Mother's Day Love

These past three years have caused me to reassess my views toward Mother's Day. It used to be a fun day to spoil my own momma and let her know how much I loved her and appreciated her. Once Lil Red came along and momma was gone it became a day to relax and celebrate being a mom. Instead of expecting to be showered with gifts and spoiled, I much more look forward to celebrating what it is to be this girl's mommy and just how much it means to me.....

So that's just what we did. 

I spent every waking second of our weekend together playing, playing, playing with this lil lady....

Well, it wasn't all play. We did do some work. Flower work. Which didn't really seem like work at all....

We catered to our flying friends by filling the bird feeders and bird baths....

And what would you know?! Mr. Red Bird showed up.....

We found the perfect spot for my new garden stone gifted to me by Nanny for Mother's Day. Isn't it just perfect!?!

Let me back up just a bit and start with our beautiful Saturday morning. Well....3/4 of it was beautiful....the other 1/4 was full of two little girls both begging for their Nanny while we had a Mother's Day fairy garden party at the nursery. So what's a fairy garden party? It was a fabulous idea that Nanny and Katie had to design these adorable little mini gardens as a Mother's Day gift. They turned out incredibly cute and by the time we were done I wanted ten mini gardens. Katie's was just amazing!!

I gifted myself with a new bright yellow birdbath and used it to set up the garden pieces I'd picked out....

Slightly obsessed.

The tiny little plants were too much. Just too much.

Later that day Hallie and I returned to JWs for what I thought would be a quiet little trip to pick out some pretty flowers. Not. So. Much. We cried. And insisted on pulling the wagon. And cried. And sweated. Did I mention that it was a thousand percent humidity? We wrecked the wagon. And cried some more. Then we stood in line to checkout. No wait. I stood in line to checkout. Hallie ran around threatening to knock over expensive pots and garden items. On a great note though....we walked away with a car full of pretties that were handpicked by Lil Red. She was so proud!

Just getting started

Ready to get to work at home

Chatting with her friends about her garden ;)

Even though Hal's initial interest in the teeny tiny garden was minimal, it ramped up once we set it on the patio and she got her hands on the miniature pieces....

Nanny wasn't able to finish her garden that morning so Hal and I finished it up before she stopped by later that day....

Her Mother's Day gift was wrapped and sitting atop the table and Lil Red simply could not wait to give it to her. Could. Not. Wait.

That night I suggested we have some DQ out on the patio. Milkshakes before dinner? Of course.

All three of us were big fans of the milkshake plan....

We shared it to the very. last. drop.....

After a long day of fun this princess passed out with her pretties in her hand after I told her that she couldn't wear her necklace to bed....

Sunday morning I was greeted by a fresh-faced cutie holding an envelope and yelling "Happy birthday mommy!" Cutest. Thing. Ever. I knelt down for a big hug and kiss as she handed me a gift. A massage and facial. She (and her daddy) knows the way to my heart. This sweet treat that she filled out in Sunday school was also a pretty good way to my heart.....

I'm still laughing about the high chair part. Man, I've been working so hard at that one. ;) I heard "happy birthday mommy!" at least ten times that day. Loved every single one. And I couldn't stand telling her that it wasn't my birthday. Sooooooo....it was my birthday all day. I was even gifted with random objects throughout the house. My favorite was a paint sample booklet.....

I watched from the patio as she frolicked in the sprinkler and squealed with delight.....

After a quick wardrobe change we watered our new plants. Well. Kind of....

We really did. Well. Maybe.....

The plants took a backseat to watering the birdbath, drinking the water and of course putting her toesies in the mud....

One messy girl got washed off and let her mommy relish in a fantastic cuddle moment for a bit....

We had a family cookout that evening at Nanny and Papa's house. We were late. Wanna guess why???

Sleeping beauty was too busy to take a nap earlier that day. So she continued to her nap on the way to their house and then kept snoozing on the couch once we arrive. Carmen was itching for her play partner to "WAKE UP!!"

There was lots of fun to be had. Fun such as slurping up water from Nanny's fountain on the back porch....

These little tykes were simply too cute sitting on the tiny bench by the fish pond....

Cousins for life....friends forever

They tossed out Cheerios for the lucky fishies....

We ate on the patio and watched the girls run around. The weather was perfect. Katie surprised me with a shirt she ordered from our favorite blog site....such a sweet surprise!!! 

I spy someone hogging the bench.....

She hogged the bench. She hogged the strawberry pretzel dessert. And she hogged my heart that Sunday. 

Nothin' else can fit in this heart of mine. It's bursting. It's full. Has been for nearly three years now. I'm going to have to trade it in for a bigger one. Oddly enough, my mom did trade her heart in for a bigger one (literally) for the last two years of her life. Maybe that was God's plan. He knew she'd need a little more room to love her grandbaby for awhile. 

It was a happy "birthday"/mother's day. Missing my own but I sure love being one. 

F.R.I.E.N.D.S Fiesta

Moving to Woodward has done wonders for my ability to step outside of my comfort zone and form friendships. As a self-proclaimed loner it still blows my mind that I've been blessed with so many amazing women in my life in the past two years. When we moved I made a commitment to "go all in" with everything....work, friends, home. I'm quick to plant roots....no matter where we've been....it gives me a sense of security....and a mother moving to a new town with a young child is in desperate need of security. While I've been busy planting roots I've encountered some fabulous people. I like to think of friendships like tree branches. Each friend is a branch of my tree. 

Yay for big full trees!!! And yay for girl's night!!!

Lauren asked me to co-host a fiesta at her casa last weekend and of course I jumped at the chance to entertain. This girl knows how to have a good time....

We had a delicious table full of fiesta food that was nearly gone by the time the night was through. Why can't we do this every weekend!?!?!?!

Our cheeks were sore from laughing all night....our bellies were full from gorging on food and margaritas....our eyelids were heavy from staying up past 1:00 a.m. (I don't think I've seen that time in a LONG time)...and my soul, for one, was quite refreshed after a night with friends.