i didn’t realize mothers day was even coming up till last tuesday. caught me completely off guard. nearly 10 years into mothering & i still have this funky feeling like i’m being included in some group i don’t really belong in.

mothers day is for mom, it was for grandma & my friends moms and the great ladies at church.

not me …..

i don’t keep my house as nice as moms – the other day i walked in & she was ironing her pillowcase …. i can’t think of the last time i ironed pillowcases. and i like ironed pillowcase : )
i don’t cook like my mother in law – the other day i walked in & she was fixing dinner and said it was for us. really! yes : )

maybe because i’m still incredibly selfish …. and while mothering has a way of beating that out of you …. there’s still a lot left. mom is not selfish.

as proof …. my kids take more after me than their grandmothers – jack said today he wished there was a ‘kids day’ lol. and more specifically a ‘boy day’.

ahh, yes. there you go : )

sailor made me a card & re-gifted a barnes & noble gift card she’d received and gave it to me. she’s well on her way to not being selfish. she inspires me to be more creative. she misspelled mother by leaving out the h on her card. so it read ‘happy moters day’

after seeing sailor’s generosity, the other kids throughout the day brought things.

jacks was a ripped piece of binder paper that read –
      ‘happe mother day – from jack to mom my’

he folded it up more than once, handed it to me, then left.
he came back a few minutes later & asked if he’d spelled all the words right.

benny brought me home sunday school papers.

molly put 3 tiny jewels in a ziploc bag, wrapped it in gold tissue, handed it to me & said she’d used lots of tape.

regan brought in a gift from grammy & shouted ‘happy birthday!!!!’

chad benefited from a little age in my mothering & was held a lot today.

i owe a giant part of ……

what a world …. i’m humbled to be a part of them.

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sailor set chad up & let him play. she also took these pictures. i loved them when i saw them on the camera later.

the boys had their 1st ever recital last week. at this age & stage recitals are long & honestly at times boring. the few minutes that your kid plays compared to the whole rest of the time you spend trying to keep your other kids quiet so the other moms & dads can listen to their kids play their few minutes … is pretty much exhausting : )  but do you see that smile jack is trying to hide as he walked off? that was a pretty big deposit into the ‘it’s worth it’ account.

benny got a little lost in the middle of his …. you can see him looking around …. but he just kept playing & eventually finished, bowed & walked off, completely unphased.

there’s that 1/2 smile again ….

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we ran saturday. the last time i ran in this race was 4 years ago …. i was 5 months pregnant with regan. that was crazy! the next time i run it, i plan on beating my dad.

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we went to our first swim meet of the season.

no one was disqualified, we didn’t sunburn chad & we didn’t spend a small mint in shaved ice. we did work on our tans, cheer loudly & buy team shirts.

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mothers day pictures with m ~

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we’re quite a bit behind in the instagram postings …. although amie joined [gasp!] so she’s in the know now : ) i think we’ll leave this like one big picture book & leave off the words/comments&explanations.

i remembered the end of that unfinished sentence toward the beginning …..
i owe a giant part of what mothers day is to their dad. he plays a significant role in making mothering work around here.
 

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and with that i think we’ll call it a night : )

happy new week ….. spend grace generously ~

what’s on your dresser?
hot dog tongs, a phone cord, a little girls bracelet.

do you have make up on?
no.

what are your little girls doing?
giving presentations to themselves about their baby books.

have you had lunch?
no & it’s 2:20pm.

are you wondering why the back of the suburban is opened?
why, yes i am.

there’s a little interview with me & my brain.

speaking of random …. i was tagged in some 5 random things about me post ….

i asked rex & he got on a roll : )

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part of me thinks every other night about posting again. part of me doesn’t. wanna know a secret? i’m almost addicted to playing ticket to ride on rex’s phone at night. so it’s late & i’m tired & i’ve got things done (or i don’t!) and instead of posting i crawl in bed & try to beat his top score : )

its not on my phone, which is how i can get away with saying i’m not addicted – lol.

so there you go – my nights to post have been replaced with a ridiculous game!

here we are, it’s may!

may will be full of swimming, baseball games, recitals, runs, graduations, birthday parties, school ending, vacation, seeing auntie amie.

the kids are swimming almost every day now which has totally changed the look of our weeks, our afternoons, our evenings.

no really?

yeah, really : )

a recent picture of the kids – since it’s been so long. it was the first one i came across – it’s a classic already.

he scored in finding a leftover paper plate that had some brownie crumbs – add dirt & otter pop juice and you have a winner in the messiest kid contest.

but wait! he hasn’t even had proper press time for his latest skill.

he walks. it was exciting news around here. they were all on site reporters ‘chad’s walking!’

i fall down –

it wears a guy out –

but someone is always picking me back up!

it’s thoughtful of them, at least ….. 

good bye, baby. hello boy.

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last night i was freaking out mentioning to rex how busy this weekend will be & he said it might be good to remember that exact moment when i think about adding something else to do & i was all but what about …….

he really thought he was the only one in the conversation since there was no way i was even hearing myself talk : )

the giants on are tv tonight …. rex says i have the biggest bleeding heart ’cause i called the boys out of bed so they could watch.

right now they are asking 5 million questions a batter. they’re daddy, who’s been up since 4 am is doing a decent job of keeping up with them : )

molly took a good 40 plus pictures of us the other day while we played catch.

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true story –
once upon a time – last week – rex & i were talking in our room …. we do that most days after he gets home from work. jack was hanging around outside our window trying to listen in. rex told him to quit his not so subtle attempt at eavesdropping.

for whatever reason jack took it pretty personally & told us he was going to leave. leave as in run away leave.

we, from inside, smiled and told him to have a nice trip & be back before we left for baseball.

a few minutes later ben showed up & asked if jacky really left, rex answered with ‘he said he was ….’

well a good 20 minutes past & ben came out with jack’s monkey asking again if jack was coming back.
based on ben’s concern rex said they could go look for him. by the time rex found shoes jack had come walking back, but benny …..
benny was emotionally done over that possible fact that his brother had really run away & might not come back. 

their reunion was beautiful. benny just cried tears of relief & jack found the heart to put his arms around him.

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and then there’s the girls, who thought it was hot enough for a slip ‘n slide.

 

chad & i watched from the porch 

  

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‘i is a cowboy!’ she declared. ‘i need a horse …. and a strawberry!’

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she wanted a picture because they were both orange hats. he ripped his off .3 seconds after this shot.

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and just in case you had any doubt that chad lives shirtless on the front porch ….. here’s more proof : )

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well this post has taken all day & then some! i am excited to come back & read about all of you : )
happy weekend ~

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