Weekend Catchup...

It was busy, but I can't complain. I prefer busy vs bored. It makes the days go by faster which in turn, makes this countdown until Tom comes home diminish a little quicker. Less than eight weeks now...

My weekend started off with a beautiful wedding. On a Thursday morning. I know, kind of strange, but there was open bar and that's all that really mattered. The guests went on a weekend cruise to Mexico after the reception, hence the need for the Thursday nuptials. I only wish I had a babysitter to join them! But I did love catching up with some of my oldest and dearest friends and laughing until my stomach hurt. Thank you Jared and Angela and sweet Canon (their son and ring bearer) for including me in your special day!

These guys are Tom's best friends...so Luke was saving him a spot in the picture! 

That's Josh next to me. He has been my friend since Kindergarten. Tom only stole him away in HS from me;)

I let Madeline give me a manicure. I think Ella's exact words were "oh she needs to find a manicure teacher!" I agree, Ella.

My sister-in-law, Monica, gave my MIL and I tickets to see Lady Antebellum for our Mother's Day gift. What an awesome concert! This is the second concert I've been to with seats on the lawn and I have to say, I prefer it that way. We loved having room to dance and lounge. But we both agreed the concert would have been better with our husbands there. Something about that sweet music Lady A plays that made me just want to hold onto Tom:)

We may have indulged in a little ice cream out by the pool...

Or a milkshake from Red Robin. 

Madeline's 1st Haircut

The mullet/bird's nest is gone! I'm so happy it's no longer there on the back of her head. I don't think Madeline misses it much either. I was a little sad to see the curls that she had disappear, but have no fear...I saved it all in a ponytail tucked nicely inside a sandwich bag. Ella only wanted a trim as she is trying very hard to reach Rapunzel status.

Tea for Two!

Or three with Madeline. Ella's class gave all of the moms a tea party for Mother's Day. It was adorable! They sang to us ( I am really impressed by all of the songs these kids learn!) They fed us cute little sandwiches and tea, of course. They made us these beautiful vases out of recycled water bottles and they were filled with hand painted paper flowers. We had "bonnets" waiting on our chairs and hanging up were posters each child in the class wrote about their moms. I must have thanked Ella a ton of times for making my Mother's Day the best one ever. I loved everything and when they were singing their songs, I stood there and relished every bit of it. I kept thinking to myself "I want to bottle up this sweet age forever". If there's one thing I love about Ella, it's her ability to love me no matter what. Angry, happy, sad, glad...bossy, sweet, stressed. She deals with every one of my moods and loves me anyway. She's a gem. I only hope I can say these same things during her teenage years;)

I really love her even more because she said I was 25. And clearly she loves me because I feed her. :)

Happy Mother's Day to me!

I'm such a lucky lady:)

Family Photos

Our family photos probably differ than the average family. 

I know...blurry! But I love that guy. 

My Maddie I.

My Madeline Irene...oh what an awesome little girl you are! I can't believe you are almost 22 months old. (How do I have an almost 2 year old and a 4.5 year old? Where the heck are my babies?)

You are...

A Chatterbox. So many words spew from your mouth daily, but the newest and cutest, has to be "Popsicle".

A Destroyer. Seriously. It's very unnecessary to take out every book, puzzle, coloring book, crayon, marker, My Little Pony, baby doll, Lego that you own JUST to have it out. Can we work on being a minimalist?

A Snuggler. Yes, you have finally started to want to snuggle. You snuggle with me, with PaPa (grandpa) and now you even try to snuggle with your swim teacher. I LOVE it.

A Honey Badger. You don't care if you fall off the couch and crack your head on the rocking chair. You get right back up and do it again. You don't care that you jump in the pool and can't swim. You don't care that apples aren't supposed to be dipped into BBQ sauce. You are the honey badger and you don't give a sh!t about anything. 

You love...

Watermelon.

Peas.

Blueberries

Grapes

Scooby Doo fruit snacks

White American cheese from the deli. If you don't get a piece right then and there at Publix, you give the guy behind the counter the stink eye. You couldn't care less about the free cookies they hand out.

To dance. You love to "shake your bootie"

To sing 

To dress yourself

To beat up your sister 

To be a camera hog when we video chat with daddy

I can't wait to see how much you change by age 2. I'm sad you are growing up so fast and your daddy misses so much of this, but I am grateful and proud to be your mama. I hope you always know how much we love you. 

She did NOT like that little fly on the slide in that last pic. 

Splish Splash!

We met up with some friends at the spray park to help bring in the month of May. I get a little giddy with each changing month because of course this means we are one month closer to Daddy being home.  (Then total chaos begins!) But we are definitely enjoying every moment we get to spend with our friends here. I'll miss them entirely too much once we move:( And the girls will, too.

Little fishy

I am so proud of Ella. She can swim! She has been working hard and her perseverance has paid off! We start SEAL Swim school tomorrow, but I took this video of her last week. She now swims the length of the shallow end and has attempted the deep end a few times. (a total fear for her).

Ella's Class Picnic

I really lucked out with Ella's pre-school this year. Not only is it a taste of nostalgia for me seeing that I sat in those same classrooms, in those same chairs when I was attending Sunday School there, but it's made my Ella so happy! She adores her teachers, has made so many new friends and much to my dismay, has developed her very first crush. And according to Ella, he will be THE only boy she will ever have a crush on. I told her "Ella, trust me, you will have plenty of other boys to have crushes on." "No mom, this is a forever crush."

The class painted their own letter t-shirts with their first initial on them and then they graced us with a sweet little letter melody. Too bad I had my hand on the speaker of my phone while trying to record it! But I did capture one song. For anyone who knows Ella, she is SHY! Needless to say I was a little shocked when I saw her participating in the songs! My heart filled with pride and I wish I could have frozen that moment for a long time.  Afterwards, we went out to the picnic area for lunch and the kids all chased each other playing tag. I did giggle to myself as I saw Ella's "crush" chasing her around. Oh to be young again and not have a care in the world:)

Something tells me...

we are in for some trouble in less than 12 years...