Here are some pics from the Makayla file. I love getting pictures of her and have SO many! =) So here are a few from the past week, or so. Remember you can also go to Ash and Dago's site to see pics..... http://madinaz.blogspot.com/ She is growing so fast. She turned 8 weeks this past friday. Brooke was there over memorial day to visit again. Here is Makayla's basket. The deal was I got a basket given to me and someone asked me if I was going to send it to Makayla for her flower girl basket. I said "WHAT?" I'm not thinking flower girl basket at this point in Makayla's life. Well not sure who came up with it but you use the kiddie purse longeberger basket and put their tiny foot prints on the wooden lid then when they get married their flower girl uses it in the wedding. I was like, "how neat!" I decided to order a new one made the year of Makayla's birth. It arrived a few weeks ago and they put her foot prints on it! How cute huh?! =)

I got a bit behind in blogging with my busy schedule and still having ear issues but here are a few pics from the past weeks. We start out with pics. from just last night as we had our first fire. We roasted marshmallows and made smores. Kristian also loves to poke at the fire so I saved a big stick during construction for him to poke with. All the scrap wood from building the house is what we are using right now for fires. It may last us a few summers! We don't have our deck on yet so Kristian had to come in the front. I waited and waited for him to roll up. I finally got up to see what happeded to him and I found him reaching to pull on a low hanging branch from the tree in the empty lot beside us. BOYS! LOL You can also see in these pics that our grass and landscaping made it through the winter nicely. The North side is much thicker than the south but it's coming! You will also see Kristian and I were blessed to go see Mark Schultz in concert. Brooke surprised us and bought us the tickets! "Thanks again Brooke!" It was a wonderful time!! The last pictures are from this years derby at church. Kristian did not win but his good buddy Brendan did. They had a good time. I tried to post a video of several men lifting Kristain up on stage for the event. If I reduce it's size I'll post it later. So cute! He loved being with the other kids!

Catching up again!

Brooke made it home for Mother's day this year! We had a nice weekend together. We went to church on Mother's day and of course enjoyed smooching on Kristian. He does not mind at all! =)

She is so adorable! She is just over 6 weeks old and they say she really smiles when you talk to her! I love her so! =) Grammie can't get back to AZ fast enough!

Well....I had seen a clip of something very funny and was going to post it but must not have gotten it from my daughter's digital card. I'll set the scene up for you...... In January Jess (pictured here with Amber and Apollo) and Apollo were out back of my house playing in the snow. Apollo loved running and playing in the snow. Jess was throwing his toy and somehow it flew like 10 feet up into a tree. "hmmmm what shall I do" Jess said...."oh I know I have this little (full) poop bag here... I'll throw that up in the tree and knock out the toy." Up Up Up it flew and what do you know the poo bag and toy were both stuck up on the leafless tree. They stuck out like a sore thumb but I told Jess not to worry cause it wasn't my tree .... it belongs to the Mayor! She felt bad! (I actually think the toy did come down but don't remember if it was the poo bomb that brought it down) So.....here we are fast forward to April and I'm walking out back. What is this I see on the ground? Apollo's little gift to me that had been hanging out in the tree! LOL I just had to share!! LOL Too bad I couldn't share the video...Amber maybe you can send it to me and I'll post it! ;)

Thanks Apollo and Jess for the fun!

Thanks to Ash, Dago and Makayla for my beautiful flowers...I got to typing and forgot what I sat down to type! LOL =) Love you guys!

Mother's Day!

Once again we are approaching mother's day. Every year I ponder the real meaning of the day and wonder if it deserves the weight given to it.

Let me explain myself a bit more...I used to get all caught up in the expectations of the day and so very often would be let down. Whether it would be because my husband simply forgot to say "happy mother's day", the moment his eyes opened, or if my children were being "naughty" on MY day it always seemed to get off track. Now I knew I was not the mother to my husband but it always seemed like he should take the lead on the day, plan it all out to be a glorious day. (no pressure there huh?) =) Well as you all know my husband left then mother's day feel upon my children . That was the moment everything changed NOW for me mother's day is way more about me being a mother than "them" being my children.

I became a mother at 18, again at 19, then 20 and begged to have my tubes tied. Ten years after my last daughter was born, and 12 years after getting married, we decided to have my tubes untied and at 32 I became a mother again. Maybe due to my young age, or being out numbered so quickly, I never grasped the gift of motherhood. I felt the weight of being a "bad mom" to my daughters when my son was born and I had all kinds of time, and energy, with him that I never had for them. Don't get me wrong I was excited to have my girls and whenever we went out I loved how everyone would notice them. It's not often you see a teen/young adult with three little ones. Just imagine seeing this 21 year old with a newborn, 1 and 2 year old. What a sight! My home was more of a boot came and about keeping everyone in line because it could get chaotic very quickly!

May 2001 was my first mother's day without a husband to lead the day into greatness. I dreaded the approaching day because it felt like it only made his absence greater and put undo stress on my children. I had decided to avoid the day all together. I made plans to take off to an adventure park with my young son and my teenage daughters could all have fun spending time with friends. I felt much better, the weight was gone! It was that year I came to think so differently of Mother's day!

So Mother's Day.....for me it's about my blessings of being a mom, and now grandmother (Grammie). It's not about what gets done for me or sent to me. It's about simply celebrating being a mom. I would rather be honored and respected on a daily basis than everyone performing for the day anyway. My girls are great and always send me great mother's day gifts and my son may, or may not, remember to wish me a Happy Mother's day. Mother's are wonderful! We all seem to go to them first in crises, get mad at them first too because they are the ones to tell us the painful truth. Without them where would any of us be? I know I can count on my mom for anything. She will always help, if she can, and I know she would not lead me in the wrong direction. It's great being a mom! It's been my most important job here on earth. In letting go of expectations it's easy to just enjoy the day. I'll never be the perfect mom and my children are not the perfect children but I'm theirs and their mine!

Aren't they so cute! She was 4 weeks old last friday and she is over 12 pounds already! She is doing so good! Grammie misses her so much! =)

Here is little miss M. She is so adorable! She is 4 weeks old today! Aren't her little piggys so cute! She is growing so fast. I'm planning another trip in july if my ear gets straighted up! Happy May Day to you all! =)