mothers-in-law

You hear stories all the time about terrible mothers-in-law. They are overbearing, protective of their sons, want to tell you how to be a wife or raise a child, how to cook a meal or make a bed.

That is not the case for me.

I have a mother-in-law that I not only love, but I genuinely like.

:: She accepted me the first day we met {with her love of girly things and the fact she had two very un-girly boys, I think she would have loved any girl that walked through the door!}.

:: She adores her grandbabies. She is the kind of grandma who lets the kids dump out the entire lego bin, gives them a full ball of yarn to create spider webs in the living room, and provides them with their own mini shovels to help her dig in the garden.

:: She has given me over half of what I have in my house {pretty much all the cool stuff}.

:: Every time we spend the night, she gets up with the kids. For someone who loves sleep as much as I do and gets as little of it as I do, this is the best gift ever.

:: She dealt with a horrible first marriage and raised her two boys on her own and really doesn’t hold bitterness for a situation that would have ruined the average woman.

:: She gave me him:

I love you Grandma Nonna.

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egg hunts, easter finery and great-grandparents

I like Easter. I like celebrating the resurrection of my Savior, but also the spring weather, the blooming flowers, the emergence of color. I have great memories of our family Easter celebrations. My mom {a talented seamstress} made my sisters and me fancy dresses, but never finished until the night before. I remember waking up on Easter morning to find our dresses hanging finished right outside our bedroom door. Very exciting for three little girls who loved dresses. My dad hid our easter baskets and wrote elaborate clues for each of us girls to find them. We ate baked blueberry french toast and listened to Second Chapter of Acts before heading off to church, then to some enormous family gathering where all my cousins would be wearing equally fancy pastel clothes.  We did egg hunts and ate peeps and smiled a lot. Easter is a good day.

This year, we had two egg hunts to go to. The first was at our neighborhood park.

There are A LOT of kids in our neighborhood, so it is a mad dash to grab the not so subtly hidden eggs.

It’s a little sad to see all the kids in their winter coats and hats on Easter weekend … it was so cold!

After our  neighborhood hunt, we were off to the fire department’s annual celebration. Again, lots of kids {still in winter coats} and more candy than we had from trick-or-treating.

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In my mom’s honor, the night before Easter, I made some little embellishments for the kids’ outfits.

I wanted them to all coordinate, so I made some sweet little flowers for boutonnieres, shoes & a headband.

Before I was pregnant, and certainly before I knew I would have a girl, I made this little linen dress.  It was my first attempt at making a dress, and is pretty amaturely sewn, but it really looked sweet on my Audrey-girl and I was so glad she could wear it.

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I love that our kids have lots of grandmas & grandpas. My husband’s grandparents came up from California for the holiday and we were so happy to introduce Audrey to them. They adore the boys and are just the kindest, wisest, hard-working people you could meet.

How special to have the oldest patriarch with the newest little one.

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend!

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the wedding

My mom got married yesterday.

{the bride & groom}

It was such a perfect day … the weather cooperated, the park was blooming {SO early for around here}, the family was there and the bride & groom were glowing.

This was a simple wedding, but so classy and special. The ceremony took place in a park in Seattle. The reception at a local restaurant overlooking the Puget Sound. My mom’s dress was this gorgeous silvery grey tiered thing that looked so amazing on her.

{the family}

My sisters and I were the bridesmaids and wore a black dress of our choice.

{me & my beautiful sisters}

I’m so glad all the kids were part of this special day too. Grandma & Grandpa just adore them {as they are equally adored}

{Grandma & Grandpa and all the kids}

{the cousins: caroline, ethan, grant, mason & brady. Missing isabella & audrey and one more to come in May}

Highlights of the day:

{my niece, isabella}                                                                                                                                        {my No. 3, Mason}

{isabella and her daddy}

{our new family of SIX, oh my}                                                                                                                   {my No. 2, Brady}

{best buddies}

{mud}

{sweet little girl with her new grandpa}

{my big sister & family … perhaps the most photogenic people I know}

{how I adore this little two year old whirlwind}

{the ring bearers bearing their rings}

{climbing trees}

{See that bruise on my arm? That is from the i.v. that didn’t work while having Audrey. }

It was a wonderful day and will always be a special memory for our family.

Congratulations Mom & Walt

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our christmas

i love Christmas. my husband laughs because whenever the next holiday is approaching {or season, i suppose} i always declare that it is my favorite. but, really, i do love Christmas. the decorations. the lights. the coziness of it. the excitement.

i love wrapping gifts,

and making things.

and {perhaps most of all} the yummy treats.

anyway, as busy as I am leading up to Christmas, we try to make it feel as special as we can for our family. we want them to have great memories of this wonderful celebration and also learn how to give and host and do kind things for others.

on Christmas eve, after a beautiful candlelight service {in which our first little boy held his own candle for the first time}, once the kids were in bed and asleep {finally at 10:00}, we finished wrapping up all the surprises and stuffing the stockings. our house looked so festive! except in this photo, the walls look mint green, which they are not.

on Christmas morning, this little darling woke up at 5:45 {about 2 hours earlier than normal}. that was not pleasant. the older boys awoke at 8 to a house full of grandmas & grandpas just waiting for them to come down the stairs. after about 2 hours of opening stockings and enjoying a delightful breakfast, this little guy had had it. he had a melt down over a candy cane {which he wanted instead of breakfast and got because 1. it was Christmas and 2. because of two grandmas who would do anything to make this little one happy}. so following his episode, he went to bed and missed all of the gift opening extravaganza. therefore, we have no photos of his third Christmas.

the older boys really only wanted legos. but we got them a few other things. our oldest tore through the packages with very little emotion about any of it until i realized that he was just waiting for a lego set.

sheer delight when they received what they wanted.

and they realized that the other gifts were lots of fun too. Christmas night we went to my in-laws for a few days to spend time with family. we had our second gingerbread house making contest …

an igloo

and candyland. he pretty much just tried to get as much candy on his house as possible.

grandma nonna’s dilapidated house

my sweet gingerbread cottage

my husband’s skyscraper {complete with elevator, lobby, boardroom, office, bathroom and, of course, helicopter landing}.

a tank

and our secind’s little gingerbread masterpiece.

Christmas comes and goes so quickly, but it was wonderful and messy and i think the boys will remember this as a good one.

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