Happy belated Mother's Day to all the moms out there reading this. I hope you had a great one and celebrated the woman who gave you life (whether that be biologically or emotionally and maturationally, or all of the above).
We had a nice Mother's Day that began with church and ended at my brother and sister-in-law David and Mary's house for dinner. Let's start from the beginning, shall we?
I am so blessed to be a mother. I always knew I wanted children, but no amount of pretending with my Cabbage Patch Kids and American Girls prepared me for this life changing moment:
...or this one below:
Woof! Luckily I'm much better at parenting than I am at being pregnant. My face becomes all-kinds-of distorted! But those are 2 of the 3 happiest days of my life! The third being my wedding day, but that's for another post!
So Bobby surprised me with this for my Mother's Day present and I am so excited to find the perfect hanging spot for it on my back porch:
This beauty holds candles and will eventually hang from my back porch rafters. Our back porch waffles between man-cave and outdoor living space. I want to cozy it up with some burlap curtains similar
to these. I have been doing some gentle landscaping and re-organizing of the space. However, during the fall, my husband claims it. We currently have not one but three grills out back along with a huuuuge TV for football game watching.
Back to Mother's Day. Like I said, we ended the day at David and Mary's house, and she has recently transformed her back porch into another whole living space. They live in a typical 3 BR, 2 story house that I can remember used to be refered to as "salt shaker" style. They have a wrap-around porch that literally wraps around the entire house! We spend the majority of the evening here:
Okay, now I realize that isn't the best picture afterall. She has taken a corner of her deck and covered it with this beautiful gazebo. There are curtains hung for the occasional need of privacy. Secret: she incorporated shower curtains! Totally rain-proof! Below are better shots of the little settee and a curtained corner:
FYI: That column above was just a white, concrete column that can be purchased from just about any lawn and garden shop. Mary marbelized it herself. Isn't it gorg? She has a little side business called Faux Fantastic. If you don't remember, I'll remind you of the little project she did to
my house.
There's a water feature that my li'l booger really loved! Personally, I find almost nothing as soothing as the sound of trickling water. Below is my beautiful niece Lauren and her best pal Bella. If you notice the mighty grill in the background, that was the source of our dinner.
I made mention to my brother and step-father that they were behaving as typical men who like to play with fire. "Do you guys even know how to work that thing?" This shot below was their response:
Ha! Again, typical men. Well, it wouldn't be a Mother's Day post without a shot of our Majestic Matriarch. She hates, hates, hates having her picture made, which is crazy because look how beautiful she is! OMG if I age half as gracefully as she has, I will be so proud of myself.
Finally those men finished our dinner. Mary's porch features a darlingly appetizing place for us to eat:
Thrifty Mary that she is, she found this dining set at a Goodwill! Can you believe it? It is in perfect condition! She added the umbrella and cushions which were all purchased on sale. If you look closely, there are LCD lights hanging from the underside of the umbrella, so after we enjoyed our sunset dinner, we remained outside for some delicious (homemade) strawberry cake! Gosh, Mary is making it hard on Martha Stewart!
Happy Mother's Day everyone!
I should tell you a little history. Rob was so sweet and easy to put to bed. We had a process that we stuck to each night: rocking while reading a book, rocking and patting his back a little bit more, then put him into bed. Now we have incorporated nighttime prayers into that routine, but after 4 years bedtime is a breeze! 
