Memorial Day

 I started off the day with a 5K run with Stacy, Kara and Ivy in Brambleton.  It was so HOT!  I made my goal of finishing under 30 minutes, but just barely 29:30.  Maybe I could have done it faster if it wasn't so hot.

 It was so hot we hit the pool.

 Hope is liking the pool more and more.  She wouldn't take her sandals off.

 We ended the day with a BBQ with friends from the ward at the park.

 Lots of kickball.

 Lots of chocolate.

Lots of fun. Happy Memorial Day!

Finally!

 It has been pretty warm around here, so the kids were excited when the pools finally opened today.

 I guess Hope wasn't as excited as the rest of us.

 This is the first year this water slide opened.

Of course five minutes before we had to go home, Hope decided she liked it.

DARE Grads

 Spencer graduated from the DARE program this morning.  One student from each fifth grade class read an essay about staying drug-free.

 A police officer talked to them about making good decisions in middle school.  Middle school?  I can't believe Spencer is going to middle school.

 Each student got a certificate.

I think the mom who likes to come and take pictures of everything is starting to become the embarrassing mom.

A Girl After my Own Heart

Hope loves to sit in the middle of our island.  I wish I could just sit in front of cake and eat it like that (with the serving spoon and everything).

Sisters

In our move, I found this picture of my sister and me.  I guess I didn't want to be Tweety Bird, thus the face.  It reminded me of why I wanted Faith to have a sister in this lifetime so badly.  

One day I'll  find these pictures of my little girls. They'll be mothers with children of their own.  What a cruel trick time plays on us.  As a mother of little children, the days can be so long, and yet the years go by so quickly.

New Look

 James has been wearing his new glasses for about a week now.  He doesn't look like it, but he does like his new glasses.  

He even has these sports glasses for the soccer field.  We had to document James' first time ever playing goalie at his game today.  He is usually the one making goals, but he did a great job as goalie. 

A Little Early

 We celebrated James' summer birthday a little early this year with a good old fashioned birthday party. It was the kind of birthday party we had as kids.  You know the kind.  We didn't go anywhere, rent anything or do anything except eat pizza, play games outside and inside and have birthday cake.

 I barely know what a Skylander is, and I had never heard of the portal of power until yesterday.  James is obsessed and wanted Skylanders for his birthday.  I surprised him with this Skylanders cake.  It is the portal of power where you put the Skylanders to play using the Wii.  

He was even more surprised to get the Skylanders game for his birthday.  Goodbye Pokemon, Bakugans and every other toy they've collected.  Hello Skylanders.  It never ends.

More on Hope

I keep telling people Hope is eighteen months, and it just occurred to me she's really  nineteen months.  The months are slipping away and my baby is looking more like a little girl than a baby. She has great taste in shoes.  These little sandals she's wearing are her favorites and she wants them on first thing every morning.  She loves Faith as long as she is isn't being strangled by her.  She LOVES dogs.  If we're driving and she sees a dog, she'll start making noises like a dog.  She LOVES lip gloss and chap stick.  She is talking more, too bad it's another language.  She loves to go to women at church and have them hold her.  She cries every time I take her to nursery.  She LOVES to go outside.  She fights with Faith, but plays with her too.  She's starting to have opinions about what she wears, great.  We sure love our Hope.

Motherhood

I've been very blessed to have wonderful women in my life.  As a mother, I've had days where I think, "I really don't want to do that."  Like the time James REALLY wanted to do paper mache for a school project.  It involved a late trip to the store to buy more balloons after the first one didn't turn out.  On my way to the store that night I knew I was going to be up until about 1:00 am to get this project going for James.  I was so tired and I didn't want to go, but I knew that my mom would have done it for me so I finished the darn paper mache.  My mom really would do anything for us, and I want my kids to know the same about their mom.  

I have a wonderful Grandma, sister, aunts, cousins, nieces, in-laws and friends.  I know that Mother's Day is hard for a lot of people.  Women feel guilt, regret, lonely, sorrow for motherhood that will never come or motherhood that was lost.  I get that.  On Mother's Day, however, I do rejoice in knowing wonderful women...

 and the blessings of my family.

 Spencer made breakfast and this card.  The school must have had a surplus of pom-poms they needed to get rid of.

 James made this card and poem. 

Doug herded the kids to the basement after church to make these cards.  I like Faith's card that she's going to get me  a pillow pet.  Spencer's coupon for "Free not fight for a week" was a great idea.  I think it lasted an hour.

Hope everyone had a great Mother's Day.