Mama's Heart

Each year, all I want on Mother's Day is a lovely family photo of me and my beautiful children. Each year, it resembles a goat rodeo and we need to take at least 43 pictures. But, despite the chaos we managed to get two decent ones.

2014:

These three are my life. They are nothing less than the most incredible people and I get to spend my days with them. I am in awe that I've been chosen to be their mother. Although I feel like I fail them over and over, I am so thankful for each and every new morning and the fact that their love is so unconditional. They won't remember the messy floors, less than stellar meals, piles of laundry and short tempers, but they will remember laughing until we pee, wrestling, reading, crafting and the endless hugs, kisses and "I love you's".

This journey isn't always easy, but I am so thankful that we get to do it together.

Speaking of a journey, let's take a look back through the years.

2013:

2012:

2011:

2010:

2009:

2008:

2007: (This one was take a few weeks before Mother's Day. My first Mother's Day with Chelsea was spent in the ER with a mysterious pain that turned out to be a ruptured appendix. This turned into a long hospital stay so I didn't get that official picture.)

Do you want to paint a birdhouse?

April 15, 2007 this beauty entered our lives. She is wicked smart, feisty, loving, cuddly and full of attitude. She craves independence and is a social butterfly. We love her more than words can say!

This year, she was adamant that I make her cakes, so she spent weeks searching the internet for pictures of cakes. She quickly figured out that if she asked for a doll cake that meant that she would get the doll as well as a cake. Smart girl. We had this cake at Grandma and Grandpa's.

For her birthday party with friends, she chose a Frozen themed party. I was excited because I adore parties, but I had to learn to hand over the reins as Chelsea wanted to take on more and more and help me, especially with her cake. She chose a cake again based on the fact that she would get the cheesy toys (which she hasn't played with yet) and wanted to help make it. She made all the trees, helped carve the big purple mountain and smeared the icing. All in all, it turned out okay, but I definitely would have chosen a different cake for her. Let it go, Amanda, let it go. ;)

Some fun details - melted snowman waterbottles and giant lollipops for favours. The kids also all painted birdhouses, which had nothing to do with the Frozen theme, but it was a great craft!

We ordered pizza, ate cake and opened presents. We then watched the movie Frozen, but note to self - don't ever plan a movie as a birthday party. No one really settled down, half the kids wanted to play and the other half just kept saying, "Shhh, be quiet!" I thought 13 kids painting would have been the most stressful part of the party, but I was wrong!

She said it was the best party ever, so I guess it all worked out. Happy #7 princess!

My cupcake

Working on a longer post, but had to share this picture. He's getting so big.