Mother's Day Weekend

I was honestly very pleasantly surprised at how well I handled Mother's Day this year, with everything that has transpired in the last few months and losing our little Nastassia.  It was still hard, don't get me wrong, but I only shed a few tears compared to the fountains I was expecting.

Mother's Day can be bitter-sweet for a lot of people, and I'm one of those.  This Mother's Day marked the due date (actually May 9th, which was Mother's Day in 2010) of the first baby we were expecting but miscarried at 11 weeks.  It marked my 2nd official Mother's Day with my sweet Aurora, and it marked 5 weeks since we delivered Nastassia.  It was a beautiful weekend, and several things happened to help me heal emotionally.

Before I dive into the weekend's activities, I just want to thank Darwin for his love for me as his wife and the mother of our children.  He is the best husband ever, and I'm so grateful for him and all he does for me.  I wouldn't have the opportunity to be a mom if it wasn't for him.  So thanks for helping me become a Mom and be honored this Mother's Day along with the billions of mothers throughout history!  I love you!!

Also, thanks to my Mom, Omie, Mother-in-law, and Grandmother Jennings for all your love and all you do for us.  Happy Mother's Day!

To start off Mother's Day weekend, we were honored to participate in a very peaceful Walk of Remembrance at Thanksgiving Point Gardens.  We were invited to participate in the Walk with hundreds of other families who also have angel babies waiting in Heaven.  As we took our peaceful stroll through the Gardens and walked past dozens of families, I couldn't help but wonder what their stories were.  But overall, I was grateful to be there with Darwin and Aurora to take the time to remember and honor our sweet little Nastassia.  It was a beautiful day, and the gardens were healing to our whole family.

Rori wasn't in the mood for pictures

 Love the sunglasses, and she loves to wear them!

 Dar got some really nice shots of the the beautiful flowers!

 There's a pond with HUGE fish to feed.

Rori would have stayed to watch the fish all day if we'd let her

Inside the Gardens is a Secret Garden with a water fountain that Rori loved dipping her hands into

 I found a dime and let her throw it in :)

 One of the many birds we saw

 Dar showing Aurora the pretty waterfalls

After we visited the Gardens, we spent the rest of the day with my family.  We had a nice BBQ and enjoyed spending the day outside in the beautiful sunshine with people we love.

This girl loves her cars!

 Dar spent some time pulling each of the kids around in the sled

 Aurora and Dakoda

 Aurora and Liam playing in the sandbox

 With Koda and Hannah

 After everyone left Rori, got the sandbox all to herself!  She LOVED it!

 She'd put some sand on the shovel and throw it up so it'd land right on her head.

She did it over and over again.  Silly girl!

 Love this shot! :)

For Mother's Day, Dar made me breakfast, which was intended to be given to me in bed but I woke up before he got it finished.  Dar also got me a necklace I've been wanting, but especially after we lost Nastassia.  It was the perfect gift for me this year and I'm so glad I have a wonderful husband who loves me and gets me what I want :)  He also got me my favorite flowers: Gerber Daisy's, and I love any flower that's yellow! 

 

 Happy Mother's Day!