Drama Queen

Earlier today I was showing Lucy my blog and she wanted me to read it to her and so I did. She saw her Daddy's picture and I told her what it said, Gavin's picture and I told her what it read, and lastly she saw her picture and wanted to know what I titled her as... I told her that it read "Lucy - my drama queen". Her reaction was priceless, Lucy was really upset and made a very pouty face with her arms folded, a genuine drama queen reaction.  Lucy then informed me that she is not a drama queen and is a Princess so I needed to change it.
So from this day on I am changing her label from "Lucy the Drama Queen" to "Lucy the Princess". Sorry Lucy for the mislabeling.

Smiles with Jake

The other day we went over to my mom's house so that Lucy could visit with her Mema & Peepa. When we pulled into the driveway Lucy saw my sister's truck, she instantly got excited and hoped that her cousins were there to play with.  To our surprise 2 or her 3 cousins were there and so was Auntie.  Lucy & Jake ran around playing monsters and having a blast while Gavin and cousin Brenn hung out in their car seats. Lucy loves any chance she can to play with her cousins, I think they are not only her cousins but her best friends too! The kids were so cute I couldn't help but take pictures of them and their wonderful smiles :)

Speaking of smiles Auntie was getting nothing but smiles for Gavin, he loves his Auntie.

And of course a I had to get a picture of me & my Lulu

Story Time

The other day the sweetest thing happened Lucy read Gavin a book.  They were so cute!! Gavin sat next to her the whole time and looked like he enjoyed hearing his sissy read to him. A couple of times he even reached for the book because he was so interested in the bright colors in the book. Lucy is such a wonderful big sister!! She enjoys spending time with Gavin and constantly tells him "I am gonna teach you everything I know" it is the sweetest thing ever.  I am so blessed to have such amazing kids.

A beautiful Mother's Day

Celebrated my first Mother's day as mommy of two! I spend the morning playing with Lucy & Gavin, it was a great morning filled with tickles and giggles.  Lucy then gave me my Mother's day present from her & Gavin, it was a cute ceramic plate that she decorated with Steve's help. It read "We love you Mommy, love Lucy & Gavin" the plate is so cute and Lucy was extremely excited to give it to me.  I was also very excited because I have for over a year wanted Steve to make a homemade craft with Lucy to give me for every holiday and well let's just face it men are not very craft & scared of even stepping foot into a Joann's or Michael's so this was finally the day that my wish came true.

After opening my great present & giving tons of hugs we went to lunch at Pat & Oscars. We love going there and stuffing ourselves with their yummy Greek salad, pizza & bread sticks, delicious! After lunch we went to the duck pond at Harveston. We absolutely love Harveston! It reminds us of a community in Texas we love called Savannah, where we bought a house and almost moved to years ago.

It was wonderful and the day was beautiful, a bit windy but still beautiful!  Lucy was so excited to feed the ducks and Gavin was still sleeping. She even got a chance to feed some baby ducks and they were so cute. Lucy is cute when she feeds the ducks she talks to them and asks them if they are hungry and tells them to share the bread, she has enough for them all. So sweet my precious Lucy!

My sleepy little man

Gavin finally woke up from his nap to enjoy the beautiful day at Harveston

 

My handsome little man in a shirt so appropriate for Mother's day

After all the duck feeding, rock jumping, tree climbing, and playing we went home and spent a relaxing afternoon watching movies and lounging in bed :) Steve went and got dinner from the Spicy Pickle, they have the best sandwiches and yes they are served with a spicy pickle sounds weird but they are delicious! We had a wonderful day and I enjoyed celebrating my first mother's day as a mommy of two!

Mother's Day Weekend

The Saturday before Mother's day we had a Mother's day celebration at our house. We invited both of our parents over and had a BBQ.  Lucy I and I had gone and bought tons of flowers to make floral arrangements for the moms and I found a tutorial on making paper flower wraps and thought that would add a matching touch to the flowers.

The flower cone wraps w/ flowers for all the moms I made.

        








 FLOWERS

The beautiful flowers Lucy & I bought to create these great looking centerpieces. I love how mason jars can be used to make anything look cute!

       BACKYARD BBQ FUN!!

     My little man I celebrating our first Mother's day together...I love you Gavin!!

My beautiful Lulu & I. She was so excited to have all her grandparents over and celebrate with them. As everyone got there she welcomed them with a "Happy Mother's Day" even to her Peepa..haha We then had to explain to her that Mother's Day was only for Moms. My sweet, precious Lucy loves any reason to celebrate.

My world & the reason I celebrate

Grandpa Owen & the kiddos

My daddy & I

Silly Lucy, used the tissue paper from the presents to make herself a new beautiful dress. Lucy is absolutely obsessed with imagination play. She is just too cute!

We couldn't stop laughing, Lucy even made Peepa & Grandpa Owen new tissue paper outfits...such a silly girl!

Gavin & his Peepa

My everything, so perfect...my family

All the mothers celebrating the beautiful wonders of motherhood

I thought I would use this opportunity to take pictures of Lucy & Gavin with all their grandparent. I feel so blessed for my children to have such amazing influences in their lives. They truly love their grandparents.

Grandpa & Grandma Owen 

Mema & Peepa

Grammy & Papa

What a wonderful day! The weather was wonderful, the food was delicious and we spent the day laughing, telling stories, and playing with the kids. The day could not have gotten anymore perfect. Oh, wait it did...we served dessert :) I made homemade brownies served with vanilla bean ice cream, and homemade Strawberry graham cracker tarts...mmmm

 

My beautiful Mom & I

I

Booking our trip

Today we finally purchased our airline tickets to Hawaii, booked our rental car, and while doing so I noticed that Hawaiian airlines offers a Lei greeting through the concierge.  I thought what a wonderful way to start our Hawaiian family vacation, right? I just knew that Lucy would have a smile from ear to ear once she gets he beautiful flower lei, so I booked that too :) Such a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders now that everything is booked, paid for and ready to go, all we have left to do is schedule our activities.  The scheduling of the activities so far has been a tough one because we want to do some many things but realistically need to narrow it down to a couple.  Once I purchased the tickets and everything I was so excited to tell Lucy that we had gotten our plane tickets. Her reaction was just as I imaged, one huge smile! Lucy being Lucy wanted all the details; what the plane looked like, what her seat looked like, how big it was, and so on, she cracked me up with all her questions.  My parents are accompanying us on our trip so Lucy asked me mom, her Mema, "Mema who is going to hold your suitcase & Peepa's (my step dad) suitcase?" My mom responded "we are Lucy", Lucy responded "No, a Hawaiian lady does".  My mom and I couldn't help but laugh. Ever since we decided on our family trip being to Hawaii Lucy constantly talks about Hawaii, it is the cutest thing. She thinks that Hawaiian people and hula girls are going to help us with everything...so innocent.

What's in a name?

Once I decided to blog I then was faced with the question of what would I name my blog? Well after much thought I decided on "Leave You With A Smile". The meaning behind the title is simple and easy. I love motherhood and the feeling my heart gets when my kids smile at me, I love the memories we make, the sound of their laughter, and the day to day activities we do that just make me enjoy life to the fullest. It's these memories that make me smile from the inside out and I hope as I share our adventures and stories they too will "Leave You With A Smile" :)