Mother's Day 2016 - physical & mental pictures

Somehow it's been a full two weeks since I've blogged.  Completely unintentional, but much needed break I guess.  Not going to lie but the third trimester is totally kicking me in the butt and I tend to go to sleep immediately after both the kids are asleep.  My body is busy growing this baby so I'm happy to sleep when I can!

We had a great Mother's Day weekend celebrating all the fabulous women in our lives and also getting some spoiling and loving of my own.  One thing I tried very intentionally to do is to not spend my weekend in front of my phone taking pictures of every little moment like I feel like sometimes I do.  I did capture a few of them from the weekend fun though.

Maddie when I picked her up from school.  Seriously love her.

Apparently Charlie needed a break during our walk through CostCo Friday night :)

Charlie rocked his last soccer morning!

Oh and doughnuts in the back of Papa's car - they are sure going to miss that!

It was SOOO hot - that the kids put on their swimsuits and we turned on the sprinklers!

However, I'm a moron and couldn't find Maddie's 3T swimsuits I bought her - so yeah, she just ran around naked and apparently liked riding bikes naked.  Don't worry - the non-pregnant parent did locate them on Sunday so no more nude excuses.

Of course Toby was playing along!

The whole day Sunday was so awesome - but I literally didn't take one picture until we got home around 7PM on Sunday night.  And Jimmy made the three of us sit down and snap some photos, which was super sweet of him because I did want a picture of my babes on Mother's Day!

Selfies!!!

And finally - I snapped a shot of this hilarious kiddo, legs crossed, snacking on a bed time snack.

Lucky to call him mine.

There are lots more images from this past week/weekend that I didn’t capture, but sat there thinking – man I never want to forget this – so here’s my attempt at capturing the mental image for myself so I can look back:

Charlie playing soccer and playing his little heart out.  I did get some pictures of him shooting (above) with his friends and then a group picture after they all got their medals, but this kid loves to run and shoot and score and it has been so fun witnessing his amazing improvement in just a year – let’s just say last year might have been a slight disaster J  But I never want to forget his smile when he looks up at me and waves and comes over and wants to know where Papa is to show him how he scores. 

The look on Maddie's face of pure joy/pride/happiness when she tried on the flower girl dress my sister got her after her bath at my parent's house Saturday night.  It was one of the cutest things I have ever seen from my often times not-so-girly little girl.  She loved everyone telling her how pretty she looked and twirled in the mirror smiling to her little heart's content.  Precious memories.

Changing laundry with my two hooligans during the early hours of Mother’s day doesn’t sound appealing to most, but I tell you what.  That morning sitting on the floor with them (yet, I was sitting – mama needs to sit constantly these days) while I watched them move the clothes from the dryer to the hamper and then from the washer to the drier, monitoring along the way and making sure they pushed the right buttons.  We were all laughing and giggling and having fun.  (Dad was out getting us breakfast – yum!).  But yes friends, that was a sweet moment that I never want to forget – thankful for a laundry room, clothes to wear and babies to laugh with.

Maddie strutting her stuff into church with her light pink sunnies on.  This girl – I tell you what.  She’s already giving us trouble and I know there will be more to come, but she sure has a full on personality.  She literally was STRUTTING and wore her sunglasses all the way to the nursery before she walked right in and waved to us.  Almost 2 going on 7 it feels like.

The sounds of Charlie and Maddie running around my sister and Casey's house giggling and growling at each other.  Running to Nana then Papa and then Casey and Lulu.  Even though the lunch ended a little abruptly due to some discipline issues with our sweet little boy - oh yes, he learned a bad word from a "friend" at school that he has got in big trouble for and decided to repeat again - it was a very fun lunch and confirmed just how fun time with family is.

And then the images of Maddie playing with her uncles at Jimmy's parents house that afternoon.  Uncle Tim being a "bully" to Maddie as she and him "fought" over the infamous socks that Maddie likes to carry around of Grana's.  Then Maddie playing with Uncle Pat standing on the island laughing at him.  Nope, nothing better than family.  When the rain finally subsided, the big kids made their way outside and Charlie - in his bro tank and shorts (of course because guess what dad was wearing?) - was laughing outside with all his big cousins and coming inside telling me how he was all wet from the rain.  The joy in both their eyes is a priceless memory I never want to forget and I hope they don't forget what time with family means to them.

Maddie and Charlie checking out their new cousin!!!  Baby James "Jay" Robert is just the sweetest little man and while Maddie wanted to kiss him all over his face (hello - no germs), she did get to touch his little feet.  It was adorable.  Charlie kept asking me if that's what our baby was going to look like!!  It was so sweet.  And I loved seeing Hillary being such a sweet mama.  Nothing better than that feeling of becoming a mom for the first time....or again.

We had a great weekend with our family and celebrating our amazing mothers and all that they have done and sacrificed for us along the years.  I can only hope that I'm half the mom that my own mom and mother in law were to me and Jimmy.  They raised us right and held together our families and always loved us.  No matter what.  That's what the beauty of motherhood is about and we were lucky to be able to celebrate with them this weekend!!