Mother's Day

I had the best Mother's Day this year. My kids threw me a Beach Party! It was the sweetest thing ever. They worked so hard making palm trees, a sunset, ocean, seashells, and crabs out of paper. They colored it all, made the palm tree all the way up to the ceiling, put the seashells on the carpet, which they informed me was the sand. Kayman helped them color everything. It was the sweetest thing I have ever had done for me. They spent hours preparing my beach party, and it was so appreciated.

I am so grateful for my family! They are the best thing for me and I love them all dearly. Their gift to me (aside from the beach party) was a new iPhone 4! I am very excited about it. I love it! Mother's Day was incredible. I definitely struggle, daily, with my mothering abilities. I have little patience, can't quite keep the house where it should be, don't play with the kids enough....and I'll just stop there are my list of faults. But luckily I have a very loving and forgiving family who loves me anyway. I do try, and I hope to continue improving my "skills". Being a mother has been the most difficult, yet the most rewarding part of my life. I absolutely love my children. They bring me so much joy. I am very grateful to be a mother and I pray I can teach them well and lead them back home.

Happy Birthday to me!

It seems like forever ago now, but my birthday was 2 1/2 weeks ago and I am now 31 years old. I had a very difficult time with my birthday last year, turning 30 and all, but this year was much different. I quite enjoyed it, actually!

I was woken up by Jessica, who came in my room and asked me to come downstairs. I assumed she wanted me to help her get breakfast, and I followed her downstairs. When I got down, the whole family was there! Andy gave Syd a signal and Syd started playing a drum solo she had been working on for me! So cute! There were balloons everywhere! The kids had blown them up and colored on them with markers, both pictures and love notes to me. It was very sweet. They worked on that for days.

Andy found a birthday card that has a picture of a little girl who looks exactly like I did as a kid.

Is that eerie or what? The one on the top is me at age 3, the bottom is the card. I have to say, that is one cute little girl on the card! Hehe!

My gift from Andy was going to the Christina Perri concert! We went a few days before my birthday and absolutely loved it. She is so good. The best part is that The Neighbors opened for her. We are officially groupies following The Neighbors around everywhere. We love them!

A lot has changed since my last birthday. I have become a new person in many ways. I have started doing many more of the things I truly enjoy, tried lots of new things, and stopped caring so much about what those around me may or may not think of me. I have developed a much stronger sense of who I am. I know who I want to be. I am striving each day to be a better person. And the best part is that I am having FUN doing it!

So here I am, 31 years old, and happier than ever. I see the beauty in everything around me. I have many new friends, and have re-aquainted with many old friends, and strengthened many current friendships. I have new passions and new hobbies. I am happy! Happy Birthday to me!

And just for fun, a picture of the beautiful tulips in my front yard. They make me happy!