Mother's Day

This past Sunday I celebrated my 3rd Mother's Day and it could not have been any more special!  I am  incredibly blessed to be able to honor my own Mother, my Mother-in-Law, as well as both of my Grandmothers each year on this day. That's something that few people my age can say.  Each one of these ladies is special to me in their own way and they have all shaped me into the Mother that I am today.

We were beyond tired from the previous day's wedding festivities (I went to bed at 2:30 a.m. again), so we opted to sleep in rather than going to church.  I hated doing this, but sometimes you just can't be in all places at all times.  My Mom requested that instead of fighting the crowds at the restaurants, that we pick up some fried chicken and "fixins" and head to the local park for a picnic.  This sounded like a great idea to me, because I knew it would lower my own stress level if Kyndall could be free to run and play while we enjoyed a peaceful lunch.  (Toddlers in crowded restaurants just do NOT work well together!)

Kelly and Michael stopped by for a few minutes before heading off to the beach for their honeymoon.  You can see Michael's boat in the background!

Showing Aunt Kelly some love!

Who's the kid here??

Mama, on her 30th Mother's Day!

Kyndall was in an extra happy mood this day, so I took full advantage and got LOTS of pictures---Sorry in advance!  Taking pictures is my favorite thing to do, so I decided to indulge since it was "my" day!  =)

My heart!

Goofy girl.....

Love this little face so much

My two greatest blessings

Who would ever know that this child didn't even take her first steps until 20 months old?!  She has certainly  made up for lost time!

Time for gifts!!

Kyndall and Matthew gave me my FAVORITE perfume!

Mom got me some goodies as well......

Grammy's turn to open her gift from us......

Yay!  A gift card for a massage!  Just what she needs after all of the wedding stress!

We also gave her Kyndall's very first school picture, which she especially loved!  (This is a picture of a picture---Ignore the quality!)

My Mom has discovered the amazing wonders of this "as seen on TV" gadget, the "Pocket Hose".  It's that funky water hose that is made of fabric and shrinks up all teeny tiny when the water is turned off.  She bought one for herself and loved it so much she asked for a second one for Mother's Day.  So.....my Dad obliged and gave her what she wanted!  Weird?  Maybe.  But hey, she asked for it!

He also gave her a Hobby Lobby gift card----Can't go wrong with that!!

My Dad's 60th birthday is this Friday, May 17th.  Since we won't be there to celebrate, we went ahead and gave him a few early birthday gifts while we were in town.......

New golf outfit!  My Dad has a "thing" for bright colors so he loved this outfit that Matthew picked out!  (Funny, considering Matthew himself wouldn't be caught dead in anything that even remotely resembles the color pink!)

After we let Kyndall play for a while, we headed over to Broadview Assisted Living to visit with my Grandmother, MeMe for a while.......

A Mother's Day card for MeMe

Kyndall LOVES to visit MeMe!

Having a little snack on the front porch at Broadview

Later that afternoon we said goodbye to Tallahassee and headed up to Thomasville to stay the night with Matthew's parents.  Nonie and Poppie had a new golf set waiting for Kyndall when she arrived.  It's "Princess" themed, of course!

She is surprisingly pretty good for a 2 year old!  Matthew has been working with her on her hand placement, stance, etc.

Loves a wagon ride!

She insisted that "Nonie wide too"

Of course, no trip to Nonie and Poppie's house is complete without playing the wagon game.  Kyndall loves this game.  I do not.  Basically, they start at the very top of the driveway and ride down the hill as fast as possible, all while Nonie navigates by turning the handle of the unsteady, wobbly wagon.  I usually just turn my head.......

As you can see, Nonie loves it as much as Kyndall does

Poppie took Kyndall for a ride on the lawnmower......

Then he took her for a dip on the pool!  It was way too chilly for me, but Kyndall had fun!

Spoiled??  No way!

Not a fan of the Polaris pool vacuum!

I could eat her up!

We had dinner and exchanged gifts with Nonie for Mother's Day.  She received the same gifts that Grammy did---A massage gift card and a school picture.  

Nonie gave me this t-shirt for Mother's Day---Love it!

I couldn't have asked for a more perfect day!  It was laid back, stress-free and I was able to spend it with the ones I love most.  (Minus my Grandparents, but that's a sad story for another blog post)  

I am so thankful that the Lord saw fit for me to be a Mother.  I can't think of any better purpose for my life, than to play the role of a Mother.  I feel like I was born to be a Mother.  It just comes naturally to me.  That's not to say I'm perfect at it, but I do my best and I hope that the fruits of my labor will be reflected in the young woman that Kyndall grows up to be.  She is my greatest challenge in life, yet also my greatest joy.  There is nothing that I am more proud of than her.  She makes even my saddest, most difficult days brighter just by being herself.  

Before Kyndall was ever born, Matthew and I chose 1 Samuel 1:27 as her life verse......

"For this child we have prayed, and the Lord has granted the desires of our hearts."

Truly, she was and always will be the desire of my heart!  I love you, Kyndall Anne Hughes!