Happy Mother's Day!

This Mother's Day was all about keeping it real.  Laina had a horrible, throaty cough that she is still fighting.  She gets these colds so often and we're sort of lost here without the nebulizer that we had in Michigan.  I'm thinking she struggles more than the other kids because she was born four weeks early and the doctors had questions about her lungs when she was born.  I'm not sure they're as strong as they should be...but that's another story for another day.  (And before anyone comments, I know the twins were way earlier than her...they still struggle with this too.  Again, another story for another day.  :) )

Back to Mother's Day.

Like I was saying, Laina and I stayed home from church.  The house was sooo quiet as she took a nap but I was able to shower without someone barging in and I also had a cup of coffee without the threat of a kid on my lap knocking it out of my hands.  It was nice...for the first hour or so.  Then, it was too quiet and I couldn't wait for everyone to return home.   I hate too quiet.

When everyone did get home, we sat down to a lunch of my Grandma's chicken salad recipe (Jake's and my favorite!), cold veggies and dip, chips and then we finished it off with dirt cake that the kids and I made the day before.  Isn't it fun?!?  The kids made that coffee filter flower too when they made the ones they sent to all of their grandmas.  And of course, worms...what is a dirt cake without worms?  :)

It was delicious!!

After lunch the girls laid down for naps and Cole and Jake went to work on our next project of the day:  a real-life Candy Land game.  The backstory on this is that Cole has been asking us over and over if we could please jump into the Candy Land game board just like they do in the chalk drawings in Mary Poppins.  Finally, Jake said, "We could do it!"  I saw the youth pastor gleam in his eye and knew he'd figure out a way to make it work.  Sure enough, he drew the candy trail on our driveway and we played the game!  He's seriously the coolest dad ever.

The kids had SO much fun and, really, so did we!  At each candy stop, we got to take some candy out of the dish and munch on it throughout the game.  Skittles were at the Candy Castle once you passed the finish line.

Here are the kids all on their first turn.

Laina liked walking around and taking pieces of all of the candy.  However, she did not enjoy the gumdrops...after taking a bite out of every single one!

I am loving Maurah's sense of right and left on this one:

I got this sweet picture of Jake and Hayden while we were on a "potty break" for Maurah.  I love them.

1st Place:  Sassy Girl Maurah

2nd Place:  Wild Haired Hayden

3rd Place:  Cool Kid Cole - who did not have his photo taken for some reason or another

Jake played also but had bad "luck" with the cards.  ("Luck" as in, I kept giving him bad ones so the kids could feel like they'd have a chance to win...I know, I know...lame.  But truly, it was way more fun to watch while he was still playing!)

Here are all the Candy connoisseurs:

I was showered with cards from the kids, tissue flowers Cole made at school, pictures they colored in church and lots of hugs and "I love you, Mommy"s throughout the day.  And Jake gave me a gift I've always wanted...a massage from a real masseuse!   One.whole.hour to relax....ahhh....just thinking of it makes me sleepy.  I cannot wait!

And here's our lovely Mother's Day picture.

 Isn't it just the sweetest?  Ha!  Like I said, we are keeping it real!  I crack up at the moms I've seen on Facebook complaining about their pics where their kids are all dressed up and maybe one isn't looking or it's just not the perfect photo.  Then you have ours...Laina screaming, me in my comfy pjs and forced grins all around.  :)

Ours may not be one to hang on the wall...or is it?  All I know is that I will look back on this day with so much fondness and love in my heart.

Because being a mom in this family is awesome.