You are eating table foods and Gerber cheesey/vegetable puffs are his favorite.
(I have to agree - they are pretty good.)
3. We are working hard on the whole sippy cup idea.
4. You are all about Dora and Diego right now but no worries - we are still huge fans of The Backyardigans.
5. You still loves for us to read books to you.
6. You have a whopping 7 1/2 teeth.
7. You love to "drive" your toy cars around and you go nuts if we make 2 cars "crash."
8. Your favorite toy is a little police car. You will search for it in your toy box until you find it. (see photo)
9. You get super excited when you get to go for walks with Daddy. (Warm up weather, please.)
10. You love to play with remotes, cordless phones, cell phones, and anything else you should not have.
11. You like to be out and about and running errands. You are a people watcher.

Can't pinch me!

2009-03-17T12:21:00.000-07:00

Sam is happily sporting his green today. Happy St. Patrick's Day to you.

Happy walk.

2009-03-14T05:46:00.000-07:00

Our little guy LOVES to go on walks around the neighborhood. He giggles at the dogs the entire time. They are pretty entertaining. I was excited to catch a few of his BIG smiles. It just melts my heart. I will post some scrapbook goodies in a few days. Things are a bit crazy around here right now. Big hugs for everyone.

His facial expressions.

2009-02-26T08:39:00.000-08:00

His facial expressions crack us up. He is just so much FUN! I am sure this is entirely a "my baby is the cutest baby in the whole wide world" moment but whatever. wink.

I have been doing a lot of scrapbooking this week while Sam plays sweetly in the floor. He is getting so independent. sigh.

I will share a few of my scrapbook goodies in the next few days.

10 things at 10 months.

2009-02-22T18:03:00.000-08:00

1. You got a 'big boy' car seat this month.
2. You are just about to crawl.
3. You blow raspberries – all the time. This cracks us up.
4. You love books. We read 4 – 5 per day.
5. You have 4 teeth and 2 more are about to come in.
6. You are extremely observant. You are very aware of your surroundings.
7. You love the dogs – especially Sophie.
8. You like to sit and play with toys on the floor.
9. You scream loud! For no reason at all.

10. You are a complete joy to be around. I am such a lucky Mama.

Here we go...

2009-02-17T12:24:00.001-08:00

Look what is going on at my house right now. Sam is just about to go mobile. I am not at all excited about this - I want him to stay my little bitty baby boy forever. It is just happening so fast! Off to take more photos to try to capture it all.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-13T17:12:00.000-08:00

Just sharing a little peek at a few of the love notes that Sam and I sent out last week. We are having so much fun getting ready for Valentine's day. Look at the little guy sporting his new "teethy grin." XOXOX for everyone!

Happy Monday.

2009-02-09T14:09:00.001-08:00

Here we go starting off the week with a little reading out on the patio in our PJ's. Sam is reading one of Mama's scrapbook magazines. Hush - there is nothing wrong with little boys who scrapbook. wink. Happy Monday.

Nap time projects.

2009-02-03T11:35:00.000-08:00

I have been doing a few "nap time projects." Dare I say - Sam is on a pretty good schedule during the day. He has been consistently taking a 1 1/2 - 2 hour nap. This time is golden. I love it - and I love it that he wakes up happy, refreshed and ready to play some more.

Here is a few frames I created. I was completely inspired by Becky Higgins to create the pocket frame. I loved her project the minute I saw it and could not wait to make one of my own. I could not locate her project online - but I will continue to search for it. It is super cute and I want to make sure and link it here. The smaller frame is just one of those cheap 4X6 Ikea wood frames. I painted it and added a few jewels. Stay tuned for more fun projects later in the week. Did I mention how much I love nap time?

Happy Monday.

2009-02-02T07:26:00.001-08:00

We are starting the week off with a bit of light reading. We read a lot of books around here. About 5 - 6 per day. We also like to take "field trips" to the Allen library for Story Time.
Sam LOVES to be read to. Which is great! It could be the Sunday paper, a fun book Mama is reading, a menu at a restaurant or one of Daddy's SQL books. hee. Happy Monday!

Party in the highchair.

2009-01-29T20:07:00.000-08:00

Sam really enjoys his meals. This has been a slow process - he was not crazy about the whole baby food thing at first. Now he loves it. I was feeding him dinner as Michael came home from work. Here are a few of the BIG smiles Sam had for his Daddy. This is also the first time I was able to catch a photo of those top teeth. We sure do love this little guy - messy face and all.

A good day.

2009-01-25T23:19:00.000-08:00

Last week we had a few days of beautiful 80 degree Texas weather. Sam and I spend the day outside. I grabbed a big blanket and a few toys/books and we hung out on the patio most of the day. We even took a little nap together. This was such a GOOD day. Everyday is fun with Sam, but this day in particular was wonderful! Just Sam and me - no phone - no TV.

A historical inauguration.

2009-01-20T09:30:00.000-08:00

What a wonderful day. Sam and I are enjoying this historical day at home as we watch Barack Obama sworn in as our 44th president. It is overwhelming. I just don't have words to describe it. We are extremely supportive of President Obama's vision for hope and change. We are looking forward to what the future holds for our country. We are proud to have Barack Obama as the President of the United States.

Before and After Teething Tablets.

2009-01-19T09:12:00.001-08:00

I am so thankful for these. Happy Monday!

Sam's first Christmas.

2009-01-15T08:10:00.000-08:00

I know it's late - but I promised I would share photos of Sam's first Christmas. So here we go. We spend Christmas Eve with my parents. We ate way too much food and enjoyed some family time. We started a few fun traditions this year. Sam got to open one gift on Christmas Eve. It was PJ's and a Christmas book to read before bedtime. Those new PJ's are perfect for Christmas morning photos. Wink. Christmas morning was spent at home. Michael made his yummy Monkey Bread and again we ate way too much. Granny and Grandpa came over to watch Sam open his presents. We could have wrapped up empty boxes and he would have had just as much fun. He was all about the paper, bows and banging on the boxes. We all loved every minute of it. Then we were off to Granny and Grandpa's house again. My Dad (Grandpa) made his famous "Johnson Brunch" that we all love. Again, you guessed it, we ate way too much. Then we opened more presents. It was wonderful - just wonderful.

A few gifts for Brayden.

2009-01-13T14:29:00.000-08:00

I made a few gifts for my nephew. (Can you tell I can't get enough of him?) I used one of those plastic photo albums that you can usually find in the 1.00 spot at Target to create a brag book for my sister to carry around in her purse or diaper bag. I also made a fun frame full of photos from the hospital. Ahhh - new babies are so wonderful.

Hello 3am.

2009-01-12T14:23:00.000-08:00

Teeth are way overrated. Especially when you are cutting both top teeth at the same time. This is what we were doing last night at 3am. Nothing a few teething tabs and a quick episode of The Backyardigans won't fix.

Meet Brayden.

2009-01-11T13:35:00.000-08:00

Sam has a new cousin. Brayden Avery Wheeler was born Friday, January 9th. He weighed 8lbs 5oz. He is perfect and beautiful. We are completely in love with him. I cannot get enough of his full head of hair. It feels like silk. It is wonderful to have another newborn baby around. How quickly we realized just how much Sam has grown in his little 8.5 months. It is going so fast. You can read more about the sweet Wheeler family here.

Well hello there.

2009-01-08T06:26:00.000-08:00

I got a fun phone call from Lisa and she said, "Guess what I did today?" And I said, "What?" And she said, "I set up a blog for you!" (Thanks girlfriend.) So here I go. I am a blogger. I have to tell ya - I am excited about it. I am looking forward to having a spot to keep a daily record of the happenings around the Bentley house. So here we are with my first post of 2009. Let's start with my new favorite photo of Sam.