::mothers' day::

"She broke the bread into two fragments and gave them to her children, who ate with eagerness.  

'She hath kept none for herself,' grumbled the sergeant.

'Because she is not hungry,' said a soldier.

'No,' said the sergeant. 'Because she is a mother.'"

~Victor Hugo

I had such a sweet mothers' day :)  The morning was a bit of a rush.  I really wanted to go to church and hear the kids sing.  The talks were an added bonus-they were so great.  One boy told a story about a man who ordered flowers to be delivered to his mom, and on his way out of the shop, he saw a girl who couldn't afford flowers for her mom.  So he gave her some.  Then he took her to give them to her mom.  The girl led him to the cemetery.  Them man cancelled the delivery and took his mom the flowers in person.  What a story!

After church, we headed down to our usual mothers day brunch at the Grand America Hotel.

Here's our group.  It's a little different than in years past.  No cousins, and we've added Gloria.  We like the Gloria addition, but we missed the cousins (we missed them last year too).

We were in the Grand Ballroom.  It was just beautiful in there!  We ate (a lot) and listened to the live band.  They were pretty good :)

Afterwards we walked around the courtyard.  There may have been a few shenanigans going on with the little boys and the fountains.  Porter might have dipped his head in the water (and Bubb of course followed suit).  I'm kinda sad I didn't get a picture of it, but we didn't think it was all that cute at the time.

Then after we got home, Matt and the kids had some gifties for ME!!  They had been so excited all day long.  They were kinda sad that we didn't do it in the morning, but with 9:00 church, we just didn't have time.  So I finally got to see all the cute little things they made me at school (which I absolutely adore).

(look at Port's silhouette!  Ahh I just love it!  He picked me some flowers out of our flowerbeds too :) & Chloe's sweet notes ;)  )

It almost goes without saying how much I love being a mother.  I am thankful every day for my sweet babies.  Even on the roughest of days when they've been fighting with each other all day, tearing up the house, haven't been listening, etc, I'm thankful to be their mother.  I love them more than the most beautiful of words can possibly describe.  I want them to know above all else, that their mother (and father) loves them forever, for always, no matter what.

::our six-year-old-boy::

Port turned 6!

(almost 2 weeks ago, now.)

We always let the kids pick where to go to dinner, and usually it's McDonald's.  This birthday was no different.  Port picked McD's, but, we ate it at the park, which was way fun.  It's nice to have a birthday in May-when the weather has a chance of being warm enough to do something outdoors :)

They ate and played and it was lovely.

Then we went back home to sing to him and blow out candles and have cake...

He liked being sung to :)

...we were excited to give him our gift...

...a big bike!!

It's an 18 incher.  It's red with yellow wheels and flames on the sides.  

He loves it.

The next day we had a friends party for him.  It was, of course, Mario themed.

His invitation...

We had the whole thing outside in the backyard because 10 little boys in the house=no bueno.

We played a few party games...

Pin the mustache on Mario...

Princess Peach Tiara Toss...

Yoshi's Egg Race...

(They were supposed to get from one end of the yard to the other with their egg on the spoon and one hand in their pocket without dropping it-if you dropped it or touched it, you had to start over.  Port might have cheated. :)  )

He opened some fun presents...

They had some treats...

And beat a piñata to finish off the party...

Look at this boy!

He's six!  I feel like that sounds a lot older than 5 don't you?  I get a little frustrated with his manners (i.e. burping at the dinner table and such) and sometimes he'll throw a fit when he doesn't get his way, and Matt will say, "Honey, he's FIVE!!"  That's so fitting to his personality too-being 5.  Well, he's not 5 anymore!  He's 6!!  Time to straighten up, Buddy!  Just kidding!  He's such a fun kid.  He's silly, crazy, happy, excited, difficult, gross, lovey, tenderhearted, soft-spoken, cuddly, and lots more Porter-ish things.  He still loves his mummah (blue blanket), and sleeps with it every night.  He's still very into Mario, and gets SO super excited when he talks about it-he talks louder and faster.  He likes to play outside, ride his bike, play catch, hit the baseball, kick the soccer ball, run, climb and do the monkey bars.  He loves to build with blocks.  His all time favorite food is chicken Fettuccine Alfredo.  His baby sister adores him.  She thinks he's the funniest thing in the whole world.  His older sister kinda goes back and forth-sometimes he's totally annoying to her, and sometimes he's pretty great.  His brother thinks the sun rises and sets in Porter. They fight, of course, but Bubba couldn't survive a day without Port!  His measure of time during the day is how long we have before we have to go pick Porter up from the bus stop.  He's happiest when Porter's home.  He gets horribly jealous when Port has friends over.  I really feel like Bubba thinks (whether he knows it or not) that Porter exists just so he has somebody to play with :)

We sure love him.  

Happy birthday, Port-Port!!