Mother's Day 2013

Mother's Day 2013

I began the day on Mother's Day Eve - sneaking into my precious kids' rooms to capture photos of them sleeping just after midnight.

I then snuck to my own room and wrote them each letters about how honored I am to be their mommy & some of the many things I admire and respect and love about each of them.  I hope they will someday love reading how much I love them.

This is the greatest adventure and privilege of my life.

Ellie has always loved little yard statues - especially this little boy statue she calls "baby."

She loves to sit by him & cuddle him & chat.

We finished off Mother's Day with some fishing...

 Typical boy - teasing his little sister with a worm!

They caught a fish!!!

 We have some "woods" behind our house - perfect for little kids to explore but contained by a fence... he thinks he is independent & exploring yet I know he is safely contained.

G-Dad suggested several years ago that we put a bike path through the "woods" & this week, we did!

It's so fun to walk on our new nature trail through the woods & Will enjoys riding his gator "off road."

I love watching Will run through the woods and play & our golden retriever likes her new path too.

Finally, a few days after Mother's Day (because I couldn't get my act together fast enough before!), Ellie & I hosted our second annual mother & daughter tea party picnic.

As I dropped Will off at school that morning, it began to rain...

which made me so happy because I absolutely love rainy days.  Rainy days make me very happy.

So we moved our picnic indoors & it worked out just fine!

Grace arrived a few minutes early and read tea party books to Ellie and friends while my mom & I did last minute set up.

Little Emilie is a big fan of dress up

My Ellie is just starting to get into dress up

Ellie loved dressing her Lovie up like a fancy lady!

the obligatory table picture

I found enough vintage floral cloth napkins online this year & love them!  I'm going to have to use them all summer- they make me happy.

I put Will's dress up mirror in the living room so the girls could admire themselves. It's still up - Ellie & Will are loving it

Tea party food is a fun excuse to use fun serving dishes!

Caroline also likes dress up.

(fyi - my friend Caroline, here, has a new cd releasing on June 1.  Check her out here or on itunes (Caroline Cobb) after June 1 - the new cd is called Blood + Breath & tells the story of redemption.  Caroline wrote a song for each book of the Bible (not all featured on the cd) & the four I've heard so far are amazing.  Will loves "Bones."  

Little Emilie is starting a new trend, I believe- 

hat stacking.

I noticed at a cowboy party last weekend that she stacked cowboy hats on her head too.  I love how she smiles and acts like it's nothing unusual to have a stack of hats on on one's head.

Ellie served pretend tea to Mimi

Sweet Olivia wore her accessories well for such a young girl

I think "Other Ellie's" philosophy is "more is better."

My girl & I

The Ellies

(they call each other "Other Ellie" & "More Ellie")

Fun flowers in vintagy tea pots, cool blue mason jars I found (made for the 100th anniversary of Ball Mason Jars) & my new duck egg blue table I painted all by myself with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint!

I noticed this as I cleaned up - 

can you tell a boy lives in this house?!?!

You know you are the mother of a boy when you put fresh flowers out for a party & find a soldier guarding them.

I love celebrating our girls & our special relationships as their mothers.  I love getting to know my friends better and their daughters.  I love getting to know grandmothers and honoring all of the many unique female relationships we each have.  This has become a really fun tradition for Ellie & I and I hope to continue it for many years.