Happy Mother’s Day 2018!

Mother’s Day 2018 was a sweet, sweet celebration. It was a quiet day filled with quality family time, tasty food, a little pampering, lots of sunshine, and some very thoughtful and creative gifts. I feel so grateful for my incredible children, thoughtful husband, selfless mother, caring mother in law, and the wonderfully gracious “extra moms” in my life who have shown me love and guidance throughout the years.

Our morning started early, thanks to Cole, our resident morning person. Thankfully, he is sleeping through the night, but those 5:00am wake ups are still a bit tough. Anyhow, we were up with the sun, so we made a lovely breakfast for my mom, I assembled a bouquet from the garden (so excited we still had some lilac blooms!), and then Mom and I headed out for pedicures.

Isla made darling popsicle stick planters for each of her nanas! I took her to the craft store and she picked two paints for each planter, based on her nanas’ favorite colors. After painting the popsicle sticks, I helped her hot glue them to a large tin can. Then we took a trip to the local nursery and she picked out the perfect plants for each. She also made the darling stamped tulip card using a potato! I’ll share more on that process in a separate post soon.

After Mom and I returned from our pedicures, Isaac and the kiddos spoiled me with the most thoughtful and artistic gifts! Each year since Isla was old enough to hold a paintbrush, she and Isaac have collaborated on a Mother’s Day art project for me. They feature Isla’s painting, and Isaac hand letters the “I love you” saying Isla has used most frequently that year. When she was one she would say, “I yuh you.” Heart-melting, right?! Then when she was two she would say, “You make my heart so happy.” Last year she became enamored with Jack Prelutzky’s poem, “I love you more than applesauce,” so that became our favorite thing to say to each other. This year, fueled by her fascination of the natural world, she determined space (and the universe) to be the biggest thing there is, and so she now says, “I love you more than space!” I am over the moon thrilled that this has become a tradition! Yes, pun intended. The sweetest card! I was so excited to have one of her beautiful tulip cards to call my own. Isla was SO proud to have done all the writing by herself. Baby girl, I love you more than the whole universe too!

How amazing are these are these gorgeous name necklaces?! The best part is they are in Isaac’s handwriting! They are such a beautiful reminder of my three favorite people. I am obsessed!!! Daddo creativity for the win! Thank you, thank you, thank you! For those of you inspired to create your own custom jewelry gifts, this is the shop Isaac worked with.

More thoughtful Mother’s Day treats that I love!

I cannot wait to enjoy some wine and cheese down at the cottage with this fun new cheese board!

And speaking of wine and cheese, Isaac prepared this lovely little lunch, which we enjoyed on the front porch while the kiddos were napping/resting. Then Nana stayed on kid watch for us so we could sneak away for a few minutes and pick up my favorite coffee treat.

Cat photo bomb. Not specifically Mother’s Day related, but I just love these two together! I also cannot get enough of Cole throwing back his bottle with one hand!

Cole admiring my new pedicure.

We spent the evening in the backyard, enjoying the gorgeous weather and lots of happy snuggles. Isaac took some portraits of the kids with me, and I am really grateful he did. Like many other mothers out there, I am not super keen on being in front of the camera, but these photos are SO important. My children deserve to have these moments preserved, regardless of my own discomfort about the extra chub I’m carrying around. I want them to be able to look back through these photos and see how I gazed at them with so much adoration. I want them to remember how sweet their little hands looked tucked into mine, and what it felt like to be small enough to curl up in my lap. This is what I will see when I look through these photos too. The love and connection we share is far more important than looking perfect. I look at her and my heart nearly beats right out of my chest. So in love with this sparkly girl, and I still think her giggles are the best sound I have ever heard.