Mother's Day with my loves

I had the most wonderful day spent with my little family for Mother's Day! Sam surprised me with a delicious breakfast, then we spent the day on the water with the kayaks! We drove up to Cherokee Lake and packed a picnic to eat on the beach. It was such a fun and relaxing day paddling from shore to shore! Kids had a blast in the water and sand. Sam and I enjoyed doing nothing but sitting and watching them. Love quiet slow days like this! I love these kiddos so much and am so grateful for the opportunity to be their mom. They are both so different and so special. I am excited to see who they grow up to be; but for now, I'm thoroughly enjoying this phase of life.  It really is so amazing to watch them grow and learn by the day!

A BIG huge thank you to the mother's/grandmas in our lives-- Mema, Grandma Robinson, and Grandma Trish for all they do for us! ...and for being such positive examples of love for my kids! I love the individual relationships they each have with Ivy and Marshall! We miss and love all of you so much! 

Briarwood Safari

A couple weeks ago, Ivy's preschool class drove out to a little podunk place called Briarwood Safari about an hour away. Marshall and I tagged along to help chaperone the event and glad we went because it was quite the experience! The entire class sat in one trailer for the entire length of the safari and there were buckets of food to feed the animals as we drove past. I was pretty impressed with how brave these little kiddos were! AND how unafraid the animals were of us! I guess they are used to it by now.

Not every day you get to take a selfie with a llama!!

YAK! No joke! 

These next couple pics are of an albino buffalo! There are only 13 in the entire USA! supposedly there are legends behind seeing a white buffalo that have to do with sacred life and abundance. The worker said they have had Native Americans come and see this particular one and perform prayers and rituals when they do! Pretty cool:

My kiddos and I walked around after lunch and the class had left to check out a few more animals they had there! Such a FUN DAY!

Happy 9 years to us!

Our anniversary was pretty low-key this year considering it was in the middle of the week when our busy lives are happening, and also-- #medschoolbudgetprobs. We decided to just make a fun dessert and watch some movies at home. Wouldn't have it any other way with my best friend! Life has been incredibly fun with this guy and I feel so lucky to have what we have. He always has the most positive outlook on everything and it makes our days together bright and wonderful. I love the balance we have found in our marriage between spending time together and spending time with the kids, and work/school/play. And I appreciate his motivation to really take care of us and put in the effort to make sure we are happy! Makes for a happy wife, thats for sure! Love you babe! These days are just flying by and I am loving every moment together!

Cantemus Women's Choir

This past January I had the privilege to join a local women's chorus named Cantemus. I met Patty Denmark (the conductor) at the high school a few months ago and she had mentioned it but I wasn't feeling quite settled or ready after just having moved here. In January I decided I was was ready for something more involved and contacted her and told her I wanted to audition! I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I first joined. I soon learned how difficult the music is and how hard these women work! It was challenging at first but I got back into the swing of sight-singing and being with a choir again after a few rehearsals. I cannot even begin to say how much joy this choir has brought to my life! I absolutely LOVE the music and LOVE the women. They are all so wonderfully talented and so fun to get to know! I guess I hadn't realized how much I had missed this sort of music and being a part of something so wonderful these past few years but now I know how much it really affects my life! Hooray for choir! And amazing musicians! 

 Anyways, we had our spring concert on May 1st and it went SO well. Our concert had the theme of "world music" and was titled Untraveled Worlds. The music really was spectacular! We featured pieces from all over the world, including South America and Africa! There were solo performances (I just had a small solo at the end of a piece) and LOTS of musical instruments involved. African drums, string quartet, guitar, chello solo, organ.. It really was such a well rounded concert! I included one of the pieces that is posted on youtube. The soloist is a senior in high school! I just love this choir! These two next pictures are of me with my new friend Angela who sits right next to me in choir (she is the Middle School choir director in town), and my friend Sarah who came with Sam and Ivy to see my concert! The rest of the pictures are professional pictures taken by someone before and during our concert.

Playdates with Marshall

These are some of the playdates we went to with some friends throughout the month of April.. This first was just simply lunch at the park! Marshall's buddies all in the tunnel together. These kiddos all have a birthday within a couple months of each other! 

Toddler Bowling! Haha! No other description needed. It was entertaining to say the least! Lol:

And this next play date was a hit. Lunch and dress-up party. After lunch we let all the kids pick out dress-ups and let them walk down a "runway" to model for us, then have their picture taken. It was a riot! Some of the kiddos got so into it! Marshall was a big fan of the runway, surprisingly. Also, this was his first time trying on any sort of boy action figure costume and I'd say he rocked it. He thought it was the coolest thing EVER that he got to dress up as Spiderman! Seriously started playing the part and everything. Love this hilarious kiddo of mine. I think it's about time I got him some more boy dress-ups: