Mom like a hurricane...

Per tradition, we headed to the water for Momma's Day, we just went a little further than usual. 

Cindy and I had toyed with the idea of heading to Galveston and on Saturday Ryan sent me a text, "Want to go the beach tomorrow?" SIGN US UP! We then hit the grocery store (again) and Sam's to load up on some essentials, got out the beach towels, found all the sunscreen, dusted off the beach chairs, and loaded up the car so we could leave early on Sunday. This guy may manage to annoy the heck of out of me... but he also just supports the heck out of all of my crazy whims. He really does make my dreams come true.

We spent the day exploring... 

building castles... 

flying a fierce kite... 

and hanging out with the ones we love. 

The kids were going CRAZY over all the creatures they found in the seaweed. 

Top right going clockwise:

Sargassum shrimp, sargassum fish, sargassum crab, sargassum slug all found in some sargassum seaweed. 

Here's a little slideshow from the Smithsonian if you want to learn more. 

Luckily none of these tiny creatures were harmful because the kids were playing with them and holding them and learning all sorts of things from Uncle Josh/the coolest science teacher around. Unfortunately, there were other creatures that were harmful hiding in those weeds and Caroline, Radley, Millicent and Landry became the victim of some jellyfish stings. Check out those welts on poor Lands. 

After the initial shock and tears, she handled it like a champ. 

Radley really really really really wanted to take this guy home. 

Instead, we let them keep the buddies they came with. 

Every year on this day we "get away" from the hustle and bustle and "stress" of it all. And I'm still not sure what "it all" really is. I am certain that I bring some of those feelings on myself and I'm challenged to get away more often. And maybe that doesn't always mean driving two hours to the nearest ocean (although that is awesome)... maybe it's leaving my phone in the car, putting my computer away, turning the camera off and just watching them. 

Motherhood is kind of like a day at the beach... in the middle of hurricane season with a side of tsunami. 

The gale force winds blow in disguised as homework, soccer, dance, PTO meetings and pretending to know what friend they are talking about. You get swept off your feet when they confide that they were made fun of at school or that one of their lifelong friends has been acting like a bully. You want to throw on a life jacket and make sure that they stay afloat, but at some point they have to buckle their own clips, stand firm, and take shelter

But then there are actual days at the beach, like when they do something for the first time and you know for certain what pride looks like. When one of them falls in step with you and grabs your hand. Or maybe when they just say, "I love you, Mommy" for no other reason than that they do. 

God's beauty runs deep in the love we are given as Moms. I'm grateful for the ones that call me Momma, the one that made me a Momma, and those that Mom (and Dad) right along with me in the trenches of the hurricane every single day. 

Never in a million years would I have predicted this life. But I wouldn't trade one messy moment of it for anything in the world. Including the mom-suit.

Happy Momma's Day, everyone!

Sunday in Pictures...

We may have had the most perfect Sunday ever. I slept late, the kids went to Sunday school, we meal prepped, cleaned up outside, read books, made sun tea, watched every Tinkerbell movie made, had a tea party, ate a delicious dinner, went for a family walked and topped it all off with a newly minted training wheel-free bike rider. See for yourself...

Mental note: Let's make every Sunday this good. 

Easter Blessings...

Sometimes you just want to go home - Easter has become that holiday for us. The kids and I headed to Waco on Friday afternoon for a whirlwind tour of the mall, HEB and hanging out at Gigi and Pops. Jenni came over on Saturday to take me to a fabulous flea market while the kids drove Pops and Gigi crazy spent quality time with the grands.  As soon as we got back, we had a request for the first confetti egg fight of the weekend.

A. I'm not sure who told them they could grow up so much. Karli will be TEN in May. TEN. 

B. He is so excited about the 1/2 inch he currently has on her.

C. Frousins are the best kind of relatives.

 We parted ways Saturday at lunch - the girls hit up Schmaltz and Target while the boys played four holes of golf. When we all got settled back at the house, it was time to dye some eggs.

The girls kept throwing their eggs in a cup and then would run off to practice their gymnastics/dare devil skills. They have learned how to climb to the top bar, hang do a flip and then let go. I am equally proud and terrified.

Ghosts of Easters past live in that ziplock baggie.

He hates it when I take random pictures of his face. But I want to remember every tiny detail... like that barely there scar that remains from when he fell and scraped his cheek on a door frame, his shaggy hair, those long eyelashes, and brown eyes that make me feel like I'm looking in a mirror. 

I look at him and try to imagine for just one second what the sacrifice God made for us feels like. I can't emotionally or physically take the pain - I can't even fathom what He must have felt knowing that His son was born to die. A painful death to save a bunch of sinners. That would just keep sinning. I look at him and see grace. 

We all voted that this year was the best our eggs have ever looked. Emmy's "King family" egg got voted best in show with it's rainbow hombre effect.

;) 

Mom pulled out this darling old table cloth and we both voted that it would make the perfect backdrop for a newborn Easter baby - we also voted that someone else would need to provide said baby.

Early bedtimes on Saturday for some early risers on Sunday! 

Ol EB did not disappoint with swimsuits all around!

Emersyn had an especially hard time decided between two bathing suits this year - but EB (ehm, GiGi) came through and got them their next favorite).

The girls also got matching pjs with their American Girls and Rad lucked up with this awesome game - I may do an entire post on how much fun we had making things up for it!

They all hurried and got dressed so they could find all the treasures that EB had left in the backyard, too!

What do you know... the Tooth Fairy celebrates Easter, too!

I need to confess - I didn't buy the girls new Easter dresses... I KNOW! I love these so much from last summer that I took all the risks and did a repeat. We survived.

Also. I wore pants.

You'd think that was all the fun we can handle for one weekend, but Gigi and Pops had one more surprise left. We stayed up late filling plastic eggs with coins. Each kid got to hunt for an egg of each color/type (I'm not sure why we never thought of this before). 

We had so much fun watching them and instead of fighting over eggs they helped each other find colors. Major wins all around!

Landry even made time to stop and pick some flowers.

Hope you all had a blessed Easter weekend. He is Risen and we are free!