Mother's Day

It is so crazy to me that I get to be a mom of six kids.  Just thinking about it kind of blows my mind.  To celebrate the day I made everyone take pictures with me outside our house before and after church.  

 No one was really thrilled about this idea.  In fact Calista kept running away and making it pretty difficult.  I think everyone really wanted to eat lunch, but I told them that no one gets to eat until we get a good picture.  That is how we get the good smiles from the kids.

The kids and Bob made breakfast in bed for me.  I also got flowers, a couple attachments for my kitchen aid and a shirt.  I thought it seemed like a lot, but Bob I guess I do have a lot of kids.

I thought this last one was pretty hilarious, and a little more accurate on how the picture taking really went.  With kids it is like, take about 40 pictures and hope you get one where everyone is looking and mostly smiling.

I seriously love these guys!  They keep me so busy, and sometimes I feel like I'm on the brink of insanity, but I wouldn't have it any other way.  Being a mom is the best!

Mother's Day

Just me and my five favorite little humans!  They are really amazing people and I love that I get to be their mom.  

I really wanted to get a picture of us all together before church for mother's day and I knew this was coming so I spent a good amount of time this week making matching dresses for the girls.  I also kind of made a huge mess in the house during my mad rush to make these giant bows before church.  I felt a little deflated when we lined up outside, late and in a rush, and it was so windy we had a hard time getting a decent shot.  These guys and Bob are so patient with me and I appreciate it.  I know that us looking all matching and perfect on mother's day is not reality and it isn't important.  Sometimes I just need a little reminder of that.  I think part of my desire to take a great picture with the kids stems from the fact that I love my family and I want to show the world how much I love them and how happy we are!  I want to advocate for motherhood, and big families, and the importance of staying home to raise children.

“Motherhood is not a hobby, it’s a calling. It’s not something to do if you can squeeze the time in, it’s what God gave you time FOR.” 

-Neil H. Anderson

I love my mom and am sad that I won't get to spend Mother's day with her this year or probably the next couple years.  I guess a phone call will have to suffice.

Happy Mother's Day to all the women out there. "Motherhood is more than just bearing children... it is the essence of who we are as women."

Muffins With Moms

Last week the girls school had their annual Muffins with Moms day where we got to come and read with them while eating muffins.  I was thinking of how easy it was for me to go because I don't have work to take off from or a napping baby to worry about... yet.  I was kind of excited, when in the past I haven't looked forward to these things because I usually disrupts nap time.  I just brought Tucker and Leon with me and they did great!  Tucker sat and read a book that he brought from home and Leon was quiet also and sat with me.

 We first went to Scarlett's classroom because it was the first one we walked by.  She showed me her desk and classroom.  All of which I've seen before but she was very excited that I was there and she got to show me.  Then I signed her out and we went and hung out in Penelope's classroom.  She read a few books to us and then we did a little Easter project on the computer.  Both girls have laptops in their classroom that they are expected to use and they almost have enough where they barely even have to share.  Pretty different than my kindergarten experience.

 It only lasted about 45 minutes but it was a nice way to end the school week.

Mother's Day

I love my kids and feel truly blessed to have four amazing children!  Yes they make my life hard and messy and busy but they are also so sweet and fun and bring so much joy.  They have changed me in so many ways and I just couldn't be happier to be their mom!

In the morning they made cinnamon rolls and brought me breakfast in bread along with all their cards.

 I could tell they worked really hard on them and Bob even said that he was going to take them to the store to get stuff once they finished but they just kept working they ran out of time.  It is nice to think about them making these for me and how hard they worked.  Scarlett hers is a picture of me when I was a baby.  Penelope lost her picture and was so upset she worked really hard to quickly make me a new one.  Leon couldn't wait until mothers day and he gave it to me with a big smile on Saturday after he finished making it.

 Tucker made me several cards including a few pop ups.  And he wrote me a letter.  It says,

Dear Mom,

you are very special to me.  You tought me how to walk.  You took me to Lago Land.  You read me the belly book,  You comforted me when I was scard.  You showed me how to ride my bike.  Thank you for lating me to go birthday partes.  Thank you for playing with me.  I love you so much.  You are the bast.  you look buootuf when you stad up tall and smill. you are really good mom I love you.

Love tucker

Bob was really sweet too and special ordered me 8 bags of mint m&ms, they usually only make them at Christmas time.  He also took care of the kids and cleaned the house all day giving me a nice break.  

And that was pretty much my day.

Three Generations

My mom came out and went to yoga with me and Penelope.  It was nice that she could come out and spend some time with us especially since I don't know how much longer we will be living within driving distance of each other.  I actually wish we lived in the same town but I'll take an hour and fifteen minutes.  She has never done yoga before and Penelope thought it was fun to show her the ropes.  Below is a shot of us doing our upward facing dog.  I forgot to take a picture of the three of us until my mom was walking out the door, so we quick came up with a pose and had Tucker take it.  Penelope didn't want to do this picture, hence the pouty face.

Although I don't have much experience with it I think acroyoga is pretty cool.  I wish they had a class at the ymca.  Penelope and I could be partners.  Sometimes I try stuff out at home, but it has to be pretty easy because I can only learn so well from a picture and Penelope gets scared being up in the air.  Plus I am usually not warmed up and then at that point it seems like a hassle to get ready so I usually give up.  Maybe tomorrow before yoga we can practice.

My mom used to put us up on her feet and into the air all the time as kids and I do it with my kids too.  Here she is with Tucker. 

Mother's Day

For mother's day this year we went and spent the day with my mom.  We got up pretty early so we could make it to her 9:30am church.  I asked Bob not to make breakfast for me with the kids because I wasn't feeling great.  That saved a lot of time.  I somehow missed getting a picture of me and the kids all together.  But here is a picture of me and my mom.

 I love my mom and am really lucky to have such a great one!

For mother's day bob got me a few new charms for my locket necklace.  The new ones are...

 The piano, blog. the shoe and the MOM.  I love it!  Thanks Bob.

The kids each made a card for me.  Which was perfect.  I really didn't want them to go out and buy me anything, the hand made things were just what I wanted!

In school Tucker filled out a questionnaire all about me.  He got it mostly right too.  The only thing way off was he put my age at 56.  I asked if he meant 56 or 26 because I am 26 and kids get their 2s and their 5s backwards all the time.  But no, he meant 56.

In preschool Penelope made a cute card for me all about her fingerprints.

Thanks family!  It was a great day!

Mustache Kids

I honestly can't remember if I shared this picture before or not but I was going through my photos and it made me smile.  I thought maybe it would brighten someone else's day too.  I was had just hanging out when Tucker and Penelope came downstairs like this.  It was a total surprise and cracked me up.

Some days I feel so lucky to be their mom!

Mother's Day Video

With Mother's Day coming up I want to share this inspiring video with you.  Reading articles or watching videos like this one always want me to be a better mom and spend more time with my kids just playing.