Girls Trip to Maryland: Shanel's Shower and Mother's Day

This past weekend, Kate and I headed on a plane and flew on over to Maryland.

Pre-flight snack and waiting to board!

We went mainly to celebrate my sister-in-law, Shanel's, baby shower with her.  (She and my brother are due June 4th with their first little lady!  A mere 6 weeks before we are due with our second little lady!)  But this weekend just so happened to coincide with Mother's Day, so we were able to celebrate Mother's Day with some of the finest Mamas I know as well!

An example of the so called "finest Mamas".  #ilovethisphoto

My Mom hosted Shanel's shower and it was wonderful.  Shanel is such an awesome person.  She is surrounded by so many people who love her.  She is strong and beautiful inside and out.  My brother is a lucky guy, and her firstborn is a lucky little girl.  This new little babe will be born into a loving, caring, fun family and she is going to have so much fun!  They all are, and we are so excited to be with them as part of their journey!

Kate settles in with a new book!  

I know someone who would be more than happy to lick the frosting
off of any one of these cupcakes!

GG talks to Kate about her new book!

Aunt Jennifer and Mona enjoying the festivities.

Gramma helps Kate color with her special markers during one of the
shower games!

The Mama-to-be and her Mama.

Mama love!

A cupcake for my cupcake!  Kate specifically
picked the pink one with the pink flower!  #allgirl

Shanel and her girls!

The shower crew!

Kate and Harper were the two littles at the party.

I think they both very much enjoyed their cupcakes!

Look at all those beautiful Mama's!

Mama sandwich.

Mama pear.  #getit

This new little lady will make my Mom a Grandma to TWO!

Pregnant Mamas!

Are you catching a theme here?!  Like I said, the shower was a lot of fun and this newest addition to our family is going to be surrounded by a ton of love from family and friends alike!

Fortunately, since Mother's Day was the very next day after the shower, Kate and I were able to spend some quality time with my Mom and her Mom - Gramma and GG to Kate!  I can't remember the last time we were all together on Mother's Day.  It's been a long while...

Kate loved Nickel - GG's kitty.
#lovescats  #metoo  #iwantone

Walking to the park with the girls!

And running since the park is in plain view!
#letsallbekidsagain  #quintessentialchildhood

Kate on the four-way see-saw!

We are were kiddos again!

Climbing on the jungle gym!

Four generations of swingers...er, um...
#youknowwhatimean

My Mom will always be a kid at heart.

GG, Aunt Amy, and Momma.

Amy and Mom - are these two related or what!!

 

GG, Kate, and Gramma.

Four generations again!

Being a Mom has been the BEST THING in my ENTIRE LIFE.
#nojoke

I kid you not when I say that.  Becoming a Mom has been the most incredible, wonderful, amazing part of my life and I wouldn't change it for the world.  Prior to having Kate, I had know idea what becoming a Mom would mean, but 2.5 years into Mommyhood and I love every minute.  Even the hard ones.

It was lovely to spend this quality time with my family, celebrate the pending birth of our newest niece and Mother's Day.  Being far away from home is hard but enjoying the moments we do have together is what it's all about.

For your viewing pleasure, a few extras from our trip!

Shaking the paint with Pop Pop.

Painting - and, in true Kate fashion, she chose to use pink first!

Our welcome chalk board sign.  I should start a series
showcasing my Mom's chalk board creations.
They are all so detailed and amazing!

Plane ride home selfie!  My love.  My darling love.

Outdoor Painting

The weather has just been so wonderful out and Kate has been basking in every moment she can outdoors!  She is constantly inquiring on whether or not we can have dinner outside, so we try to oblige as much as possible!

Today was no exception.  It was beautiful outside and we loaded up our dinner and headed outdoors. The only thing different about today was that we decided to paint after dinner... Oh, and also do it in the nude.  #cleanupmadeeasy

Kate received a sunflower grow kit in her Easter basket and we had received a couple of extra pots from her school and I've been waiting to let her paint her pots so we can plant her sunflower seeds.  This was the perfect opportunity to get those pots decorated!

Of course Jack joins us wherever he can these days!

Our grow kit!

Starting with purple.  One of our favs!

 

Painting our pots!

She has perfected the pot painting technique for sure!

My budding art-eest!

How pretty is Kate's color combination?!  I wouldn't expect anything
less!

Final products!

And a close up of our pots!

I hope to get these seeds planted soon and to teach Kate about the seeds growing while we watch them grow and then hopefully plant them in our yard.  Then again, it's taken almost two months to get the pots decorated so I set no expectations on when the seed planting is going to happen!

In the meantime, we will be enjoying as much as we can of this beautiful outdoor weather!

Ponytails, Parks, and Poppin' Wheelies

I scored this amazing bike and helmet off of Craigslist recently for $10!  Yes, folks.  $10!!!  And I am so impressed with the quality.  Both the bike and helmet are barely used, so they look nearly new!  Plus, Kate was immediately enamored with both when I brought them home and showed them to her!  She just had to start riding the bike around the house so Brian and I plopped her on and took her for a little spin around the kitchen!

Fast forward a few weeks and with the turn in the weather and our almost daily park visits after dinner, Kate decided tonight that she wanted to ride her bike to the park.  We still need to lower the seat and pump the tires up with a bit of air but I figured why not?  I knew I'd either be pushing the bike or carrying both her and the bike for the majority of the way anyway!

What I did not expect was to see how grown up Kate looked on a big, two-wheeled bicycle.  This took me completely off guard.

I mean, seriously?!  I feel like I'm looking at a
5 year old.  She's one step away from really
poppin' a wheelie!

So little yet so big.
Where on EARTH did my little girlie go?!

In addition to looking that much older on her new bike, when we headed to the park, I was able to put her hair up into a full ponytail.  In the past, I've only pulled parts of her hair back but today she had it all up.  Once again, making her look so much older than what I feel like she really is.

Swingin' sweetie!

I die!  That ponytail!

Oh, and she is fearless.  She will tackle any
and every part of this playground now.

She owns the park and insisted on barefeet.
#thankyoutotheparentwholettheirchildrunaroundwithoutshoesfirst

I am in love with those little wisps!

I mean, I may or may not have taken like 80 photos
of Kate walking away from me because she is just
darn cute!

Time freakin' flies.  And it's never flown faster than the past 2.5 years.  It's insane, and these are the days and moments that I don't ever want to forget.