Thursday, May 27, 2010

May 2010 Update

This post is going to be long and have LOTS of pictures - so be warned! I have become the worst blogger lately so maybe I just need to become a once a month blogger....

Anyway - we've been busy and having lots of fun lately! I haven't managed to catch all of it on picture yet but a lot of it.

We've had some good times just hanging out at home. Chloe started crawling at the beginning of April (right at 6 months old) and is into everything and pulls herself up on anything that she possibly can. This has resulted in lots of bruises and head bumps and teasing of her older sister! Nothing is safe in our house anymore. And she LOVES paper. It's seriously crazy how she can race across the room for any piece of paper - she's not picky! And throws major tanturms if paper is taken away from her. She has 3 teeth on her bottom and one more coming in. Teething makes her really cranky! But she loves being able to eat baby food and joining us at the dinner table (and tries to steal anything she can from Ellie's hand).



My old roommates and friends Jen and Nicole both came into town in the last month. But I apparently didn't bring my camera with me when I hung out with either of them - or didn't pull it out to take pictures I guess! Nicole and Broc and Bric came over to play at our house one day and then we met them at a park for Broc's birthday party another evening. Jen invited us up to her hotel to go swimming one day and then I took Ellie with me to meet her and her husband Larry and some of their friends at a Diamondbacks game that night. Ellie loved going to the game with me and is still talking about how we went with Jen to the baseball game and saw fireworks. I did take a few pictures of her after the game and stole the other picture from Jen's blog!






We went to the Museum of Natural History in Mesa as a family using the Cultural Pass from the Library. Ellie loved to see the dinosaurs and panning for gold (but was completel bored by the rest of the museum).





And we can't forget Ellie's dance recital! She has been enrolled in a Princess Dance Class with Miss Laura (and Ellie's best friend Brooklyn is in the same class) and she has loved it. It's so cute to see her prancing around the house and throwing out dance terms! And we love Miss Laura! They had a final dance recital where parents and grandparents could come and watch them and it was adorable. My friend Amy made our girls matching tutus, bracelet and flowers to wear. And the dance was just too cute. You can watch the video on YouTube if your need some entertainment:






And if that dance recital wasn't enough fun - we got to go and watch the girls during dance class! (Usually Amy and I dropped them off and went to Target during their class time since we weren't supposed to stick around). I loved watching the class dynamics. So funny! I'm happy that my child listens to her teacher though - at least for the most part.





That's enough updates for one post. Next update - my 30th birthday celebration in Disneyland!

Sunday, May 09, 2010

Mom


I will be the first to admit that I usually don't read other people's blog posts around Mother's Day. It gets a little depressing to me to read about everyone else and how they still have their mom around. Not that I'm bitter about it since I know that my family is forever and I will see my mom again someday...But I still miss her each and every day! And with her anniversary of her passing and Mother's Day so close together... it's a rough time for me every year. I don't have very many pictures with my mom in them and this one was taken on my wedding day when my mom was really really sick. Just another reminder to me of how much my mom loved me because even though I now know just how sick she was, she never complained and worked so hard to make my wedding day perfect. She doesn't really look like the mom I remember in that picture but I can still tell how happy she was to be there for me on that important day! And I'm so grateful that she was there since there were many times that I wasn't sure she would make it to that point in her battle with cancer.

I'm extremely grateful for my wonderful mother and everything that she taught me. I'm sad that my girls don't get to enjoy her company here on this earth, but I have no doubt that they knew her before. And I live every day to try and be a quarter of the woman my mom was! The kids were ALWAYS put first and she was so patient and loving and helpful to us. I know I fall short on this more often than not! But I'm learning and growing and hopefully becoming a better mom all the time.

I'm so lucky to be blessed with two of the sweetest little girls that put up with all my imperfections and love me unconditionally! It's a true joy to watch them learn and grow and to be in their presence. Being a mom is really the best - even on the hardest of days... I wouldn't trade it for anything.

My baby brother did a nice tribute to my mom on his website: kevinewhite.blogspot.com

And a music video done of my mom can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MN4yseT1ltM