Here is a picture of my very first Mother's Day as a mom in May 2004. I had gone through so many previous Mother's Days just aching to be a mom so this was a VERY special day for me. We had a picnic at Pokagon and took our bikes along as well. A beautiful day!
Since then, we've been going back to Pokagon each year for Mother's Day. Sometimes having a picnic at the park and other times eating the special Mother's Day Brunch in the restaurant. I love it there! Thanks to my sister and brother-in-law for the idea...they've been going for years as well. This year we ate at the restaurant and had their immaculate Mother's Day brunch buffet since the weather was rainy outside. 
My sister (seven months pregnant with baby Emmi), my mom & me.
This day was also my niece Lexi's 10th birthday. After lunch, we had a little birthday party for her in the hotel lobby. Lexi is such a sweetheart and I love her excitement and energy. She always has a beautiful smile on her face and just adores our children...we adore her too!
This cool kid just got his drivers license last week!
The rain certainly didn't put a damper on our day. Kevin drove my mom and I over to the Outlet Mall right down the road and let us shop while he and my Dad watched the kids. Thanks honey! You're the greatest!
Since then, we've been going back to Pokagon each year for Mother's Day. Sometimes having a picnic at the park and other times eating the special Mother's Day Brunch in the restaurant. I love it there! Thanks to my sister and brother-in-law for the idea...they've been going for years as well. This year we ate at the restaurant and had their immaculate Mother's Day brunch buffet since the weather was rainy outside. My sister (seven months pregnant with baby Emmi), my mom & me.This day was also my niece Lexi's 10th birthday. After lunch, we had a little birthday party for her in the hotel lobby. Lexi is such a sweetheart and I love her excitement and energy. She always has a beautiful smile on her face and just adores our children...we adore her too!This cool kid just got his drivers license last week!The rain certainly didn't put a damper on our day. Kevin drove my mom and I over to the Outlet Mall right down the road and let us shop while he and my Dad watched the kids. Thanks honey! You're the greatest! Here's a picture we took at home before church. Caedmon gave me a little present he had made at school (Parents Day Out)...a scrapbook with pictures of him throughout the whole school year. I loved it!
Here are more gifts from the kids.
And from my sweet husband...a purse, some bath & body stuff and a foot rub when we got home.
Here are more gifts from the kids. And from my sweet husband...a purse, some bath & body stuff and a foot rub when we got home. 
On the Saturday before Mother's Day, we went to Kevin's mom & dad's to spend the afternoon. The guys worked on adding a slide to Grandpa & Grandma's swing set. It was a nice relaxing afternoon and the highlight for me was watching and taking pictures of all the cousins running & playing on Grandpa & Grandma's beautiful property. 
Grandma always loves to give the little ones a ride in the red wagon, but little miss Karis thinks she's outgrown the wagon now I guess and thought Grandma needed some assistance. I got a big kick out of how she wanted to do big things and tried to keep up with the older boys that day. Here is Lincoln, Kaiya & Karis. 
Here she has totally taken over for Grandma. So cute! 
So hard to believe that she's going to be two next month!
The boys were busy catching salamanders and those salamanders travelled home with us that evening in a cup. Caedmon was so concerned about them. Bowen is Curt & Sarah's nephew and was with them that day. 
You'll get a kick out of this one, Joyce. When Caedmon saw him at first and we said that his name was Bowen, he was confused and thought we said that it was Owen. He said "Mommy, he grew up and got bigger."
I always enjoy walking around and admiring my mother-in-law's flowers. The tulips were blooming beautifully that day! 
The slide is finally ready to test out. A bumpy ride...I went down once and felt my body creek & crack in odd places. I think I'll let the kids enjoy it from now on. :) 
These pictures were so fun to take of Caedmon, Easton & Kaiya playing in the old cart next to Grandpa while he grilled the chicken over the open fire. 
I am so amazingly blessed to have the privilege to be a part of this family. I love them all dearly! Thanks mom Ruby for all the motherly love you give to our family and the example you've shown of what it means to be a Godly mother. Happy Mother's Day!
After tucking the children into their beds, we watched the movie "August Rush" (I recommend) with a few interruptions from my son who was having problems adjusting to sleeping on the floor in our bedroom. Poor guy got himself into trouble a few times, I think feeling left out because the two little girls played together more. The girls had fun, before bed, playing in the pack n' play and squealing...he wanted to join in on the fun, but was too big. 
Saturday morning we headed to the soccer game ready to wear our proud parent badges and excited to have Uncle Lyndon & Aunt Krista along to watch our perfect little soccer player. Well, Caedmon is still learning the whole concept of the game and still confuses it somewhat with playing football...his all time favorite sport. It seemed at this game more than any of the other ones, he had problems with too much contact with the other players. Not sure if he was just so excited to have his Uncle & Aunt watching him that he just couldn't control his excitement or if all our parenting techniques just went down the drain that day. 
There are 4s, 5s & 6s on the team and he is one of the youngest but also the biggest so his maturity level doesn't quite match his size yet and it is hard for us and probably the soccer coach as well to keep our expectations at a four-year-old level...this is something we've struggled with for most of his life and something that I pray about regularly...to not exasperate him, to have patience with him but at the same time knowing the correct balance of discipline for his age. One of the many parenting challenges that we all go through. I know that with the Holy Spirit guiding me, the Lord will be our helper. 
The night certainly wasn't over yet for us...we picked up Immanuel and had a birthday party back at our house for him. He turned 10 last Saturday. We all watched another movie together and had birthday cake & popcorn. It really worked out perfectly for Caedmon this time because he adores Immanuel and finally had another boy to play with...he was extremely excited...so excited that he blurted out what we got Immanuel for a birthday present. 
Immanuel spent the night and went with us to church the next morning. It was gorgeous that afternoon and the boys had fun playing a good ole' game of backyard baseball. 
This was Caedmon's first time actually playing a game and it was so cute after hitting the ball he would take off running with the bat, run past first base and keep on running straight as fast as he could. I love this picture...it really captured the moment of how much fun he was having. 