Mother's Day 2016

My family did a great job with Mother's Day. 

I got two games that Maxwell picked out for me (they are games that he can play with me) and I got some sweet cards.

"Mom I love you so much

Thank you for being my mom just because you keep loving me so much"

Maxwell's "bouquet" he made me at school

Peter made a delicious breakfast for us all!  (I should note that I got to sleep in!!!)

Then Emmalyn took a nap and Maxwell and I played the new games he got me.  After Emmalyn woke up, I did her hair in two little french braids.  I've never done that before - go me!  It's crazy that she's got enough hair for me to braid like this!

View from the top

 (I distracted her with the ipad while I was doing it)

View from the back.  It's not perfect but I feel good about it.

Another view of the hair in better light at Costco.  Okay, I was a little obsessed with it and kept looking at my work of art.  :)  I was proud of it!  It was also fun spending the time with her while I was braiding. Hopefully we do it many more times as she is growing up.

Emmalyn got to hold the receipt.  It's always a big deal to the kids to get to hold the receipt at Costco because then you get to hand it to the person at the door who checks it and draws smiley faces on the back.

It's still staying in!

A closeup of how I finished the braid and pulled her hair up into pig tails.  A closeup is so silly but oh well - again, I'm proud of it!

After Costco we took the kids to the library where we looked at books and played on the computers a little bit.

Peter rested his eyes.

It was a nice day outside so after the library, we took a blanket outside in the backyard and played one of my new games again.  I wasn't ready to be done outside so then we went to the park, too!

Video - Emmalyn "playing" with Raider, the German Shepard across the street.  It was really cute how he followed her with his ball.  They did this for awhile.

Maxwell made a Happy Mother's Day card for Mary Ann next store and we delivered it to her and then we did takeout from Palio's Pizza for dinner.  Max said he had a gazillion hearts that he was going to blow at me because he loved me so much.  :) He was incredible sweet the whole day.

It was a great day!

The next day they did a breakfast for the mom's at Maxwell's preschool- "Muffins with Mom".  He was really excited for me to be able to go to it with him.

It was fun to sit and spend some time with Maxwell, just the two of us.

silly face!

Think the sugar from the muffins and juice has hit yet??

My big kid all loaded up with his backpack, water, and lunch...  Headed to his classroom.

Emmalyn starts to walk!

I celebrated Mother's Day at Maxwell's school on the day after Mother's Day with a breakfast for the two of us.

This is how we get him to smile without it looking like he's in pain - laugh and smile.  It isn't a very genuine smile but at least it's not a grimace.

The tables were all set up nicely and it was a nice way to spent some time with Maxwell

Opening up a cheese stick by yourelf?  Genuine smile.

He also had a present for me.

We took the kids to the neighborhood park after work since it was so nice.  Love the long, sunny days of late spring! And Love finally having a park so close!

Peter helping Maxwell be brave enough to  go down the big slide

woah, that's some static!

crawling baby

walking a little big with dad's help

Emmalyn loves going down the little toddler slide at the park.  She's got no fear and is so bold.  I can't get over how brave she is because it seems like Maxwell only started to like going down slides when he was 3.

Warning - I have posted a bunch of videos on this blog.  I can't help it - its much more fun if yo can see her trying to walk rather than me just tell you about it.

Video - I captured Emmalyn walking on video.  It's so exciting!!!

Video - Maxwell is too busy dancing to bother with his sister walking

Bedtime routine still includes the ipad

Emmalyn drumming at Brittany's

I tried a black bean burger for the first time ever at work.  It was delicious!

Maxwell showing off the present he made me at school for Mother's Day.  It's two hot pads with his hand print as the petals of a flower.  I love it and I love that he let his teacher put paint on his hands!

Video - Emmalyn trying to walk a few more times

Video - Maxwell trying to get Emmalyn to walk to him.  I love how he says her name.  Pretty cute big brother.

Video - Maxwell being a "great" big brother.  Oh man, he just doesn't have that nurturing personality.  

On the 13th, Emmalyn turned 13 months!  She began walking just 3 days ago so we can say she started walking at one (rather than after that).

The laughing smile

Sweet smile

silly smile

She is LOVING being at the park.  I need to send her to Britt's with shoes so she can get down and walk around.

Max still doesn't want to swing normally

We went to chick-fil-a for an end-of-season "party" with Maxwell's soccer team.  It was our last time with this team because we have signed up with another team for the next season.  The new team will be coached by Max's friend Evan's dad so I am hopeful it will be a better experience that this season.  Heck, if we can have regular practices it would be a big win.

Not wanting to go play with the kids in the play area.  Instead he wanted to sit here.

Oh man, a participation trophy.  I am not a fan of participation trophies.  Why give them anything?

Mother's Day 2015

A few other days and Mother's day...

Look who's big enough for size 3 diapers!  Big girl!

Kisses

Notice what's peaking out on my plant?!  That's right - - a strawberry!!!  I am so excited.  I got zero strawberries last year.

Having fun with their friends

Ha...how into the game do you think Max is at this point?  Must be the second half when he's tired.

He took himself out (he's the kid rolling over the blue barrier)

Kindermusik

She loved the bubbles

We had planned on  going out that night with Jess and John since they were in town and Tida and Jason.  I was really attached to my phone the whole night.  I don't like being away from home when there is bad weather going on.  Even though it was just a Tornado Watch and not a Tornado Warning, the thought of something happening when I wasn't home, is awful.

Luckily, nothing materialized, even rain the whole time we were out.

Yeah for being back together!  Me, Jessica, and Tida

Enjoying the nice night on a patio

Mother's Day (and our 12th anniversary) started out pretty rough!  I was woken up extremely early in the morning with the Tornado Sirens going off.  That will get your blood pumping!  Luckily it stopped quickly after I recognized what I was hearing.  So, I finally make it back to sleep (because that's my #1 wish on Mother's Day - sleeping in!) and then I get woken up by a Flash Flood Warning on my phone which also gets your blood pumping.

I finally got back to sleep again and then was woken up the best way ever.  My sweet son had brought me breakfast in bed.   He was so excited!

He wanted to feed it to me

Perfect morning - sort of sleeping in, breakfast in bed, a cute card, and my kiddos.

Emmalyn wouldn't let Peter take her away so I shared my breakfast with her.  I think she must have really missed me while they were in the kitchen and I was still sleeping.  She's usually with me until I get up.

I must not have been sharing my food fast enough because she was eating her feet

Delicious - thanks Peter and helpers!

Another treat growing in my garden - TOMATOES!!!!  For real!

A panoramic view on my street.  The weather was pretty dark to our east.  Scary stuff when you see such divisions between the weather because that's usually where the bad stuff happens.

The front of my card ( I LOVE IT)

"Happy Mothers Day ever 

Max"

He cut out this hand by himself

Peter made this super cute heart.  It's hard to tell from this perspective but it says "Millar" on the top and then has each of the kids' footprints.

It was a rainy, stormy day so we just stayed home all day.  Britt and her boys came over a few hours and I picked up some pizza for dinner.

Emmalyn took 3 steps today and you could tell she wanted to walk.  She was learning forward to do it and wanting to go!

Video - In case you wanted to get to know me a little bit better, Max will help you out and tell you all about his Momma.