Mishmash

A few lost photos...

Not sure when this might have been but I love it. She still looks like a baby, and those days are quickly coming to an end.

On a walk at Mima's house the other week. It was Maddie's nap time so she caught a little shut eye in the ergo carrier while the other two explored and collected pinecones.

Posing with her treasures! Sevie-lala, a dandelion and a pinecone. In her beloved rain boots.

More from Mother's Day

We had brunch at Egg Harbor Cafe in downtown Wheaton for Mother's Day. I had gotten us on the call-ahead list, so when we showed up for our reservations at 11:30am I knew there would be a small wait but what we didn't expect was to wait over an hour! We entertained ourselves in the parking lot... various combinations of family members sitting on the ledge by the wood fence for pictures, playing with the vines, and exchanging gifts. It was a beautiful and mild morning! (*When we finally made it to our table, we waited for another hour before our food came - a situation ripe for disaster with 3 kids under 4 after killing an hour in the parking lot, but amazingly they were all very well behaved the entire time. Ok, minus the moment Robbie spit/blew milk all over Aunt Kelsey. We are pretty sure it was an accident, like he coughed while he had a mouth full of milk.)

Blessed

Happy Mother's Day to me! 

This man as my husband would've been all I dared to ask for, but then he made me the mother to these 3 precious kids and most of the time I think: this has got to be as good as it gets. (You know, aside from the sleepless nights!)

Blessed - Martina McBride

I get kissed by the sun each morning

Put my feet on a hardwood floor

I get to hear my children laughing

Down the hall through the bedroom door

Sometimes I sit on my front porch swing

Just soaking up the day

I think to myself, I think to myself

This world is a beautiful place

I have been blessed

And I feel like I've found my way

I thank God for all I've been given

At the end of every day

I have been blessed

With so much more than I deserve

To be here with the ones that love me

To love them so much it hurts

I have been blessed

Shattered

The worst that had ever happened to me while grocery shopping was the time Robbie knocked a glass jar of pickles off of a shelf.

Until this morning.

Ellie far surpassed her brother's level of destruction by shattering a bottle of dark red OPI nail polish when I had my back turned. I heard the crack and then felt wetness on my legs. When I surveyed the damage, I laughed because we looked like we were filming a slasher movie. My cropped sweatpants, bare calves and shoes were splattered with polish and the floor looked like someone had just bled out.

I was mortified and apologized to the employee who came to clean up our mess about 100 times. And now I'm off to beg the dry cleaner to magically save my shoes and pants.

Little women

Ellie's favorite friend these days - sweet Fallon Jo. They are 2 peas in a pod!

Mommy math

1 bouncy ball in an empty bathtub + 2 kids = 30 minutes for mom to get ready for the day.

I really lucked out!

Our precious babysitter, Erika, celebrated a birthday recently. We surprised her one morning when she came over to babysit (since it was a week or so after her actual birthday - ha!) with a hot breakfast, card written by Robbie, flowers, 2 cake choices and The Pioneer Woman's cookbook since she is newly married and wanting to learn more about cooking. It was a fun morning!

We are so blessed to have her in our lives. My friend Julie gave me Erika's name and number after she moved back to Wheaton for grad school, just before Maddie was born as a potential babysitter for us to use. I was in desperate need of help, so I called her, she met the kids, and has been ours ever since. We joke that she's not allowed to have kids until mine are semi-grown up, now that she's married. I don't know what I'd do without her. As a mom, there is nothing more precious than someone who watches your kids who is trustworthy, loving, fun, conscientious, dependable, and modeling Christlike qualities in your absence. And her husband comes with her sometimes when she sits for us in the evenings, and he's just as awesome as she is with the kids! Ellie has a crush on him. I'm pretty sure Robbie thinks he is his best friend. And Maddie lets him hold and play with her, which is saying a lot.

Happy birthday to the best babysitter a mom could ask for! I don't know where we would be without you, Erika. :)