Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!!

I feel so blessed to have the best mom, grandmas, and mother-in-law!! Mom, you always made being a mom look so easy and all fun! I always wanted to grow up and be like you! Thanks!!

I feel so grateful to be a mom of 5 wonderful kids! They keep my life interesting and bring me so much joy! There's nothing better than having little arms wrapped around my neck and getting big, sticky kisses.

I have the best husband who has always made a big deal about mothers day. Even when he's on the other side of the world, he still makes a big deal about it. Thank you Josh for working so hard for us so that I can stay home and have my dream job of being a mommy. You're the best!

Here are some pictures from the last two weeks.

Anytime Michael sees my phone he wants to see the picture of Josh in it. Then he "talks" to Josh. It is so cute!!

Michael LOVES "Halla" and want to hold, touch, lay on, push, and poke her all the time!!

Michael and his friend spot going for a ride.

My mom came out to visit last week!! We took her to see the alligators and went to the beach.

It's Louisiana so bug repellent is a must. I sprayed it on the kids and had each one cover their faces with their hands, Michael stood for his turn and after watching his brothers and sister cover their faces he did the same. Only his fingers were spread apart and his eyes were wide open! I love this kid!!

On a bridge over the water, there were 3 wild alligators swimming around down there. Mom and I each held the kids very tight! The gators snapped at anything that hit the water and I didn't want any of my kids to take a swim!

I had to look hard to spot the alligators, they weren't very close to where we were. They seemed to be as interested in us as we were in them, they all swam over to where we were.

The kids started throwing in sticks and the alligators would bite them. The kids would have loved to stay there longer but it was making my mom and I way too nervous! Especially Michael who wanted to lean over the bridge and didn't want to any one holding him, his hand, shirt, or anything else!

These are some of the houses right off the beach. All the houses down by the coast were on stilts.

This was the last alligator we saw. This one was much better because the kids weren't standing right above it where they could easily fall in on top of it! We'd just finish our picnic lunch when we saw this one. The kids had a great time throwing in the rest of their lunches to the gator!

The beach! This beach is very different from the California beaches that I'm use to. The water is warm, I've seen lakes with bigger waves, it is very shallow for quite a ways out, and tons of fish that jump out of the water. We saw a few dolphins fairly close to the beach. I'd never seen dolphin in the ocean. It was very cool!

My mom with Hannah. Michael checking on her (I love how he climbed on the legs of the chairs to see her better). Joseph played in the water for a long time and then got cold. I was glad my sister Chloe was there to play in the waves with him. Thanks Chloe!

There were a lot of lady bugs on the beach. Michael had a lot of fun with them. This on started out on his hand and traveled...

all the way up his face! He said, "spider, bite me!" over and over as it crawled up him.

My boys at the beach!

Katie's sand castle!

I've had a hard time finding somewhere that I could put Hannah where she is not in danger from her brother. Not an easy task. The kitchen counter works great! He can't reach her or see her!

Just before Josh came home we made him a new tree for his room to go with his Christmas tree (I wanted him to have a package waiting for him when he got back to Afghanistan). The kids colored flowers to put on the tree with pictures on them. The kids did such a good job! Josh's mom wrote down everything that was on the tree and which of the kids did it.
When he got his package he said it had gotten wet and wanted to know what the tie dye thing was! I was very glad I thought to get a picture of it before we sent it off.

I finally got around to taking so pictures of Hannah in her blessing dress. This is a fairly typical Hannah face!

I love how she puts her 2 fingers in the hole in the binky!

I love the headband that Josh's sister made her!! Thanks Jeni!

We are getting back into a routine and life is wonderful! The only thing I need now is Josh home, then my life would be perfect!!