Mother's Day 2013.

It's very rare around our house to have a day go by where Ben and I don't throw up our hands, look at each other and laugh, and marvel at the fact that we share our house (and are responsible) for four other people besides ourselves.  FOUR!

We love every second of it.

We spent Mother's Day morning at church followed by lunch at Chili's with the whole local fam.  If you have a few extra minutes, check out this video the kids of The Way put together to celebrate their moms.  Totally made me tear up. :)  And for the record, I'm fairly certain Emmy isn't featured because she was most likely crying in her classroom.  We're still going through a bit of a separation anxiety phase with her new class at church.  She'll be over it soon.

After lunch and naps, it was finally time for me to open my gift from the kids!!  Ben took the kids to the mall to pick out a new dress for me for Mother's Day.  Evidently, Babe walked around the whole store yelling out things like, "What size is Mom?  Large?"  and  "Don't forget, Mom is a size large!"

Gotta love that girl.

I can't wait to wear my new dress when we board the Disney Dream in just a few days!!!!!

Ben also cleaned out our nasty van for me...I couldn't have asked for a better present!

I also LOVED all of the handmade gifts Harry and Babe made for me at school.  According to Harris, I make the best macaroni and cheese and my favorite television show is "Parenthood."  Hadley said my favorite color is "all the colors" and my favorite song is "Baby Beluga."

At least they got the important things right:  Parenthood.  I love me some Parenthood.

Happy Mother's Day, y'all!

Muffins for Moms.

When I say that May has been a whirlwind of activities for our little family, I'm not exaggerating one little bit. Between work commitments for Ben and me, end-of-the-year activities for Harris and Hadley, articulation activities for Had, t-ball games and parties for Harris, and Mother's Day all rolled into the last two weeks of the school year, things around our house have been crazy busy.  Tons of fun, but crazy busy just the same.

Last Friday morning, Hadley's school hosted a "Muffins for Moms."  Because I couldn't bring myself to wake up and get moving early enough to get the babies dropped of at Ginnell's before the breakfast at Babe's school began, Emmy and Thatcher got to enjoy a little muffin time as well. :)

Hadley LOVED getting to show off the babies to her friends.  Emmy just loved the muffin.

I didn't get too many pictures (it's hard to balance a camera, a toddler, a baby, and my preschooler), but we had a great time.

I even racked up on the gifts from my sweet girl.

What a wonderful start to an even more wonderful Mother's Day weekend!

Mother's Day 2012.

I love being a mom.  Actually, I really love being a mom to these three crazy kids.  They test my patience, my strength, my resolve, and my sanity, but never my love. 

I am so proud of my family.

We spent a wonderful Sunday afternoon celebrating.  After church, we met Granti, Cody, Auntie, and DB at Chili's for lunch. 

Even though what we really wanted was Japanese, we're thankful to Cassidy and DB for handling the lunch plans. :)

Cassidy worked extra hard on her gift for Mom this year, proving that you're never too old to make the footprint butterfly.

After lunch, we came home, took a fantastic nap, and enjoyed hanging around the house.  Ben worked hard in the yard and planted a few different things as a gift from the kiddos.  Very sweet.

We topped off the evening with dinner at Sonic.  In the van.  Because nothing screams Mother's Day like trashing your van.

It was great fun and totally worth it, though...Sonic has now become the number one request around these parts, completely putting McDonald's to shame.  I'd say that's the best gift ever.

I am so thankful for my mom and her gift of life, my mother-in-law and the gift of her son, and my three incredible kiddos and the awesome gift and responsibility I have of mothering them.

Happy Mother's Day, indeed.

Mother's Day.

Being a mom brings out the best and the worst in me.  Too often I focus on my failures.  It sure is nice to take a day to celebrate some of things I actually get right.  Especially when presents are involved. :)

This year, my sweet family surprised me with a butterfly bush (we dig butterflies around here!), an awesome red necklace, and a new pair of sunglasses.  Harry and Babe are so funny when it comes to surprises these days...they really get into keeping everything a "sercret," especially when Ben or I try to press them for information. I used to think people were crazy when they would tell me that kids only got better with every stage and every age, but now I totally get it.  I think every stage has been my favorite so far, and this one is no exception.

After church, we met Auntie, DB, CoCo, Sam, and Granti at La Cazuela for a buffet lunch.

Don't ask. 

Even though the buffet was awesome, the real Mother's Day treat began after lunch, when we boarded a trolley for a historic downtown tour.  I was prepared for a quick spin around the square, but the tour ended up lasting right about an hour.  And it was seriously so much fun.

Mostly because this lady was our guide:

She was incredible.  Seriously.  Witty, sarcastic, and full of old school knowledge.  I'm not sure we got a historic tour as much as we got to hear her life story and her personal memories, but either way we had a great time.

I love my family.  I love my kids, I love my husband, I love my siblings, I love my mom, and I love just about any excuse to have them all involved in something together.

Especially when that excuse is Mother's Day.

Muffins for Mom.

Last Friday, I got to attend "Muffins for Mom" with my favorite four-year-old boy.

In addition to my muffin, I was also given a sweet Mother's Day card, a homemade bookmark, and a flower pot picture frame with a snapshot of my guy's sweet face.

According to the card, he loves me because I "give him toys" and "give him a hug and kiss every morning." 

I love him just because.