mom's day.

this weekend, and every day, i am thankful for the women in my life.  the legacy of my grandmother, the care and nurture of my mother and the two little girls i am so very blessed with.

i'm so very thankful for all of the other mama's in my life that encourage me every single day.  parenting is the hardest thing i have ever done and i'm so thankful to have a crowd of women i respect and admire (and just love being around!) doing it with me.  for all the playdates, long phone calls sharing stories and exchanging encouragement, trips to the park, mornings when we get our kiddos together and it takes us twenty minutes to finish telling each other a single sentence...i am so grateful and blessed to have the friends and fellow-mamas i have.

especially my own sister.

a bit planned on our part, we were pregnant together with both of our babies.  jude and bella are four months apart, and lucy and emmy are only four weeks apart.  pretty awesome, if you ask me.  we've gotten through the sleepy newborn stages together, and now battling the sometimes-nasty-toddler stage.  we cry with each other, we laugh with each other, we escape and leave the kids with our husbands and go shopping with each other ;)  she is fiesty and thoughtful.  loving and encouraging and just all-around-awesome.  i'm so very grateful for having my sister and best friend walk this path of motherhood beside me.  can't think of a greater blessing or joy!

to my aunt, who is one of the most thoughtful women i know.  seriously.  an awesome aunt, and a wonderful friend.  our girls (and us) are so blessed by her every day.  and as i anticipate (and fear!) my girls growing up and leaving me, maybe moving across the country, i watch her, with her own daughter far away, and know god will help me just as he is helping her.

to my sister-in-law, jessica.  who is authentic and genuine.  i can call her on a good day and tell her all about the cute things my kids do.  or i can call her on a more difficult one and know she will laugh with me, commiserate with me and reassure me with a thousand stories of things my husband did when he was little.  and, just as with my own sister, i can always count on her to be a straight shooter, which i love.

to my mother-in-law, who is an answer to my prayers from long ago.  i always asked god for a good relationship with my inlaws... that we would genuinely get along and enjoy being together, as so often is not the case for inlaw relationships.  i'm so thankful that god gave me nick... and his parents!  my mother-in-law is one of the sweetest women i know.  full of grace and light.  she listens, encourages and loves so well and i am so blessed to have her in my life, and incredibly grateful for the legacy she is building into our girls.  they love their nonnie!!

to my own mom: thank you.  thank you for raising me and gret the way that you did.  thank you for instilling in us how to be ladies, how to have confidence in who god created us to be, and how to respect ourselves.  thank you for caring for us when we were sick, for teaching us how to cook, for passing onto us your gift of hospitality and thoughtfulness of others.  thank you for reading to me psalm 139 and teaching me that i am precious and valuable because i was made by a loving creator.  thank you for passing on to us a love of making our houses a home.  thank you for loving my girls.  most of all, thank you for showing us that we can be strong in the midst of life's stormiest times.  i have seen you miss your own mom, and handle it with grace.  and i have been there as you grasped your husband's (and high school sweetheart's) hand for the last time.  i have watched you do things you never imagined you could: say goodbye to your husband, your very best friend.  make a new home for yourself (and it is BEAUTIFUL).  drive to boston and back--behind the steering wheel.  and now, care for your aging in-laws.  i'm amazed by you, mom.  you have handled this dark season of your life with strength, dignity and grace.  i know dad would be equally amazed.  if you could peek into heaven right now, i'm pretty sure he'd give you a fist pump, with a huge grin and a "boom, baby!"  i love you so much, mom.  forever blessed by you being my mom.

mother's day was all all weekend celebration this year (unintentionally) but worked out awesomely (thanks, nick!).  i had a girls night planned friday night with some of my good friends.  we ate mexican food, drank margaritas and chatted and laughed until past eleven o'clock.  it was fantastic.  saturday i had a hair appointment scheduled.  it was a rainy day, and i got to just sit in the salon chair with a hot cup of tea and get my hair cut and styled for me.  felt like such a luxury.  saturday night, my mom spent the night.  we made calzones and watched roger's and hammerstein's rendition of "cinderella", which was such a staple of my childhood.  love sharing those movies with my girls!  sunday morning nick let me sleep in, and i was awakened by him and the girls with a homemade card and giftcard to the gap.  just perfect.  we ate coffee cake baked by my mom and lazed around.  sunday night we got together at my sister's and it was a bit nuts.  the kids were tired, cranky and wild... which made us tired, cranky and wild ;)  bedtime was a welcomed event that night.  such a great weekend, special day and some very precious memories.

cooking breakfast with meme

sweet gifts!

my cup runneth over.