Showing posts with label Celebrate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Celebrate. Show all posts

5.13.2013

| Expectations // Mother's Day 2013 |

  I have seen many people’s posts on social media about Mother’s Day and what it means to them.

I have seen disappointment, contentment, excitement…the list goes on to express the feelings everyone feels on Mother’s Day.

It’s bittersweet in many ways; if you’ve lost a Mom, if you have been adopted and don’t know your “birth Mom”, if you had to give a child up, if you can’t have children and long for it so much or if you’re a Mom and you’re feeling underwhelmed at the attention paid to you on this specific day…it’s just kinda a crap shoot.

Yes of course there are the warm fuzzies that come with being a Mom on Mother’s Day, the home-made necklaces and cards, the extra cuddles but through it all the bum still needs to be wiped, the children still need to be nurtured and reprimanded, the dishes and laundry still need to be loaded and unloaded and as a Mom those chores are what we do.  We are MOM “Masters of Mayhem!”

 
{Good morning Mama!  Happy Mother's Day!}

The expectation: We expect that on Mother’s Day we are going to not have to do anything but what we need to do for ourselves…This is a lie from the pit!  How the heck do you think our husbands are going to do all of what we do when they normally don’t do much of it!?!?!  We have brought our expectation to lofty heights and in the meantime made our husbands feel like they aren’t good enough and there is no way they can actually reach our unspoken expectations
 {My boys}
I don’t know if your husband is the same as mine but mine wants to make me feel like I’m worth the world, but frankly it’s going to be done through his eyes not mine.  This means I’m still going to get the children washed and dressed as well as myself on Sunday morning, even though it’s Mother’s Day…that’s my job; it’s what I do. 
 {Snip-its from my day /Mom & I at brunch/Mr. L with our new fire pit/meeting Miss. Carmen VanD at brunch/Coley in waffle heaven/my boys/rise 'n shine/playing in the rain/getting ready/JJ at brunch}

Mr. L tries very very very hard to make my Mother’s Day feel enjoyable and lovely.  And frankly he does a great job!  But the reason I think he does a great job and feels equally gratified is because I don’t pin him to a wall and say “now listen Mr. I’m the queen of this hive and you better make sure the drones are in your care tomorrow cause I’m taking off my Mom hat and just wearing the queen hat for the W H O L E day!”. Nope I don’t and by being fairly passive {although I do drop gift hints // not that it matters, he usually has a plan already made up in his mind} about what I expect, it makes my day that much better!

{On our way to church}  
There are surprises and little joys that make me feel loved and adored.  That’s really all that matters.
 
I still dress the kids, discipline the kids, rock the kids, wash the dishes, wipe up the floor, do the garbage, make the bed, organize book bags for school, make lunches…all that is why I am Mom, so why would I expect him to do all that when that’s the role I play in our home?
Yesterday morning at church our Pastor challenged the husbands to pray over their wives and to edify us in the role we play in the home.  Such a great word and amazing things will come out of a husband praying over his wife.  I’m thankful that I had both my little munchy boys and my Mr. pray over me last night.  Truly blessed.
 {in between it all I had made a mess of milk in the garage that my Mr. was cleaning up and we had found a leak in our car...see not perfect but keeping it in perspective!}
 
 {Time to veg out with my book, HGTV and an ice coffee was perfection especially since the boys were sleeping}

I always say it’s a matter of perspective.  My day wasn’t outstandingly amazing and awesome.  It was lovely.  It was nice. It was taking in all that has made me a Mom and who I am.  It was resetting myself on what I do and why I do it.  My perspective enhances the tone of my home and I want that tone to be beautiful and light.  So my response to everything that happens {or doesn’t happen} on Mother’s Day is with that thought in mind. 
 
 {The boys took me shopping to Chapters, they actually just wanted to play on the train table so I wandered around and did some shopping myself!}
I hope all of you had a wonderful day being celebrated and if you didn’t “feel it” this year, just wait…maybe next year your perspective will be different and you too will feel cherished and loved {with or without all the pretences and perfection}.

 
{this was the best shot we could get of me and the boys! Oy Vey!}

 And here we are again, I'm standing at my sink ready to do the dishes again.  But choosing joy when doing it cause one day they will be grown up and gone and I won't have any dirty dishes to clean! 

Much love and happy Monday Lovelies! 
{XoXo}

2.21.2013

: Love Day 2013 :

 
I can't believe how fast these past few weeks have gone!  We start off the week full and as the week goes on nights & days fill up and boom!  It's Thursday and we're almost done another week! 

Well last week we celebrated Thursday in a special way because it was "Love Day" :: Here are my two littlest love bugs just before school
 DECOR : Love day style 
The boys had a few rough days at school through the first weeks of February, so we were not even sure if they were going to get a "Love Day Feast" {as we call it} unless they got their butts in gear at school.  So two nights before love day I brought out a few decor items as their behavior had changed and they deserved Love Day Feast. 

:: Our kitchen chalkboard ::
:: Computer Nook ::
 
:: Counter top details ::
 
 : I spent a few hours making these little lolli pops I had seen on Pinterest.  We gave these away to Cole's class and I made sugar cookies {I have an awesome recipe from my Aunti Pam} for JJ's class, no photo of the sugar cookies as it was well into the night on the 13th when I finally finished them! :
 
 
: Love Day Feast :

On Valentines day we do a meal that we call a "Love Day Feast of Roast Beast" :: We have a full roast beef dinner with all the trimmings, this year I made a strawberry {because it's pink of course!} cake with cream cheese icing as our dessert.

: Here's the table all decorated :
 : Our cake on the table :
: I picked up three balloons for the boys and to use as centerpieces, since I had the polka dot wrapping paper {thanks Ikea!} left over from Christmas it really looked quite coordinated without me putting too much effort into it! :
 : Jacob's place setting :
 : My Mr. came home with a growers bunch {20 stems} of white casablanca lillies.  He had thrown me off the night before saying that roses were the true love flower especially red roses, I however disagree in a major way and don't LOVE roses and especially RED ones, white yes...but not RED! So he did good with the growers bunch and he also got them at cost so that also made me VERY happy ;-) :
 That's it for today, I hope you all had a wonderful LOVE DAY and if this one wasn't that great I pray that next year you can celebrate LOVE in a special way.  We have had our share of not so lovely "Love Days" and I truly consider myself blessed to be able to celebrate our love as a family. 

{XoXo}

7.16.2012

Cole's Preschool Graduation

Our littlest big boy graduated from Preschool at the end of June, it's amazing how two years goes by incredibly fast!  

We have loved his teachers and I've seen them almost every day for the past three years including Jacob's schooling there, so it will be odd to not see them come this September! 

Here is the graduate along with biggest brother
 Accepting his diploma and year-in-memories binder & cd from Mrs. Brenda, she was definitely one of Cole's most favorite teachers. He's cried at least 5 times {we're talking inconsolable tears} since he's graduated over missing his teachers, it's so sweet!
 Our family and the graduate with crazy monkey ears and a very put on smile {lol}
Things to remember...
Cole has a vast and deep vocabulary and knowledge of the words he uses ie) 
"that was the most fantastic end to a wonderful day" after watching the sun set
"Well I better go ask the humans" about wanting to buy back our old house
"that's phenomenal, just phenomenal!" about daddy bringing home a glazed doughnut for him

Cole wakes up at the crack of the day and goes hard, the first thing he says as he skips into our room is "GOOOOD MORNIN' aren't you SO glad I didn't come into your room last night?!!  I tried very hard to stay in my own bed."  When  I respond "but you did come in to our room", he then says "oh that's really too bad, 'cause I was trying SO hard to stay in my own bed" 

When Cole get's mad at Jacob his first response is to ask me to sell him {Jacob} and if that doesn't work he says he's going to find a different family, apparently we're really tough to live with! LOL

Coley, you capture the hearts of anyone who is blessed enough to meet you.  Your little brain works overtime at creating things.  You're amazing at praying from your heart and continually bless us with your love towards God. We pray as you walk boldly into grade school that you don't ever loose the passion you have for God!  
Love Always, Daddy&Mama
 {XoXo}

6.22.2012

: Fathers Day 2012 :

This week has been such a blur...between end of the year celebrations {2 for each child} plus fathers day on Sunday then my nephews dedication as well.  Oy vey, what a week!  

But let's just chat about fathers day :: We usually do our fathers day celebrations with Paul on Saturday as both our dad's are celebrated on Sunday.  But this year I have been fighting a raging cold and when I woke up on Saturday it was a full blown cold.  Plus there was something happening with Paul's family so he had to go off for the better portion of the day and so we didn't get to celebrate on Saturday. 
 
So Sunday morning I woke up at the crack of dawn and made a nice little home made breaky for my man, my baby daddy ;)

French toast was on the menu
 With a nice side of fresh strawberries & cream
Yummo :: Poor Mr. L was a little shocked by the early wake up as Sunday mornings we easily sleep in till 8 am and by all wonders and miracles end up at church on time at 9am.  So a 7am breaky came really early to our bleary eyed faja. 
 Mr. L & the boys...they gave him a new car magazine and a new O'neil t-shirt, I got him a pair of golf shoes he had ooogled over at Costco a while ago, however they were a half size too small, but thankfully he found his size in another Costco.
Mr. L :: I'm so thankful that God arranged for us to be together and for you to be the father and daddy to our boys, we cherish and love the man that you are.  No need to shout it from the roof tops for it's evident by your provision and dedication to our family that you love us eternally.  

*** 

And to my Daddy, thanks for always being there to celebrate the small and the big milestones, for knowing that I can trust you and for being an excellent example of what I should look for in a man.  God blessed me when he gave me a Dad like you.  Love you always & forever! 
 I'll be back posting on all of our end of the year celebrations this weekend.  The forecast is calling for rain and thus we'll be hunkering down and getting cozy, happy summer ;) 

{XoXo}

6.11.2012

: Jacob's 6th Birthday :



Back in the first week of June we celebrated Jacob's 6th Birthday.  It was a flight party and we were ready for take off!  I am anti-character parties {at least for my kids} I don't mind if they do basic parties with themes, for example: trains {we're pro @ doing train birthdays}, teddy bears, ducks etc.  but not specific characters like Thomas etc. So this flight party was right up my alley!  

{Warning!  Photo overload!}

Here's the invite to all of his guests
The  front entrance with his current photo along with his treats for each guest
Here are all his friends from his "kids" party :: this afternoon was slightly crazy and I was zapped from all the party prep, kids, food, cakes :: But it was all worth it, JJ came home from school and wouldn't stop squealing about how great everything looked, he noticed every little detail which makes it all worth it!
 
 Random details from the parties {same set up for both the kids party and family party
 My boy got two cakes {lucky bum!} but unfortunately with all the mayhem of the kids party I neglected to get a photo with my nikon, so here is his second cake from the family party
 Here is Jacob with Grammie & GG {great grandma}
 Daddy & Uncle Jamie doing kitchen work {can't mess with the chef!}
 Grandpa & Papa chilling on the deck :: Thank the Lord for a sunny afternoon!
 Birthday boy in front of the original birthday sign, hoping it lasts through all their growing up years...this is a tradition in our home!
 Opening gifts with Daddy
We got JJ his first baseball glove and ball, he's very excited to start to use it or learn to use it ;)
 Couldn't resist posting this shot of cousin Jack, he was so excited that the sweets were out and cotton candy eating could commence!
 Our family :: Jacob wasn't too sure of the whole sparklers vs. candles on the cake...he tried to be brave but r e a l l y hates fire - ha ha!
And last but not least the thank you's to all the guests for coming to his party
Such a great time of celebration for a beautiful little being that we get to share our lives with! 
***
On the morning of his birthday I posted this on Instagram the first photo of him and the most current photo on our bed opening presents on the morning of his actual day
Happy Birthday JJ -- We love you a bushel and a peck! 
{XoXo}
Related Posts Widget for Blogs by LinkWithin