Mother's Day; May 2013

They say there are no guarantees in life. I disagree. I can guarantee that taking a picture with two small boys (2.5 and 6 months) is nearly impossible every. single. time! We got ready for church early on Mother's Day so that Seth could spend as much time as needed trying to get all three of us looking at the camera for a group shot, and then also get one of me and each son. It's important to me that I spend some time in front of the camera even though I'm not exactly pleased with what I see. Having them sit on my lap helps, though, because you can't actually see much of me (and I had Seth stand rather than sit so that my double chin was as little as possible). We had fairly good success, but only because he took about 100 pictures! ;-)

Here's what it usually looked like:

Which is pretty impressive given that Graham was doing this the whole time:

And Austin was doing this:

or this:

or this:

But we got this*:

And then there was Austin and I having fun (I love these pictures!):

And the best of me and my sweet "Grahamer Man" (read: the only one where both he and I are looking at the camera. Please excuse the cleavage.)

And lastly, the best group shot we could get:

I spent the day before Mother's Day as a Momma Day Away, and I highly recommend it. I got a facial, a pedicure (the BEST pedicure I have EVER had in my ENTIRE life. --think antigravity chair, noise canceling headphones playing ocean AND thunderstorm, warm blankie to cover up with, fuzzy eye mask. It. Was. Amazing. If you live in the DFW or Austin areas. Go to Hiatus Spa for a pedicure. Ohmygosh. It will change your life. I felt more relaxed in that 45 minutes than I have in years!), and then a haircut and highlights. I needed the pedicure, cut, and color anyways, so doing them all in one day was an awesome way to get away.

The morning of Mother's Day, Seth presented me with the most wonderful card I've ever seen in my life. (I had known something was up when on Saturday--after returning from my day away, Austin had marker on his hands. :-) I'm told that Austin told Seth what to cut out and then told Seth to label them with their names (which he identified). Apparently he also wanted a train so Seth improvised. So sweet! I love it.

front

inside

back

My gift was the necklace you see in the pictures, which I designed myself on this Etsy shop. I contacted her and told her I wanted two stones representing October, the most non-pink/opal-like she had, without anything else on the chain. Just the two stones. It's simple, subtle, yet obvious. And perfectly me. I love it. Thanks, babe! ;-)

*This is the first and only picture I have ever seen and thought "He DOES have my eyes." Even the other pictures from that day don't make me think that. Especially the group shot. I see Seth's eyes in that one. Well, whoever's eyes Austin has, they're cute ones! Graham's too.

I know something else that's guaranteed. Getting 5 kids, aged 0, 2, 4, 6, and 8 to take a good picture is also nearly impossible. This is what pictures always look like:

Turner is proving his Spofford Man-ness here. :-| (and it's one of Graham's best pictures)

 half are good and the other half aren't

 But I did get this:

And then a couple of the generations:

How was your Mother's Day? What did you do?