Proudest Monkey

Not sure if anyone besides my husband has noticed, but I still haven't finished documenting our trip to Ireland and England. I know a quick summary would have sufficed, but there are just so many things I don't want to forget. We ended on a better note than the "Barfarama Cruise" and I will finish up. I promise. Life is just busy (and insane, and not all sunshine/daisies and vacations) and right now I want to remember some moments of sunshine and daisies, how thankful I am for my wonderful husband and how proud I am of my amazing children, so the rest will have to wait.

Sarah's first Mother's Day Gift. She was

quite proud to show it not only to me, but to everyone

else when she brought this home on Tuesday.

Hannah's gift. A beautiful shell covered box
with a special picture inside. Here is her full

signature. (She was stuck on just the first two

letters for "a bit" as she would say).

Here is one of the cards Nathan made.

He wrote one poem in English and another card

was in French.

While I was at a (much needed--though I wish I would have felt better during) retreat on Saturday, Daddy took them shopping and they picked out some beautiful flowers and a fancy new coffee maker for their mom who has finally joined the rest of the world drinking coffee every morning.

As an added bonus this little ballerina made her debut on Mother's Day as well. This little almost-four-and-a-half-year-old is almost unrecognizable to us. When did she grow up? She has come so far and she was so excited and proud to dance on the big stage in her costume for a real audience. Not a bit of stage fright.

I'm working on getting the video ready to upload. She can't wait for "everyone" to see her dance.

For now I need to get back to this little person and the piles of laundry behind her. She's been very patiently working on a princess puzzle (working = dumping it out of the box and returning it to the box) as I've been going back and forth between blog and laundry. It is almost time for one of her favorite times of the day. Time to "Go get Hannah!" (The sentences are flowing from this little person's mouth). She loves the parts of the day when Hannah, Nathan and Daddy rejoin us. She has learned to get out of her bed (crib converted to toddler bed with rail) on her own and walks down the hallway greeting each family member with "Hewo" and if Daddy has already left for work, "Where Daddy?"

So we're off to collect our little ballerina. (She dresses the part just about every day, ballet class or not...we haven't really talked much about the fact that the recital means the end of dance class until the fall...she had 3 rehearsals last week and only complained once when she realized she was missing play time with a friend). Lunch, more laundry, time to pick up Nathan, dentist appointments...busy, but focusing on the blessings for now.

And I don't know about other moms, but I need a reminder of how blessed I am. I need help remembering in those moments when I feel like no one appreciates a single thing I do and then feel guilty for wanting or needing that recognition. I need help to remember how amazing and thoughtful and precious my children are when they aren't acting as such. I also need help remembering these moments when those laundry piles keep coming back and the appliances keep beeping at me when it isn't the most convenient time to answer their calls. Or when my children are "beeping" at me and it isn't so convenient...

Lately I've had more "one of those days" than I'd like to admit, but these are the moments I'm focusing on today.