My Mother's Day

Guess what friends!!!
I have actual photos from my camera (not my phone) to share!!

Hope that everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day.
I was spoiled by my boys, and loved every minute of it!

I totally over-planned my weekend, so by Sunday, I was ready for some R&R!
I decided to have a garage sale on Friday evening and Saturday morning, so I spent most of last week preparing for that. They are so darn much work! Oh well, got rid of clutter and made a little moolah for Summer trips. Saturday evening I had a session downtown. By the time I got home at 8pm, we were all starvin'. So Justin and Barrett took me out to dinner at Montana Mikes. We splurged with appetizers (stuffed mushrooms...yum-o) and a Boulevard Wheat for Mommy. Yes, that's splurging for us, I guess!

Sunday morning I got to sleep-in a bit, and woke to my little guy with an envelope in hand saying "Happy Mudder's Day, Mommy...we got you presents...come see."  LOVE my new video camera! It's a Sony Bloggie Touch, if you're interested. It takes up to 2hrs of HD (1280) video and still photos. Just what I need to tuck into my purse for all the Summer activities we have coming up! Then we went to brunch!

That afternoon we went to Belle Plaine with my sister-in-law, mother-in-law and nieces to a concert at the Bartlett Arboretum. It was the perfect way to spend the day! We had a picnic on the lawn...Kim made tons of yummy treats, and enjoyed the sunshine and scenery. I hadn't been to the Arboretum since I was in elementary school, and I was just in awe of the beauty and peacefulness. Oh my goodness, I would give anything to live there! How amazing to wake up to those view every morning, and walk those grounds every afternoon.

Here are a few of my photos from the day. You can see ALL of them over on my photoblog. I put up a special Mother's Day post and tried out the "photo gallery" feature on my new blog. Enjoy~

the new camera in action =)

A circle of moms and daughters

Happy Birthday, Mommy!

Barrett said those sweet words to me several times on Sunday...

What he really meant was Happy Mother's Day, Mommy!

It was just as sweet though :)

My first Mother's Day gift on Sunday...Barrett let us sleep until 8:45am! That was extra nice, since we were out late on Saturday. We'd gone to the Boxcar, to hang-out around the campfire with friends and celebrate Tonya's birthday!! It was the perfect evening for that, and great to be with our friends. Barrett stayed up late with Gigi and Papa!

We met up with the Boxcar gang (who had camped there for the night) for breakfast at a yummy cafe. After that, I was stuffed...but we went to my parents and had a late lunch. After lunch at my parents, I was stuffed...but we went to Todd and Kim's and had dinner. Everything was delicious, but I was just miserably stuffed the whole day :) I guess that's a good problem to have!

Justin and Barrett got me one of the things off my outdoor wish list for Mother's Day!  A fire pit!! Here is Justin putting it together Sunday evening. Unfortunately it started raining as we left Kim's, so we didn't get to use it Sunday night. AND then a tornado tried to come through yesterday evening, so we didn't use it then either! Maybe tonight!! I will get some more pics of it when I finally get around to my outdoor landscaping post.

I just wanted a cute picture of me and my boy on Mother's Day...
was that too much to ask?!?!

Oh well, these make me laugh!

I love my boy, and I am so thankful for him every day. He made me a Mommy!

I hope all of you Mommies had a great day!
*** From Barrett, Happy Birthday to you all ***

New family pet

It's a SNAKE!!!!!

(click on this picture to enlarge it...Barrett's faces are priceless)

NO...we're not crazy! TWO huge labs are enough for us! We didn't really get a new family pet. Barrett's just found himself a new "friend." Justin's had this wooden snake in one of his dresser drawers for years. Barrett discovered it the other day, in the middle of his "wreck the bedroom while Mommy's getting dressed" morning routine. I think it's his favorite part of the day. While I'm running back and forth between the bathroom and the bedroom, getting ready for the day...he's emptying dresser drawers, carrying 20 pairs of shoes out of my closet, and helping himself to anything he can get his little hands on! His room is just across the hall from the bathroom, and right around the corner from our bedroom. You'd think he'd be content in there with hundreds of books, cars and other toys...NOPE! Putting Mommy's flip flops on and trying to walk around the house is much more fun! AND this snake he found in Daddy's drawer is really fun!


This little snake has had quite an exciting week around our house. I've been up till 2 or 3am a few nights this week finishing up invite orders, and he always seems to be waiting for me when I come to bed! The first night, I pulled back the covers in the pitch black and laid right on top of him. The next night as I got into bed, I was expecting it to be in there somewhere. I moved my feet around, and didn't feel it anywhere. I was totally shocked Justin didn't try to get me again, then I put my arms under my pillow, and it was inside my pillowcase! I heard Justin chuckle as I pulled it out of the pillowcase and threw it on the floor. What a turd!

Last night after Barrett's bath, we had some fun with the snake.
He looked like a mini Steve Irwin!

(more priceless faces...click to enlarge)

I'm a little late...but I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day! My day was great...Justin and Barrett let me sleep-in, then we went to church. After church we went out to lunch with Gigi and Papa. We tried out the new Chinese place in town. Barrett came home and went down for a nap, so my mom and I went to do a little shopping. That evening we went to Kim's for a family cook-out.

Justin and Barrett wrapped my Mother's Day present. I thought it was beautiful, even though they ran out of paper! I got a fun new glass tea jug for summer and I get to pick out a new strap for my camera!! I can't wait...I just have to decide which one I want!

Happy Mother's Day to ME...a bit late!

It came, it came....I was pulling into the driveway after a loNg, StrEsSfuL, eXhauSting day at work and what did my tired, bloodshot little eyes see?!?! The corner of a red, white and blue priority shipping box sticking out the top of my mailbox! Yippee! I knew exactly what it was and I couldn't wait to get inside and open that puppy up!

For Mother's Day, my husband and son wrote me the sweetest letter and promised me that I could pick out any custom name necklace I wanted. Justin knew I'd been wanting one, but he also knows how particular I am...so although he knew it wasn't much fun for me to get a "promise" for Mother's Day, he knew I'd want to pick out my own necklace. I was SO particular about it, that it took me over a month to find one on Etsy that was perfect!!!

Here it is...they're not the greatest pictures, but it gives you an idea of what it looks like!

I looked at tons and tons, but loved the size of this one and the little jewels-they are a Smoky Quartz, and a Champagne Pearl! Barrett's name is on the front and his birth date is one the back. I LOVE It!! Courtney, the designer at Lotus Jewelry Studio was awesome to work with.

I actually just ordered this on Tuesday and she shipped it out the next day! I love instant gratification :) This was the perfect thing to brighten my spirits after a day like today. Now my baby is sleeping, my hubby is watching 10,000 B.C ( I had to pass on that one), and I'm getting ready to go take a long shower and relax!

My 1st Mother's Day!

It was Friday, May 11, 2007 when I found out I was pregnant with my baby boy! One year ago today, my whole world changed! It was the Friday before Mother's Day weekend and I took a pregnancy test while I was home for lunch. After seeing TWO PINK LINES, I could hardly contain myself the rest of the day at work! As soon as 5 o'clock rolled around, I rushed home to prepare my "we're pregnant" gift for Justin. Several months earlier I'd bought this adorable Packers onesie online, hoping I could surprise Justin with it after I found out we were pregnant.

As soon as Justin walked in the door I told him I had a gift for him...We were both on cloud nine all night long. We went to El Chico's for dinner to celebrate, and then made a stop at Wal-Mart for some Mother's Day gifts for our moms! I was only a few weeks along, but we knew we wanted to tell our parents. For his mom: a bib that said I LOVE GRANDMA...For my mom: a little white onesie that said I LOVE GIGI! As I'm sure you can imagine....their reactions were priceless!!

This Mother's Day...Sunday, May 11, 2008, I have my little Packer's fan and I look forward to celebrating the day with him!