{ Girl Time }

There is so much of life to catch up one here, but I wanted to capture the sweet date I had with Katy Grace on Thursday. My parents came up for the day so she and I stole away for a sweet mama/daughter time. It was a beautiful sunny warm day. With the new baby brother in our home Katy Grace has really been craving my attention lately. It is definitely a challenge to spend enough quality time with all of my kids everyday. For a few days now I have carried her around in the Ergo to at least let her be near me while I work around the house. It seems to be making a difference. This was the first time that I have spent intentional one-on-one time with her and I hope to make it a habit.... with all of my kids.

We started off with a walk and a visit to the fountain.  She was intrigued, but not willing to get wet, which was fine with me :)

I loved the sight of her cute little feet while I strolled her

Girl time just isn't complete without shopping.  This girl is a natural-born shoe lover!  She was in heaven with the wall of shoes!

We finished off our date with a bowl of ice cream.  As you can see it was quite a hit.  It was a sweet day all the way around.

{ Second Mother's Day }

Second Mothers Day.

Heading toward three years of marriage.

Two children. 

Whew!

When I stop to consider how many blessings have rained down into my life in a little over two years of marriage, I am amazed that these years can even contain them!

Life right now is

crazy

busy

blessed.

The celebration of being Mom to these two precious children was wonderfully sweet!

At the end of the weekend I remarked that if felt like I had done no work.

I'm sure I did, but the fact that it felt like I didn't was

amazing and wonderful!

  Celebrating this day meant quite a lot more this year simply because I have a much keener appreciation for how difficult a job being a mom is!

I wish I could say my days always look as blissful as the pictures that make it on here

and that I don't melt down

or get upset

or cry rivers of tears in frustration

or feel completely overwhelmed,

but it wouldn't be the whole story if I left that out.

I am humbled by the three people I am wife and mother to.

Because of them God is teaching me a lot about myself and not allowing me 

to get away with the not so pretty aspects of my character.  

More than anything, as I head into another year of motherhood,

I desire to display the fruits of the Spirit to my family

Love.

Joy.

Peace.

Patience.

Self-control.

And I want to be thankful.

These years are passing too quickly!

So to my beautiful son and daughter,

Oliver and Kathryn.

I love you.

Thanks for being mine.

l

{ Relaxing in the yard before our hike.  What a beautiful day it was for being outside!}

 

{ Grill Master!  We finished our day with grilled burgers and milk shakes.  

Wow!  They tasted so good after that hike! } 

{ Monday we decided rather spur of the moment to head out of town for the day to buy a furnace off of Craigslist.  It was a fun family day.  An unexpected day together! We stopped at a park and enjoyed the shade for a while}  

{ Dinner at Chili's.  Oliver was nothing but charming..... and messy... pizza and apples everywhere!  Thankfully I packed at extra outfit.   So fun sitting across the table from these funny boys! }

{The party just kept going!  Tuesday evening we had very special company for dinner.  So excited for them to meet our daughter and to rejoice with them as they look forward to the arrival of their little boy in August!}

 

{ A Day of My Life :: May }

For the second month in a row now I've decided to take pictures of my day on the tenth of the month. Several bloggers I follow do 10 on 10 posts and this is roughly the same idea, only tailored a bit. Last month I had so much fun with it and I was very excited to do it again yesterday. When I woke up, though, it was one of those days that I just knew was going to be challenging from start to finish. My house was a mess, I was tired and cranky and I wasn't sure I really wanted to pick up my camera. I'm glad I did, though, because it is important to remember the great days when everything is going along smoothly, as well as the days that are less than perfect! I enjoyed having a different perspective for the day and appreciating little things.

1. Walking with my little ones into our church and the final session of the Women's Bible study I've been a part of for about 12 weeks.  I'm sad to see it end!  
2. Lunch time for a very hungry boy.  Not sure how he was so hungry since he had a good breakfast and snack at nursery, but he was m.e.l.t.i.n.g down until I fed him a whole cheese sandwich.  Can we say growth spurt!
3. Nap time and my 15 minute "cry it out" timer
4. Washing diapers
5. Refocusing
6. Finishing up a sewing project from the day before and listening to a favorite classical station
7. Soaking up some precious giggles
8. Haircut!  Before and After.  That little man is growing up so fast!
9. Making dinner and delivering it to a friend and their precious new baby girl

{ Mother's Day }

It is still a few days until Mother's Day, but we had a very sweet little photo session on Sunday morning and I'm just bursting to post them. Being a mother to my two beautiful children is something that humbles me so much and makes me so grateful to the One who gave them to me. 

Oliver and Kathyrn, I love you so much!