I see the light...

Yes, I see the light!! The end of the tunnel is near! 

I see the end of school nearing... just 13 more days for the kiddos! FUN. I love summer!!! No alarm clocks, drippy popsicles, wrinkled swimming fingers, long lazy days, flowers and fireflies... and VACATIONS!

Yes, only 35 days until the kids go to camp and John and I jet set off to Ireland! 

And only two more weeks of baseball and then we have a nice break. Wow... what will I *do* with myself without 8 baseball events per week, carpooling, volunteering at school, Wednesday folders, packing school lunches... ahhhhhhh. Bliss. 

And only six days until we skeedaddle on down to San Antonio to visit my parents and niece and meet their new puppy!! Ohhhhh the fun times abound!!! 

But what is most fabulous about my life is that it's not just these big events that please me most, but rather the day to day blessings that surround me... be it my sweet, adoring husband, my awesome kiddos, my soft, loyal pup, my lovely new friends, my mom on the telephone, baby tomatoes in my garden or baby birds in the nest in the rose bush... I feel like I'm just completely surrounded by goodness and light every day. 

And this man, right here, is one of the brightest lights in my life. I adore him beyond words. He brings laughter and joy into my life every single day. He makes me feel loved and beautiful and safe and secure and doesn't even get the slightest bit angry when I back my car into his truck, causing damage to both vehicles in one very expensive, very careless moment. John, thank you for being my light and my rock... and of course, my BFF. Oh, and thank you for putting up with me and my camera. :) I love this new picture of you!!!

Here's the damage from my big whoopsie daisy on Thursday... EEK. 

Great Big Fun and Pint-Sized Perfection

We're home... always a fabulous feeling, no matter how fantastic our travels are. 

We had some BIG fun in Disneyland. It was a total BONUS DAY for us... we just squeezed it in to our SoCal adventures and we're so glad we did. Jasper was finally tall enough to go on every single ride in the park, so that's exactly what we did! Light crowds, perfect weather and happy kids. Gotta love it. After the fireworks show, Kathryn let us know we'd been awake and movin' for 21 hours... and we were all starting to feel it, so we decided to call it quits earlier than expected and left the park an hour before closing. 

But no rest for the weary. 

Up and at 'em again the next day for Sophie's 3rd birthday party in the park!! So cute to watch her run around with all her little knee-high friends. Everyone had a great time. 

I finally got to meet our newest family member, baby Finn, who is a mere 3 weeks old and every bit as perfect as I expected him to be!! I drank up as many baby snuggles as I could get, knowing next time I see him he'll be a completely different kiddo. He's a doll and I can tell we're going to get along juuuuuuuuust fine. 

The older cousins had a blast together, chasing and screeching and swimming and singing. 

Spent Mother's Day with John's family. My brother-in-law prepared a fantastic feast and we mothers were pampered morning 'til night. 

Came home to a ridiculously lush (and mowed! Thanks neighbor!!) lawn and a new Mayor (yay!) and now we're enjoying the growing excitement as school and baseball wind down and summer approaches. 

Good times. :) 

A Few Thoughts on Mothering

Mother's Day is coming! I love this day. I love that it's now a holiday I can share with my own mother... not only celebrating her, but also my own role as a mom. :) I'll blog about my Mom very soon, but today I want to talk about myself. Ha ha ha.

Being a mother has been the most fantastic ride for me so far... from the first moment I held my deliciously beautiful, sticky little newborns until now, when I send my big independent kids out the door to school.

It's going by fast. WAY WAY WAY too fast. But I'm trying to enjoy every bit of it. Most days I succeed. 

There are some silly things I love about being a mother:

First of all, I absolutely loved the possessiveness I felt as I scooped up my warm sleeping burrito-wrapped bundles in the early days. And I loved nursing them, feeling so incredibly connected, just sitting there quietly, rocking, feeling like I could happily stay there all day long.

I loved when my toddlers called me "Mommy." I think that's one of the sweetest sing-song words in the English language. I admit I was sad when they graduated to just plain ol' "Mom," but I've grown to love it as well. 

"Mom," to me, means the privilege of getting to stare at your sleeping beauties for a few sacred, peaceful moments before waking them in the mornings. 

"Mom" means being able to slather them with as many kisses as you want, even if they're yelling "Stop!" because you know they're secretly loving it... the smirk on their faces gives them away. 

"Mom" means knowing your children inside and out, almost better than they know themselves. 

"Mom" means being ON IT all the time, 24/7 with no breaks and no paycheck and no sick days, but with endless benefits!! :) 

"Mom" means having to learn to love the smell of peanut butter and Miracle Whip first thing in the morning. 

"Mom" means being able to have a whole conversation with your child with just one look. 

"Mom" means always knowing where EVERYTHING is, from a favorite Pokemon pencil to a beloved stuffed animal to baseball cleats and hair bands or iPods and DS chargers. Always, all the time. Just ask.

"Mom" means loving your children so fiercely that it sometimes literally hurts. 

"Mom" means you're absolutely, without a doubt, ready at any moment to throw yourself in front of a bullet for your kids, no hesitation, no regrets. 

"Mom" means the joy of getting to giggle with your kids, watch them grow and learn and master new things, being so full of pride you just might possibly burst at the seams. 

"Mom" means having a new love and respect for your own mother because now you REALLY TRULY understand how she feels about you, even though she's been telling you for the past 38 years.

"Mom" means going to bed exhausted every night of the week. 

"Mom" means something special will happen to you every single day of the week...  you never know what's coming, but I promise you, be it a big thing or a tiny gesture, it *will* happen.

I thank God every day for letting me be a mother and for my own mother, who showed me how to be great at it. 

*Photos by the extremely fabulous and talented Gillian of www.gigiphotography.com. THANK YOU LOVE for capturing me with my children... I love how these photos show exactly how I feel about them!! :) I will treasure them always! 

Yertle the Turtle

Meet Yertle. 

He was a good pet, for a day. See, we have a rule around here and that is that any "pet" we find, we only keep for one day and then we set them free again. 

I really enjoyed Yertle. John and Kathryn saw him trying to cross the street on Saturday during the huge crazy storm, so they snatched him up. Yertle was a BIG hit at the birthday party!! Quite entertaining. All the kids loved him. 

Yertle braved the stormy night with us and then posed for a few photos before we bid him farewell. 

The kids did not shed any tears. I guess he just wasn't fluffy enough for their tastes. 

Mmmm, Romance...

Question: What do you get when you have no kids at home, no power, a massive thunderstorm, dozens of flickering candles, delicious red wine, the Best of Journey playing on the laptop, Chinese food delivered and a Backgammon board? 

Answer: A PERFECT Saturday night!! :) 

John and I enjoyed a rare treat last night... being home alone with no kids! It was a crazy stormy night but we totally made the best of it and we agree it's the most fun we've had in a long time. We think we might make a new tradition out of this... farm out the kids to friends and then pretend there's no power. You should try it! It's good for a marriage. :) 

Appreciating the Appreciation

I felt compelled to blog today. I've obviously been pretty lazy about it lately. I'll tell you, it's harder than I anticipated, keeping it up on a daily basis. I did okay for a couple of months, then it started being more of a weekly blog and now, well, I get messages from frustrated followers, asking when they can expect the next entry! Whoops. Sorry. 

But yesterday I got the most beautiful message from a dear friend of mine. I wanted to share it. She really touched me and has given me encouragement and motivation to continue my blogging journey!!! I'll try to do a better job of keeping up with it! 

So today, if you know someone who has been doing a good job of something, be it a teacher or a coach or a housekeeper or whatever... LET THEM KNOW! Shoot them a quick email and tell them how much you appreciate them. I promise, it'll make their day! I should know:

Hola Stacy!
Wow...I just read a lot of your blog....you made me laugh, cry and happy to be alive all in one hour! But seriously, i really, really want you to know that since we got back in touch I've been following your pictures and little comments on Facebook... and you're a HUGE inspiration! Who loves life more than you?? Seriously, I can't name one person in my life who does besides you and it's made me re-examine my life! I've been in such a funk lately and you're making me realize that little things like planting flowers, watching my nephews and neice and appreciating my fiance, my family and friends are the things that are important!! We get so caught up in work and politics and such that the little things get pushed to the side. 
Anyways...you have the most amazing aura around you Stacy, it comes through in your writing and pictures...you're beautiful in every way and nice and caring and an amazing photographer! John and your children are blessed to have you! 
Okay, I am getting mushy so I'll stop here, I just wanted you to know that you've been on my mind a lot lately :)

Isn't that the sweetest? Aw, thank you my friend! Okay, and since now I know that my silly ramblings about how much I love my day-to-day life aren't boring everyone half to death, I'll tell you about another thing that made me quite happy the other day... 

Jasper bought me this squirrel picnic table. It's hysterical. The squirrels look like they're sitting on a little chair, eating from a little table. We love it. And I love it more because my sweet 7-year-old son was willing to use his OWN money to buy it for me for no reason other than he thought I'd love it. 

I wanted to get a few photos of the squirrels for him, so the other day, I stood outside for a good half hour, inching closer and closer to the feeder, until I was only about two feet away! The squirrel ALMOST took the strawberry from my hand! Too funny.

Have a great weekend everybody and don't forget to tell someone how much you appreciate them!