Visitors and Vacation

May has been marked with some fun and exciting things. An unusual month, for sure...but one that has been so much fun for me! I'm trying to soak up all this good stuff...

Earlier in the month, Ty and I got to sneek away for two nights down to Anaheim to be part of our friend Goose's wedding. (I think I blogged about that before, didn't I? I can hardly remember now!) My parents graciously took the kids for us and we thoroughly enjoyed a little bit of R & R and a whole lot of fun! Here are just a few photos....

Just before the rehearsal dinner...

Goose and Monique...

At the cocktail hour before the reception...

The whole gang....

Jeremy's wife, Naomi, Fred's wife Suzanne and me...

The next day after we returned from Anaheim, my very good friend Amy came for a 5-day stay, bringing along baby Sara with her (who, by the way, isn't so much of a baby anymore since she just celebrated her 2nd birthday! I call her that though, so that Luke won't confuse baby Sara for our friend Sarah. ) It was such a joy to have Amy and Sara here with us that week! Amy and I have known one another since 7th grade and she is much like a sister to me. We got to catch up on life, reminisced through old photographs and just share in the day to day things as we went through our week. We teased about how our week together must've been similar to living on a commune or something, because where-ever I left of with the kids or the chores, she was right there behind me to step into place and complete a task...and vise versa. We made a mighty good team! :) Good friends are just like that though, aren't' they? Oftentimes, they are just an extended version of yourself...or more accurately, a blessed compliment to who God has made you to be. They understand so much about you, see things in you that you don't always see yourself and through their friendship, move you to both grow in to the person you are yet to be, and settle more comfortably into the person you are. How blessed I am to have even just a handful of true, abiding, life-enriching friends!

Again...here are a few more photos....

Sweet girl...

Ellie and Sara sharing a snack....they are only 10 weeks apart in age! :)

Just a random shot of Ellie that I liked...

We got to go out to a local wine bar for a Girl's Night Out! So fun! From left to right...Amy, our friend Kim (who has twin 8 month old babies, a 3 year old and a husband deployed to Iraq right now! She is so amazing to me!) and Krystal. :)

Amy and I put the kids in Tess's crate one night when we decided we needed a break! LOL Just kidding! They put themselves in there and of-course we had to photograph it!

Wouldn't be me if we didn't get a bun-bun shot! How cute are these girls?!

We had another visitor yesterday (just for the day, this time though). Diana, my good friend from college, who now lives in Seattle was in So. Cal for work, and we were able to coordinate a few hours to visit with her. And what a treasure that was for me! She had her little Abby with her who, until yesterday, I had yet to meet! She is 16 months now, so being able to snuggle, kiss and play with her was well overdue in my book! And I'm sure the feelings were mutual with regards to Ellie. Diana hadn't seen Ellie since she was just a tiny 2-week old baby! The girls had fun playing together...something Diana and I had always dreamed of! :) It made me long that we lived closer to one another....

Diana, her mom Cheryl and Abby...

Another random shot of Ellie that I just liked...

And so now what? This week actually, will be the grand finale to our month! We are taking our first 'official' family vacation since Luke was Ellie's age! We were blessed with a wonderful opportunity to get away for very little money, so we snatched up the chance and booked a short little vacation! We will be spending 5 days at the beach visiting Lego Land, Sea World and burying Ty in the sand at the beach! :) (He doesn't know that yet though !) LOL! We simply cannot wait! Luke has been asking every day how many more night-nights it is until we leave and he is giddy with excitement dreaming about Lego Land! It will be a great time!

So...off we go! I will be sure to post again when we return! :) Bye, friends!

I had to do it....

I think I earned the mean mom of the year award this evening! :( Well...at-least it felt that way. I finally got the breaking point with Ellie's binky and poked a large hole in the end of them both (there are only two remaining from the stash we once had). And let me just tell you how awful I felt when, after popping it into her mouth while I changed her into her jammies for bed, she took it out, stared at it with great confusion, and popped it back into her mouth again, only to repeat the process about 10 more times. :( It was so sad to see that look on her face, and yet kinda funny at the same time. I just felt so mean!

She has grown increasingly attached to the darn thing in the past month. Instead of working towards getting rid of it (Luke's was gone by 18 months, by the way!) she has managed to have it in her mouth every possible moment lately. And I know most of that is my own fault! She seems to go through spells (more like WEEKS it seems) of crying for no apparent reason (which Amy helped me determine was most likely an attention-getting scheme while she was here visiting last week) and to be quite honest, it is driving me crazy, looney and otherwise insane! And the only thing that usually quiets her? You guessed it...the binky! So, cutting my loses, I give in to the bink-fest and allow her to have it outside of her crib (which has been the rule for awhile now.) I guess until tonight, I have been afraid of the alternative...the great potential for un-ending crying....the possibility of sleep deprivation and the high likelihood that I might loose my mind! LOL!

But push came to shove this evening when she refused to eat her dinner without having the binky in her hand (for the second night in a row, mind you!) and I could take it no longer. The plug got poked! And what, you might ask, happened after that???? My darling, sweet, intelligent little girl was found fast asleep in her crib, with a binky in one hand, another in her mouth, and the index finger of her other hand conveniently pushed through the end of her Soothie pacifier, plugging up the hole! Great! On to plan B...

Motherhood...

Here I am this morning, reclining in a beautiful, quiet hotel room that I have all to myself! I have about thirteen pillows propped behind my back and head (okay...really I only have three!), along with one under my knees...Norah Jones is singing quietly on my Ipod docking station next to the bed, and the curtains are pushed WIDE open so I can see the sky and the cars and the view. Ty is out golfing with his best buddies this morning and I have been inadvertently given this gift of a morning all to myself to do whatever it is my heart desires. It truly is a gift! As all of you moms know, moments of solitude are rare, let alone a WHOLE morning! I feel such a sense of calm and peace this morning. I feel relaxed. I feel excited to conjure up all the things I could do this morning...breakfast at a cozy cafe while I read my new book? A walk to Sephora at Downtown Disney to shop for a few new shades of eyeshadow? A run? (Yes, I did bring my shoes!) Relaxing by the pool? The possibilities are endless.

Yet, as I bask in these moments of rest, my mommy-heart still resides with my children. I still wonder what they are doing right now...did they sleep well? Are they having fun? Do they miss me as I miss them right now? I know the answer to all these questions is yes! Of-course they are having a great time with Grandma! The point is that no matter where I go or what I am doing, I am always a mom...Luke and Ellie's mama....the best, most-rewarding job on the planet!

There have been several things this week that have really caused me to sit back and take inventory of all the blessings I enjoy in this journey of motherhood. Mother's Day is tomorrow, after all, and everything it seems, has geared my mind toward focusing on my kids. It seems ironic that on Mother's Day, I seem to hope to be the recipient of beautiful gifts, or flowers or hand made cards, (which are all wonderful, by the way!) but truly, when I am able to sit back and reflect on motherhood like I am doing right now, I can see that the gifts come to me every single day of the year...if only I would see them among the crying, fit throwing and cleaning! I truly do LOVE being a stay-at-home-mom! To pour my heart and soul out into the sponges that are my two, beautiful children every day, to be there to kiss the scraped knee or read books or watch their faces as they master a skill they have been working on for days and days...I count it ALL joy! I am blessed! And as I think about it further, here are some other things I just LOVE...

• I love being the first one they see every morning and the last one to see them every night.

• I love being the source of their giggles.
• I love rocking Ellie to sleep twice every day, feeling her arms tucked between her chest and mine, and the heaviness of her head nestled into the crook on my neck.
• I love the smell of peanut butter and jelly on their lips LONG after lunch time is over.
• I love watching jiggly, dimpled bun-buns scurrying down the hallway amidst peels of laughter! :)
• I love being asked for just one more lullaby.
• I love the smell of freshly washed hair.
• I love being met with gleeful excitement and the kind of hugs that you have to peel away from when I return home from being out.
• I love that every afternoon brings a new treasure to my kitchen counter, brought in by grubby, pint-sized hands.
• I love that about ten times a day, completely out of the blue, I am told that I am loved!
• I love sharing the delight of every firetruck, trash truck, motorcycles, airplane, bird or dog that we see during our daily adventures.
• I love too that I notice these things even when the kids are not with me, and often have to catch myself from saying "Hey! Look! A fire truck!" to anyone else who may be in the car with me! :)
• I love the way my kids look when they are sleeping.

Oh the list could go on and on! (But I think I have me some shoppin' to do! LOL!) I really do love my children so much! Being a mom really IS the best job! Happy Mother's Day to each of you! Hoping your day is blessed!

Uninspired....

Just stopping in tonight to say I'm still here....somewhere. I know most of you know that already. :) I've just been so uninspired lately when it comes to writing. There has been little to say about the day-to-day. Life is good....not to worry. Hoping the words return swiftly....