Being a Mommy......

Being a Mommy is a blessing.
It's hard, exhausting and lovely all in one.
It's love like I have never known, yet my God loves me even more than I can love my own.
Being a Mommy is the closest I will feel to the power of God's love until we are face to face.

He forgives, I forgive.
He has everlasting grace, I have grace.
He hurts when I hurt, I hurt when they hurt.
Being a Mommy is hard, but the love comes naturally.

I am so thankful for a God that loves me no matter what. I know that there is nothing I can do to lose  Him and the same thing goes for you Taylynn, Preston, Alayna and Chandler. I will love you NO MATTER WHAT!!!!

I am happy to be a Mommy, this is a Happy Mother's Day!

Preschool Tea Party

 May 1st, Preston had a tea party for his preschool. Aaron and I both got to go and it was so sweet!!! They sang I'm a little tea pot and had flowers and snacks for us. He was so happy we were there.

Preston does this thing with his lips when he is nervous and excited. It's like he tries not to smile and presses his lips together. He does this often and it's pretty cute! My sweet boy is growing up and one day he won't do it anymore, but it is something I will always remember!

Birthday Surprise #2

I have the best friends EVER!!!!!
I knew Keri was taking me somewhere for my birthday and I had believed it was just the two of us. I had questioned that our friend Cyndi would be coming with us, but Cyndi had assured me that Keri hadn't even talked about it.
I was excited, and had no idea what to expect!!
Keri picked me up at 9am and handed me a clue:

This led me to her house, where we were meant to have scones, but they didn't turn out, so Keri had Panera there for us.

She then gave me another clue:

Starbucks......
We got in the car and got on the road. (Starbucks is something we seem to always do before doing an out of town trip, so this was totally normal to me.)
We went though the drive through and the guy at the window told us to pull around front because the machine was broken. What?!?!?!? I was like "how can they make coffee if the machine is broken....how long are we gong to have to wait" we sat in the car for a second then decided to go in. As we were walking close to the door Cyndi comes out with our coffees. I think i said "what in the world". I was shocked to see her. She had her bags with her and loaded up in our car.
I was so shocked at all the planning that had already gone into this and surprised they surprised me!

So In the car I got my next clue:

I thought we would be stopping off for lunch and maybe some shopping, never did I expect someone else would be joining us!!!!

I saw this from a distance and really had no idea who that was, the thought of Lindsey crossed my mind, but she lived in Colorado, so there was no way that was her....or was it?????

IT WAS!!!!! 

Keri and Lindsey are sisters for those who don't know. Lindsey has been my best friend since fourth grade and in the last few years Keri and Cyndi have become my best friends as well. So you can imagine I am loving this at this point. In fact I couldn't stop smiling, :)

Pam and Shirley, their Mom and Grandma, were in Lawrence to drop Lindsey off, but we got to spend sometime shopping with them before we got back on the road.

This was my clue that I received while in Lawrence:

So we stayed and shopped, but we had to get back on the road.....it seemed we had some kinda of appointment??????

We arrived to our location and it was SALSA DANCE LESSONS!!! How fun!!! i had never done anything like that before and it was a blast. We had a great time and learned some good moves too!

After our lessons we went to a really fun place for lunch and had tapas and sangria.

After lunch we had some fun with the surroundings and had some "senior" pictures since it was my
30th birthday and all.....

Keri handed me my next clue:


And we headed to our hotel. There she had a present for all of us from her mom. Her mom made us all pajamas, they were sooo cute!!!

We relaxed at the hotel, we went to the hot tub and swimming pool and then started getting ready for the night.

I didn't take my camera out that night, but we went to the Pizza Bar at power and light and then walked to a salsa club where we "tried" to use our moves. It was fun.... awkward, but fun!!! We then walked back to power and light and had a good time.

In the morning I got my last clue:

We headed to Lidia's for a brunch and let me tell you I was AMAZED!!!! How did I not know abut this place????? Oh it was sooo good!!!!!

We went to the plaza next for some shopping...it was windy can you tell??

Then sadly we had to take Lindsey to the airport :( But I am so lucky she got to come and celebrate my birthday with me. I really do have the best friends EVER. I am so lucky to have three amazing friends that love me through my failures and successes, three friends that I know will last a lifetime!!!

Thank you Keri, Cyndi and Lindsey for this memory I will have FOREVER. I will never forget my thirtieth birthday!!!!
THANK YOU!!!!
LOVE YOU GIRLS SOOOO  MUCH!!!!

Dear Preston

Preston,
You are five years old.....and 13 days, but who's counting! I am going to try and write this without tears, but that is hard when I love you the way I do.
I remember before I knew you were a boy I really wanted a girl. And when I found out you were a boy, it was like my first baby all over again because all I could picture was having another baby that looked just like Taylynn. I was actually worried that I didn't have enough love to spread between your daddy and Taylynn, but when you were born it was as if God showed me love that I had, but never knew was there.

You are loved and even when you mess with your sisters, you love on them at the same time. You are protective of both of them and I love that about you. You have become especially protective of Chandler and you are cautious about him getting hurt. I pray that you will always look out for them and love them. And that goes for all the relationship you have in your future.

You are so loved and you will always be loved. My prayer for you is that you will love others with even more love than you know exists inside you. I pray that God will lead you through the hard and wonderful times in your life. Let God be your right hand man and have faith in Him even when the clouds are over you. He is your light, but you are the one that has to let Him in.

I love you and I am sad you are growing up, but I'll get over it! :)

Be strong and bold, but always kind and loving. Just like the boy you are today!

I love you more than I ever knew I could and I will love you even more tomorrow!

Mommy


I asked Preston what some of his favorites were and this is what he said:

Food:

Tomatoes and dessert…cookies and dessert pizza (and he wanted to keep going)

Book:

Spiderman

Drink:

Chocolate milk and hot chocolate, orange juice (once again I had to stop him, his list was going on and on)

Game:

Cars on the leap pad

Outside activity:

Swinging

Best Friend:

Chase Ritchey

School activity:

Playing

Color: 

Red

Song:

Our God by Chis Tomlin and Glory to God by Fee

Animal:

Cheetah

Summer activity: 

Swimming

Winter activity: 

Playing the snow

Fall activity:

Jumping in the leaves

Spring activity: 

Playing inside

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Firefighter

What country do we live in?

Topeka, Ks

What state do we live in?

Kansas

Who is the President of the United States?

 Mr Hageman (his principal)