Wedding Pictures....A few of my favorites.

Shoes hand painted by Spencer

Mother's Day 2012

I've had my share of Mother's Days that were less than idyllic. I think this is a struggle for many mothers. I know it is for many of my friends. We can't help but to have expectations and want to be recognized for the work that we do. Then there is the risk that even if you have a decent Mother's Day, it doesn't make up for the lack of respect we get the rest of the year.

When my children were young I loved their excitement at giving me the little handmade gifts that they so lovingly worked on at school. I loved these treasures and still hold on to many of them, tucked away in my drawers and cupboards.

Most Mother's Days I just wanted a break....from the cooking, the fighting, the same ol' same ol' of being a mom. The perfect gift would have been to have my family clean the house spotless, prepare me some food and then leave the house for the entire day. (Sometimes you just don't want to leave your house to get some peace and quiet.)

My life is different now and my kids are much older. A few years ago I decided to let go of my expectations and create my own perfect Mother's Day. I went to the farmer's market and bought some good food, I went on a walk, I didn't go to church and I relaxed. My family barbequed in the evening and we hung out. That was my best Mother's Day.

Until yesterday.

I truly had no expectations. The night before I went to the grocery store and bought some food to barbeque in the afternoon, as some of the kids said they would come visit. The weather was supposed to be hot and glorious.

In the morning me and Mario took the dog on a walk. It was sunny and hot. I was dreaming of gluten free blueberry pancakes and decided I would splurge and make some when I got home. When I got home I was surprised to see Savannah's car in the driveway, especially that early in the morning! As I approached the door I heard bacon sizzling. I walked into the house and there were Savannah, Spencer, Jordan and Emilia fixing a big breakfast. (Parker showed up later and got the job of cleanup). It was such a wonderful surprise.

After breakfast we had a lively discussion that got a little heated and I honestly thought it might ruin the day. But everyone recovered. The girls wouldn't let me lift a finger (but I did, just a little.)

We spent the afternoon downtown at the Saturday Market.....eating more food! (The boys stayed home to finish the clean up.)

Not that any of us were hungry (except the pregnant one) but we then barbequed a wonderful dinner and sat outside in the warmth to eat.

Later the girls and Spencer and I went to get ice cream where they asked me how this Mother's Day rated. "Definitely in the top two Mother's Days I've had!"


I got some sweet gifts.....

Yes, that is a Chipotle gift card...don't be jealous!

Mom's Pamper Pack

My favorite color.

But honestly the gifts had NOTHING to do with what made this a good day. What made it the best day was that my kids took the time to not only surprise me but to hang out with me all day. I loved that! Thank you Parker, Jordan, Savannah, Emilia, Spencer and Mario for creating a great Mother's Day for me. I love you.

Teen Quilt

When my brother in law died and the quilt I made him went to my nephew, my niece asked me if I would make her a quilt and incorporate something of her dad into the quilt. She picked out the fabric and brought me a few of his favorite shirts.

My goal was to get the quilt done for her 17th birthday and I did. But I just realized I didn't even take a picture of her opening her gift on her birthday!

Here is the quilt. The black striped pieces towards the middle and two of the plain black between the striped ones are pieces of her dad's shirts.

Front of quilt

Back of quilt

I hope it will surround her with comfort, love and memories.

Sewing Buddy

As I'm taking a break from sewing this afternoon I remembered that I wanted to share these pictures of my good friend, Monica. She is a midwife that I've known for a long time. We have become better friends these last couple years, but especially in the last year as we've taken a series of sewing classes together. It's been fun to share our sewing progress together and watch each other gain confidence with our sewing skills.

Monica left this last week for her hometown of Los Angeles. She will be working at a birth center there and I'm so happy for her opportunity to move near her family. I'm going to miss her a lot, but I'm looking forward to visiting her (and the SUN) in the near future!

Baby Quilt

This picture was taken almost two months ago, so both of these mama's have bigger bellies now!

Drea is carrying Ryker, due in about a month.

Can't wait to meet him!

Now that I've given her Ryker's gifts I can share what I made him.

I just fell in love with these soft flannel's when I saw them.

I was looking for a baby print that wasn't typical and these met that criteria.

I loved the colors and they seemed a more contemporary baby fabric.

I have some fabric left over and I am working on a couple of smaller baby blankets right now.

I almost always love my job. Not today.

I was going to put that as my status update on facebook this morning. I was feeling overly tired and a little bit angry. For the second time in the last three weeks I spent the night with a "laboring" mama, who wasn't really in labor. 

I'm not sure why I was feeling angry, other than the fact I was too tired and wondered how I missed that she wasn't really laboring. I guess it didn't help that after a few hours of sleep I was woken up by the school calling because my daughter didn't make it to school this morning, despite my stern emphasis on telling her as I left for the birth last night that she needed to get herself up for school in the morning.

I was pretty angry at her when I had to get her out of bed and take her to school.

I usually love my job. Really I do.

But when I endure all the less than desirable aspects of my job....and there wasn't even a birth and adorable baby at the end of it, those less desirable aspects become pretty annoying. I knew that I would be tired all day. I knew that it would be difficult to eat well, as I crave bad food when I'm overly tired. I knew that I essentially I would lose an entire day to tiredness and lack of motivation.

Not to mention I worried "what if she really goes into labor tonight and I miss another night of sleep?" Because you see, I'm still on call.

For me, losing sleep and being on call are the most difficult things, and no matter how long I do this those things do not get easier.

On the plus side one of my clients didn't get my message that I wanted to cancel appointments today so I got to play with these cute guys!

I got to be at Savannah's ultrasound and see my little grandchild. She is halfway through her pregnancy, and unlike my client's pregnancies, hers seems to be taking for.ev.er! Seeing the baby was amazing, thinking about this beautiful child growing within my own beautiful child. They decided to not find out the sex of the baby which makes it even more exciting....like waiting for Christmas!

Just some random (Mostly Unflattering) pictures of my family before the wedding

Wedding Day

Savannah originally wanted to just go downtown to the courthouse and get married. 

I talked her out of that. 

Then she wanted to have just immediate family and have a dinner. 

I talked her out of that. 

Then we decided to include a little more family

and I put on a small wedding.

Here's the thing....

I think it takes just as much work

(but maybe a little less money)

to put on a small wedding as it does to put on a large wedding.

Same details.

Same stress.

So the day of the wedding I repeatedly asked myself

"Whose Idea WAS This?"

Then I saw this:

How could I deny those sweet happy faces

a beautiful wedding day.

And it was BEAUTIFUL!

the weather

the bride

the ceremony

the decorations

I'm so happy it's done!

Savannah's Bridal Shower

"I wonder if anyone will notice if I eat all this candy"

The Bride to Be

A fun activity:

Each group had a roll of toilet paper and crepe paper

and they had to design a wedding dress on a model

 

The Model Brides

Savannah with the brides

Opening presents