Every year we rent a house and we go to the beach with my husband's family.  We used to go in September after everyone went back to school and things were a little less crazy.  However this year with Andrew starting Kindergarten we had to go in May, so that meant that Maiya's birthday would be celebrated at the beach!  What a lucky girl if you ask me. 

She decided she wanted her theme to be Little Mermaid so we made it a beach Little Mermaid theme and we all had a great time.  She was so excited and loved every second of her party.  I think it was by far the best party she has ever had...not to mention the best guests...FAMILY!

My mom is an amazing woman.  She has been going through chemotherapy since March and will have to undergo 11 more months before she will be done.  She has six more weeks in her second round which she has to go to every week.  She is staying strong though and I am so proud of her.

In May my mom gave us all quite a scare.  She got really sick and was admitted into the hospital for a week.  She had developed pneumonia and they could not keep her oxygen levels up.  She ended up getting a blood transfusion when her blood cell count dropped dramatically low and once they did that she started to get better much faster.  They did find some new spots on her back and ribs but decided that if it was cancer all the chemo she had left would take care of it.  We are all praying they are gone in 11 months.  She also has a broken bone in her back and that has been causing her huge amounts of pain.  There is nothing they can do for the broken bone, that will just have to heal on its own.

Even through all of this my mom is staying strong.  It is hard but she is a tough woman. She is my hero and I love her so much.  I am so excited to be going back up to be with her next month...and the kids are too!





 

Okay so I am really far behind on posts.  I am working on getting caught up but it is going to take me a while.

Since Andrew's preschool graduation was May 12th I thought that would be a good place to start...not to mention it was the cutest thing I had ever seen.  Watching all these little kids walk down the isle to Pomp and Circumstance in their caps and gowns was absolutely adorable.   They all were smiling ear to ear with pride and it was awesome!  I am so proud of Andrew.  When I think back to the start of this preschool year and all the problems we had at the old school to where he was on this day it brings tears to my eyes.  He has grown so much in a short time and I couldn't be more proud of him.  I still can't believe he will be in kindergarten in six weeks but I know that he is going to LOVE it!

After the graduation ceremony several of us met at the fountain to let the kids play.  We had a wonderful time and I met some really amazing people!

Summer is finally approaching and I couldn't be happier.  I want the warm weather to come and stay and I want to be able to relax and enjoy the time with my kids.  Parts of this year have been amazing and other parts have been hard and confusing, but I am looking forward to the next chapter in my life.

Maiya is about to celebrate her 3rd birthday and she will be surrounded by those who love her the most.  She will also begin her first year of preschool in the fall and hopefully a ballet class. 

Andrew will start Kindergarten next year and is not quite as nervous as he was earlier (I think he is actually starting to get excited about it).  He has been playing baseball and has loved it, so we look forward to the fall season.

My mom is still fighting hard.  She has had several set backs and the one she is going through now is huge but I have faith that God will be with her and us each step of the way and she will end up on the winning side. 

I don't know what the future holds for me.  I do know that some of it is going to be sad and heartbreaking, but I also know that it is going to a fun and crazy ride.  I look forward to it!

Another Easter has passed us and what a wonderful weekend it was!  We started the weekend with a double header baseball game on Saturday for Andrew and then had a wonderful warm sunny day on Sunday.  It was perfect!

Here are some picture from the festivities!

St. Patrick's Day has just been another holiday that kind of came and went in our household without much notice by us until a friend shared with me and idea she read on another person's blog.  The idea is having a very mischievous leprechaun come in the middle of the night and turn the house upside down and green.  So there are a ton of things you can do but I decided to start small this year because I know with each passing year it will have to get bigger.

So this year our leprechaun came and turned my kids hair green, left leprechaun dust (green confetti) all over the floor in every room he had been, hung shamrocks from the ceiling on the stairs, put our kitchen table in our living room, put the chair on the floor the wrong way, silly stringed the kids rooms and hallway and left a tattoo on each kid.

Andrew is five and he never wakes up in the middle of the night well that night of course he did to get a drink and he saw the string and confetti all over the floor and at 4:30 in the morning comes running in my room at full force and volume screaming "the leprechaun came, he made a huge mess in my room!"  That was the end of Andrew sleeping.   So we came downstairs and Andrew couldn't believe what he saw.  He has already started talking about building a trap next year to try and catch him.  :)  Next year I will do more like turn the milk green, tie shoes together, and other little crazy things.  :)  We had such a good time and all though there was a huge mess to clean up after the day was over, it was so worth it to see the kids have so much fun with it.

For those of you who do not know I am Catholic and Lent has begun.  With Lent you are supposed to give something up but for the life of me I could not think of anything to give up.  I have done everything before so as I am racking my brain and  it dawns on me that maybe instead of giving something up I should work on giving up more of myself.

I have been saying if for a few months that my faith is really growing with each passing day.  I find myself praying more and more throughout the day and I truly feel my love and faith growing that I just get so excited.  I am not saying that I am perfect because the Lord knows that couldn't be further from the truth.  I am just trying to become a better me and a better follower of Christ. 

Matthew 7:24
"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.