Explorer Vest

Tomorrow is Henry and two friend's combined birthday party. We are having a backyard splash party that should be lots of fun, especially because it's been in the 90's as of late. I have been spending a little bit of time with my sewing machine, making birthday gifts for the two other birthday boys. They're both older than Henry, turning 4 and 5, so I did the same thing for both of them. I made the explorer vest from Oliver+S's Little Things to Sew book. Throw in a net and a magnifying glass to spend time discovering the extremely large amount of insects that live there in the south, and they're set!

We Had a Fun Weekend

Resident Raucous

Words cannot express the love that I have for these photos.  Haha!!!!  Such an awesome group of people, I don't want to think about leaving because it will seriously depress me!

Preschool Graduation and Bowling

 Lillie graduated from preschool this week.  She did a wonderful job singing in their little program, but Mommy doesn't know how to upload videos, so here's a picture of all of us.

 I love watching my kids play together.  Last night they were particularly fond of each other, it was so cute.

We went bowling this week on base.  I don't know why we haven't done it before, we all really enjoyed it.  I got a turkey and won, although I had one frame with two gutter balls, so I'm a little inconsistent and Eric just had a terrible game.  So there ya go.

Our Family Artist

 During Henry's nap time each day, Lillie has three choices for quiet time.  Upstairs, outside or art.  She almost always chooses art.  These are some of her latest works, I love how colorful the top one is.  Yesterday she drew an awesome dog.  I love seeing the world from her perspective.

Cinco de Mayo Fiesta Foto

Wow, we are a couple of goobers.

Happy Mother's Day!

 Eric wanted to take a picture of me and the kids after church today.  Please keep in mind that this is after church, cuz I hope my hair didn't look that bad all day!

I love Mother's Day!  I like sitting here at the computer while my husband makes lunch and juggles the kids.  So nice! 
But really, I wanted to get on here and tell you about my wonderful mom.  She is so amazing, the longer that I am a mom, the more I realize just how wonderful she was and is.  It took quite a few years into my marriage to realize that cooking and cleaning were not habits that are just automatically there when you become a wife and mother.  It never had occurred to me growing up that my mom might not think that cooking 3 meals a day, every day getting up at 6 o'clock to make a real breakfast, was the funnest thing ever.  She never complained. 
One of life's greatest lessons that I've learned and am still learning was taught to me by my mom.  That you just do it.  Yes, life is hard, raising kids is hard, keeping up a household is hard, but you just do it.  Complaining isn't going to make it any easier and you do it because you love the people who you are doing it for.  My mother is the most selfless person I have ever known.
She has been such a great example of a strong testimony, of integrity, of service and love.  I am forever grateful to be her daughter.  I consider her to be my best friend, I love her so much. 

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY, MOM!  I hope your present came in time.  This is the Mother's Day card that didn't get included in the package. 

Assembling Home Depot Kits

A Record No More

Yesterday I was pulled over for the first time, ever.  My 12 year record is now over for "rolling through the stop sign".  Ha.  Good news is that I didn't get a ticket, even though I didn't have my current insurance card in there (forehead slap).  I guess if there was something that I should get pulled over for, it should be "rolling through stops" because there wasn't anyone at the intersection and I stopped as long as I normally do.  Oops.  Guess I need to be a little more patient.  And you better believe that I have a current insurance card in the car now.  Still have my "no tickets" streak to continue with.  (Knock on wood).