mudder's day & highlights from the past week

last friday started off with a mother's day tea at miss emma's preschool.  rob was sweet enough to make sure that he wasn't out of town on that friday...him being home equals carson took a nap while i was at the tea.  so, it was nice that i got to spend some special time with miss emma.  and, i got to breathe while i was there :)

at the tea, emma served me lemonade, watermelon, strawberries, and blueberry muffins.  she made me an extra special placemat and a homemade trivet with her little handprint on it.

gifts with handprints are the best. thing. ever.


her handwriting is the best too.  it makes my heart smile.  she was so proud of her gift and so excited about our tea.  she even picked out my clothes that day :)


white sun dress...turquoise necklace...and high heels...
insert photo here that i plan to bum from a fellow mother.  way to forget your camera, jenn.  mom of the year :)

we had to match, which is why she's in turquoise and white too.  she cracks me up.  i love her to pieces.  and i love bro to pieces too.

i'm not sure which photo is better, so i'll just post both for good measure....


that was us on mother's day at dinner.  rob and the kids took me out, which meant that neither of us had to cook...yay!  and, of course emma made me the sweetest homemade card ever.


my gift was a pot filled with succulence...so neat!  they picked out each plant and planted them together :)

and in butterfly news, we've found FOUR chrysalis...es in my herb garden.  i'm not sure what the plural form of chrysalis is...do y'all know?

we've never actually seen them in this form in nature.  in the past, we always had to catch them, feed them, and then let them become a chrysalis in the jar, so it's been neat.  we are eagerly awaiting the big hatch!


both of them wished me a "happy mudder's day" about a dozen times each on sunday.  they make me smile.  this was at the splash pad later on in the week...i can't believe that summer is here!

i'm blessed beyond measure and so happy to be mommy to these two.

happy mother's day to my mom and to all of the other moms out there.

it's a job that's never done :)

we ended our week at the zoo...


more specifically, we just had to check out the dinosaur exhibit...


kinda creepy, i must say.


you may be wondering where mr. carson is....under my feet and scared to death would be the most appropriate answer :)


so, we moved onto the elephants, which is carson's favorite.


then they tried to act scared for this one...so funny!


we roared at the lions...


found faces in the rocks...


played in the huts...


and spent some time with the chimps...


next on the list was feeding the giraffes.


carson was scared. to. death.  but wanted to feed them so bad.  i helped him along, and in the end, he was so proud!


we ended our day with a ride on the carousel.


i think both of them love this more than anything.


so, so happy!


we're glad it's friday.  we've missed our daddy all week and can't wait to hang out this weekend :)


 i've enjoyed these two all week.  the now with them both is pretty wonderful :)

pretty wonderful as in, i took them both to the zoo by myself and only carried a backpack.  no stroller, no sling, no nursing breaks....amazing!  i've got two walking, talking, and exploring little ones, which is just wonderful.  they both equally enjoyed their morning, which makes the effort all the more worthwhile.

graduation road trip

my little sister or "aunt ash" graduated from college this past weekend...


so, we did the whole road trip thing and drove in for her special day.


we got to see tons of family, which is a rare occasion for sure.


it was so nice to get to see everybody.


great granny even made it in for ash's special day.


rob was at the hotel napping with carson, but otherwise, this is most of us :)


and i'm so sad that mama c.'s eyes are closed in this one!


after the graduation, we met everybody for dinner.  i think my kids ate enough cookie cake for five people!  we threw in a quick bath for the kiddos at the hotel, and then we made the drive home.  the trip went much smoother than i expected...thank you dollar store junk!

and congratulations to my little sister!  we are so proud of you!

a beach day...

we decided to spend one saturday at the beach...


the smell of ocean air is the best.


just to keep it real, let me tell you that the seaweed was terrible.  as in, i've never seen anything quite like it before.  so, i took a few photos on the high shore, because there really wasn't much of a beach.


the kids had a blast...we should be like the littles and aim for low expectations :)


carson loved the beach, and i would love to take them back when it's a bit more user friendly.






rob did venture past the five feet deep by five feet tall seaweed wall that bordered the entire beach, and they did some wave jumping.


i stood by on the seaweed wall and played photographer...love.


truly, it was sand, followed by seaweed, and then fall into the ocean :)


but, like i said the littles didn't mind at all.  we ended our day at a local fish market...like a fish market out of the movies.  it was so neat and so inexpensive!  i wish i had taken pictures, but i was honestly just trying to keep carson out of the fish juice.  we stocked up, headed home, and grilled fish for dinner.  i could so do the beach life...everyday :)