Mother's Day

I finally got the pictures loaded to my computer so this is a little late, but here are pictures from Mother's Day.

Happy Mother's Day to these two women:

I'm adding these two pictures, which look really similar, because Aiden looks so darn cute with his smiles.  I really can't get enough of either of my boy's smiles.

After church and lunch we decided to have some good quality family time.  Croquet. :)  Patrick was in heaven.  It's one of the only times we let him carry around a big stick and tell him to whack something over and over again.

One of the first pictures with all of us together.  I love these boys.

I love being a mother.  Sometimes at night I think over the day and realize it was one of those mommy fail days but it's ok having those once in awhile.  By the next morning, Patrick has already forgotten that I had less patience the day before or that we might have watched a little too much of Mamma Mia.  Being a mother is a constant growing experience that I learn from everyday.  Sometimes I'm grateful for it and sometimes I'm not but I can say that I love Patrick and Aiden more than I ever thought possible.  

I appreciate now, more than ever, the example I had from my own mom.  I try to incorporate in my own house things I learned growing up(although my kids aren't old enough for some things yet).  Such as:

-It's really a great thing to cook from scratch.  Boxed meals just aren't that great...in any way.

-Being home when my kids get home from school is really important to me.  That's the time kids are excited to talk about their day(I realize every circumstance is different and some people don't have a choice)

-Sometimes, even when a child is older, kids just need to cuddle with their mom.  And maybe even sleep in their bed at night...when they're 17 years old. ;)

-Making and eating breakfast with my kids every morning is a good bonding time.  I was used to eating a good breakfast growing up and as a result, Patrick and I eat breakfast together every morning(Jon normally is running off to school), which is a really fun thing for me.

-Snow days are a good thing because it's actually fun to have your kids home from school

- It's a good thing to want to be involved in your child's life

-Sometimes your child needs to hear the honest truth, even if it's not what they want to hear

-Going to things your child is involved in is really important...even if it's going to be a really bad orchestra concert.

-We need to have faith that everything in life happens for a reason and to trust in the knowledge we have.

-Family is where it's at. ;)

Happy Mother's Day!