Memorial Day Weekend 2014

We've spent the last few Memorial Day weekends with my brother-in-law and his wife and we couldn't let a year go by without kicking off summer with them, so we boarded a plane and touched down in PA for a weekend of fun, food, and doooooogs.

We spent Friday traveling by car, plane, and car again to reach K, A, & O. By the end of the trip, Sam had enough and was not impressed by our gimmicks.

Saturday was spent at a Farmer's Market, enjoying a brief wine tasting while Sammy slept, and playing outdoors with puppy O.

Uncles are the best!

Sunday we were ready for a day visit from Nana & Grandad - and Sam was ready to go early! He dressed himself in his Sunday best.

We visited Valley Forge, PA and walked around the national park after a picnic lunch. Sam was all for exploring the encampments of 1770.

By the end of the day, Sam was ready to eat. He chowed down on some BBQ!

We LOVE kicking off the summer with the A's!

Thank you for having us!

Happy Mother's Day

 "I am first and foremost me, but right after that, I am a mother. The best thing that I can ever be, is me. But the best gift that I will ever have, is being a mother.” 

― C. JoyBell C.

Celebrating my second Mother's Day with my boys, my incredibly amazing mom, and Sam's GG - Great-Grammy. So very blessed to have these women in our lives.

Happy Momma's Day!

Daylight Savings.

How TRUE. 

"Mommy - Somebody Needs You"

I found this moving blog post <http://yourbestnestindy.com/2014/02/27/mommy-somebody-needs-you> over the weekend and really enjoyed it. I am sharing it here so I can go back to it when I am feeling tired and frustrated. 

"God made me their mom. It is a position I yearned for long before I would ever understand it."

My duty, privilege, and honor.

Poor Tallulah.

My poor little bloggy. Two parents re-entering the home after a knee replacement and starting a new job can keep a gal busy. I have missed blogging so I'm catching you up with the reader's digest version of the last few weeks.

1. Mom and Dad are back home, Dad got the all-clear to drive (it is usually about a month or so after knee surgery), and his knee is looking pretty good. Phew.

2. I started a new job! And I really love, love, love the community. I am getting used to the day-to-day with a to-list that is already a mile long. I am thankful I have the experience from BU and NU or else I would be completely lost. 

3. Sam is as lovable and funny and amazing as always.

4. He is also OBSESSED with Gerber cereal bars and eats about three in a sitting. It is getting out of hand.

5. Seriously, out of hand. The other day for breakfast he ate 3 pancakes, 2 cereal bars, grapes, a breakfast pouch, some Chex, and then a fig newton.

6. We celebrated cousin Josie's baby shower this weekend - all that baby girl stuff got me wishing and dreaming! We are excited to welcome baby girl J at the end of this month.

7. I am SO happy February is done. I am ready for spring. For warmer temps. For no more SNOW.

8. With the warmer weather I am anxious to do some spring-cleaning and get a few more pieces to accent our home. I was just saying to G that I feel "settled" now, so let's go to Homegoods!

9. I love this print and have carried it with me over the past month. Hope and faith for the future.

There you are. Consider yourself caught up!

Prayers.

Looking for virtual prayers today and over the next few days. My dad will have his knee replaced early tomorrow morning. It has been giving him so much pain over the last few months so we are all looking forward to his relief.

Due to his surgery and rehabilitation, my mom will be placed in respite care, or a nursing home, until my dad is ready to head back to the home. It is very confusing, scary, and lonely for her, and takes a lot of gentle reminding as to why she is there and how long her stay is.

There is light at the end of the tunnel... but at the beginning of the tunnel, it's the dimmest, right? Mom will return to the home, dad's knee will rebuild and he will be out of pain. During dad's recovery and mom's stay, I need to remind myself to take one day at a time. My mom's sisters are continually supportive and present for both of my parents from answering questions, visiting, helping out. Words cannot express how thankful I am that I am not alone as I attempt to balance support for my parents.

Just gotta keep swimming. Just gotta keep trying. 

A Winter Onederland

This past weekend we celebrated Sam's first birthday! Folks, it was a ton of work - and G and I were absolutely exhausted by the end of the day.

Party invite. I ordered a custom invitation suite off Etsy, and printed the invites at Staples and other paper supplies at home. Here's the link to the Etsy shop . It was great working this shop and her turnaround was super quick. 

  

Homemade milestone sign.

Hot chocolate bar for the 21+ crowd. We also had a satellite hot chocolate station in the garage for the kiddos with extra large marshmallows, chocolate chips, and gummy bear mix-ins.

Found this idea on Pinterest (of course) - I printed 25 photos at Walgreen's and used most to create a number one filled with photos of Sam's first year. I attempted to use shots that hadn't made their way to social media.

My guys. I ordered Sam's "1" shirt off Etsy. 

  

Singing Happy Birthday. The whole time we sang Sam just stared at his Grammy (my mom) to his right. Apparently he believed they were singing for her.

  

"What do I do with this?"

My family. Love my aunt Sis in the background with her sweet smile. She is the best!

He got into it.

Lil' smurf.

The aftermath of his smash cake.

Opening presents! Sam was interested in the envelopes.

After his cake, Sam was covered in frosting. We did a quick change prior to opening his gifts and much to my hubby's chagrin, I pulled out his Patriots jacket (a hand-me-down) in honor of the AFC championship game. I couldn't zip it over Sam's (lil?) belly!

Most of these photos are from my bestie and Sam's Auntie Lavie Jaime. J, her bf, and Sam's other auntie J gave Sam this amazing new truck. HE LOVES IT. I had to get a shot of his sports car next to his truck - he loves both of these vehicles!

Cruising in his truck.

  

Shot of the hot chocolate bar.

Party favors - hot cocoa to go! A packet of hot chocolate, mini-marshmallows, hershey's kisses, and a candy cane stirrer. 

Custom water-bottle labels from the Etsy suite. 

We had exactly 50 people in this lil' house. We were thrilled with the party - so happy that so many friends and family celebrated with us! We made it through a year. That is cause to celebrate!!