May in Review

I'm a little behind on the ole blog-a-thon photos for May. So here's a month in review... so far.

Mother's Day was wonderful! Shaun and the girls got me flowers, I got myself a pedicure the day prior, and we enjoyed an afternoon visiting with friends after church (my own mother was out of town or I would have spent it with her). The girls and I on Mother's Day after church.

Ella has also enjoyed many "rides" -just down the driveway- in "HER" baby car (AKA my dad's BMW Z4). I think I need to be worried when she thinks the baby car is her's at the mere age of three. She's even prepped wearing her sun hat.

For my birthday Shaun really spoiled me. He got me BEAUTIFUL flowers that I loved, a chocolate cake, and a date night out to dinner and the movies. The girls got me balloons which they have enjoyed playing with all week. The only photos we have are from our phone so not the best but still captured a memory.

In other events, I met my friend, Kristin, for dinner in Charlottesville. I brought Ella and she was a real treat. She invited herself to a birthday party at the restaurant we ate at (and got a piece of cake even), rode the carousel TWICE (once when another person had payed for their daughter... Ella the moocher), and almost stole a teddy from the department store. And I don't mean the soft and stuffed kind, I mean the kind a three year old shouldn't be wearing. In her defense, it looked a lot like one of her favorite dresses... same size, same satiny material. She was determined to pull it off the hanger and wear it home but eventually we talked her out of it (after a rather embarrassing moment of chasing her through the lingerie section of the store). She really was fun although exhausting. What's new, right? Kristin was a good sport about all of the running around, especially being nine months pregnant. I really enjoyed my visit with her.

Ella enjoying her non mooched ride on the carousel.

Today we got to visit our dear friends who just adopted their son, little Drew. We love him already:) Congratulations to the most wonderful couple ever!

A beaming momma

Some of the best friends a girl could ask for. Spending time with Becca, Katie, and Kristin makes my heart happy.

handsome bugaboo Drew:)

And my lil A being the most gorgeous thing ever. I find myself looking at her every day and falling more and more in love... really with both of my girls. Amelia just isn't mobile yet so she's easier to take a photo of. And those baby blues are AMAZING!

The Littlest Birds Sing the Prettiest Songs

So today I was in the car listening to a sweet lil' ditty and the title struck me for the first time even though it's on my I-Tunes Favorite list and I hear it regularly. "The Littlest Birds Sing the Prettiest Songs." Hmmm... I think that is my new mantra. This week I celebrated my birthday and I have to admit I went into the week feeling... well, a bit disappointed. Disappointed in myself for not being where I thought I'd be, not feeling like I've moved forward, that our family hasn't progressed... yada yada. I cried myself a river so deep I swam in it until my fingers got all pruned. I met a friend for lunch and I know I must have been a bit of a downer. But she had some really great insight as a mother of five herself. She said that when it was just her she was generally very happy and really only became discontent if something happened occasionally. After getting married she found herself not only concerned about her day, but her spouse's, noting that if his day went badly or they had a fight her chances of discontentment grew slightly. She said that now with five children, at least one person is bound to have something happen to them, making her day difficult. She has to make a conscious effort to remember the little things. Maybe now is not the time of life where she will have a whole day go smoothly, resting her head on her pillow at night feeling completely at peace with the goings on of the day. Now she has to stop and enjoy the moment when all of her children are playing well together, even if ten minutes later it could be chaos. Again, there is a time and season, and this motherhood thing means finding joy in the little things. If you try to look at success as having one whole day of no fighting, no fatigue, no stress, then you will always be disappointed. Instead, if success is enjoying a sweet moment with your family during a rainstorm as you sit and hear the thunder and Ella sings the "rain, rain, go away song" in complete confidence that the storm will obey her sweet song's command. If you enjoy the sweet hug she gives you on your birthday and hugs you until she says, "okay mommy, that's enough hugging." So it's the little birds that sing the sweetest songs. It's not the grand ones and their arching flight though they are magnificent. You just don't see them as often, just as I don't have those "perfect days" anymore. But I do have those sweet moments, those sweet songs, and they can be beautiful.

So I ramble I know. But this is the valuable lesson it only took me thirty two years to learn:

The Little Birds sing the prettiest songs. Enjoy them. They are common and every day but they are precious. And for this time and season they are what I need to focus on.

Shaun and I have no control over this job of his that we have now been waiting on for TEN months. He signed a contract, we know it's only a matter of time. But this week I have given this worry to the Lord. He can have it. There's nothing more I can do with it. Having no control is so difficult, so I have two options. I can fret and worry and fret and worry some more, or I can give this trial to the only one who really can and will be able to control it. I tried the first option and it's gotten me no where except as I said earlier, swimming in a river of my own self-pity (not to mention turning to on-line shopping therapy... not recommended). This week, I'm going with door number two. Here's my heart Lord, take and seal it. Please take this trial and help us endure. Help us remember to rely on you and to trust in you and your timing. Our little family is in your hands. And we will enjoy the sweet songs along the way.

North Carolina- 3rd Stop Adam and Tawnie's

Okay, I'm not sure why it's taking me so long to blog our Spring Break trip. I guess I'm letting the memories linger. Or more likely, I work full time and have two ankle biters that keep me extremely busy (and a husband that is very helpful but takes a little time too). But I digress, not surprising. Anyway, we really enjoyed our time at Adam and Tawnie's. As always, they were very gracious hosts and we enjoyed late night visits if we could get our kids to bed at a decent hour. Tawnie spent hours upon hours hand making Easter dresses for the girls that all matched. She puts me to shame between her baking, sewing, and Mary Poppins magic, but I'm grateful for her kindness and thinking of my girls too. We tried to get a photo of all the girls together but it just wasn't happening after an hour of church and impending nap time. It's hard to even get a photo of Ella smiling by herself. Here she's sort of smirking but we'll count it.

Luckily Ella is really good at letting me take photos of her backside. And the back of the dress was super cute.

Of course Elianna is much better at smiling for the camera. Cute girl!

A mother daughter duo

The closest thing we got to a shot of all of them... lovely I know

After church, naps, and yummy food prepared by our hostess we had an Easter egg hunt for the girls.

Adam helps Lilly find eggs

The girls with their baskets.

After a long day a nice scrub a dub in the tub was necessary for all four:)

So thanks again to all of our North Carolina friends who made our trip so special. We hope to see all of you again soon!

Bows, Bows, and more Bows

This is what happens when we leave Ella alone with her closet... She's half diva princess, half tomboy. She's her own unique person and you've gotta love her style:)

2nd stop- Charlotte, NC

We LOVE our friends, The Fords. They will be adopting not one, but TWO, little boys over the next couple of months. They took time out of their busy schedule to show us around Charlotte and let us stay at their cute place. Their little apartment is literally two blocks from down town so we went into the city and toured. We took Ella to a children's library that she thoroughly enjoyed and we also enjoyed staying up late and visiting with these two. Becca made us yummy food and Troy and Shaun played video games. Thanks for a lovely visit Mr. and Mrs. Ford:)

The photos above were taken on Shaun's phone so sorry the quality isn't great but they were some of the only ones we got with Becca or in front of Charlotte (even though you can't really tell Ella and I are standing in front of the city outside of Becca's apartment).

North Carolina- 1st stop, The Biltmore

We had a wonderful Spring Break over Easter and enjoyed visiting friends in North Carolina. We started off the trip by taking a pit-stop and visiting our friend, Kristin, and her son Peter. Ella got to stretch her legs and play a bit before getting back on the road and heading to our first destination, Charlotte, to see Becca and Troy. We really enjoyed seeing these wonderful friends and Tuesday Becca went with us to The Biltmore Estate in Ashville, a two hour drive west of Charlotte. The Biltmore is famous for being the largest home in America... more like a castle. Built by the railroad mega millionaire George Vanderbilt in 1898. It has a mere 250 rooms and a pool in the basement. They've turned the stables and courtyards into a food court and restaurants. The grounds are absolutely amazing! And we came in time for the tulips to bloom in their splendor! Ella enjoyed seeing the draft horses (see photo below), and the girls enjoyed eating in what was once the horse stable (see below). I highly recommend checking out The Biltmore if you're ever in the area. We absolutely loved our visit there. Ashville is absolutely gorgeous in the mountains of North Carolina. I can see why Mr. Vanderbilt felt inspired to build his "summer retreat" there. Well worth the four hours in the car to and from Charlotte. Of course it helps when you have a wonderful friend like Becca to keep you company.