Birthdays and a few new additions....

Princess's 10th Birthday party
My sweet first born is 10! A whole decade of being alive! She is so sweet and smart and full of fire. She is growing up before our eyes and I just can't believe it! She excels in school and especially loves art, spelling, creative writing, reading, and science...so pretty much everything but Math :) Every other year we allow our kids to have a big friends party. She has such good girlfriends and they are so cute and sweet. This was the year and she chose a Tangled theme. We had 14 girls total~ let me tell you, a total giggle fest!

Decorations

Opening presents

Watching Tangled and eating "Rapunzel's hair licorice"

Cake and ice cream

A few brave girls out in the snow! Bad timing. I had so many outside activities planned but it worked out fine doing it all inside.


Chicks
I am the proud new mommy to 4 new chicks! And let me tell you, a few of them really think I am their mommy! They are fun, but they poop A LOT! Benefits of chickens, fresh eggs, nice pets that are pretty low maintenance, they can be outside 24/7 when they are big enough, they eat all the bad bugs, dandelions, and the fertilizer is great :) The chicken coop should be delivered tomorrow. They've gotten so much bigger since I took these pictures.

G-man is so soft with the chicks. He definitely nurtures them. Mase on the other hand! He is so rough and will pull them on the tail and legs. But he "loves" them!


Ikey's 4th birthday
He was so excited to have a birthday. For months he's been waking up every morning asking if today is the day for his birthday. I love my Ikey. He is so spunky and full of life. He is sure to make himself heard and loves to repeat himself :) which makes me feel like I'm schizophrenic! He's mischievous, and full of fun.
For his birthday he got legos from Grandma S, binoculars from his other Grandma S, a flying airplane, nerf gun, and a new bike with training wheels. I anticipate that it won't take long for those to come off!
Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures. If I can figure out how to post video, I will.


Princess's new little sister
It's not a secret that Princess has always wanted a sister. So princess and her friend got bored one day and took baby Mase downstairs to the dress ups. They introduced me to her new little sister! Isn't she ADORABLE?? He liked it for like a minute. Funny kids!

Mother's Day: Putting it all out on the table.

Not my favorite holiday. OK, my least favorite holiday. The day just doesn't feel special to me. I feel so proud and grateful to be a mother, but in the same breath don't really feel that flowers, a card and a mushy gooshy talk about Mother's are so heavenly, smothered on real thick is really something I need. I just don't like it. I LOVE my role of being a mother. I know that I don't do a great job a lot of the time (shhhh, don't tell my kids ;) but I also know that being a Mother is a thankless job...unless it happens to be Mother's Day!!! I guess I've won the lottery! It's my lucky day and now I should feel so special. (sarcasm)

I feel bad because I have an amazing husband who is so thoughtful and praises me often for my good intentions. We've gone through lots of years of sorting out what the problem is on this day. When Mother's Day rolls around, you won't find a beautiful bouquet of flowers on the table, just because you SHOULD buy flowers that day. I hate that. He actually just pretends that it's not a holiday (which I know probably doesn't lend to him feeling like a loving husband). I'm not one of those wives that puts a husband in the dog house for not buying flowers. In fact, a random flower given on a regular Wednesday makes me feel love far more that a generically placed one on a holiday. Better yet, a sparkling kitchen is even better! :)

With all that said, I know that I am mortal and that this is a problem with myself. Guilt and inadequacy are a side affect of not being perfect. And being someone who is extremely hard on myself, the holiday and I just don't mix well. And I would never want to spoil a beautiful, wonderful day for any other woman. Because heaven knows that we deserve to feel loved and cherished. We do a lot for everyone. So take that love and hold onto it if it makes you feel that way.

As for me, I will keep working on trying to feel the love and self worth that I should be feeling EVERY DAY. Here's the ultimate truth. I don't like feeling this way. I don't think it's what Heavenly Father intends for me. So, I'm working on it. Self acceptance is something to strive for.

On the flip side, I am very grateful for beautiful women in my life. My mother, my mother in law, my sister, and many sister in laws. I hope that they know how much I appreciate them. Not because I tell them today, but through my actions every day. That is what makes the difference. Hopefully I can show that more often.