We were so thankful to have about 50 of our friends and family there. We invited friends with kids and friends without kids. So many of our friends have kids that are Hudson’s age or Hayes’s age. And a lot of our friends have kids both of our kids’ ages. It’s so much fun to get them all together!

At Hayes’s party, everyone just ate and the kids ran around and had a great time just running. Then Hayes devoured his cake. He defined “smash cake” that day. He absolutely loved it!

So this post is really just a picture dump, but I just have to post them for my memories. Enjoy!

2. Crist and I had our first joint personal training session on Tuesday morning. It actually went well. But it didn’t start off on the right foot. Literally. It was 5:30 a.m. and we were running outside and doing lunges in the dark. All of a sudden Crist said, “Watch out for that hole.” And about two seconds later I was on the ground. I can’t believe I fell that hard and didn’t hurt my ankle. My palm was a tiny bit skinned up, but no big whoop. But I was laughing because I’m sure our sweet trainer was thinking how awful it was that she got stuck with the klutzy client! We survived the training session.

3.We had our second personal training session this morning at 5:30 and it was great. I don’t love it or anything, but I really like our trainer and I can absolutely feel that it’s working. I’m very sore, but it makes me feel better about bathing suit season approaching.

4. I’m going to be starting a new weekly thing on my blog where I do a review of the week and highlight a different blog I’m reading every week. I’m excited to share some of my favorite things and people with you on a regular basis!

5. Did y’all see the SMASH finale? Oh my goodness. How awesome is Katharine McPhee? #TeamKaren

6. Are y’all watching The Bachelorette with Emily Maynard. I just watched it last night on the DVR. I haven’t watched a season of the Bachelor/Bachelorette since Brad’s season with Emily. But I like Emily, so I think I’ll watch this time. Poor Todd has to put up with another season of this junk.

6. We had Hudson’s last day of school yesterday. I’m so thankful for everything that has happened this year as a result of him attending his preschool. Hudson made some wonderful friends and so did I. Here he is saying the blessing before their end of the year party. Sweet thing.

7. At Hudson’s school party yesterday, there were about 3 little siblings toddling around the room. Hayes spent most of his time sneaking bites off of the big kids’ plates with his buddy. I love all of these kids so much– and their mommies.

8. Yesterday in my post about letting go of the to-do list, I said that “quiet time is non-negotiable.” I think some people thought I meant having my own personal “nap time” or just hanging out on the couch. When I say “quiet time” I mean my devotional time. Sorry for that confusion.

9. I need a pedicure in the worst possible way. Except I don’t really love pedicures. I love that they polish and shape my toenails, but I’m so horribly ticklish, that I am just on edge through the entire pedicure waiting for the moment when she scrubs the bottom of my foot. I just don’t relax. But I do really need a pedicure and some pretty Cajun Shrimp on my toes.

10. I love this shirt. I just love solid navy right now. Maybe the Anthropologie fairy will deliver this shirt to my doorstep?

11. Today we’re just going to hang out, watch Peter Pan (I just ordered this one the other day since it was the last one we didn’t have, and I’m super excited to introduce Hudson to it. He is obsessed with every Disney movie), go run around the park, and go for a walk. I got up early so I could get “my stuff” done. Todd and I have a date night tonight–we’re going to see Grease! at the Town Theater, so when the boys nap this afternoon, I’ll be getting all spiffed up!

12. Also! I took this picture yesterday as a joke to send to my friend, Nina. I opened my package from Bridier Baubles and found this fun koozie. And that’s a a Diet Coke in there, not a Coor’s Light! Ha! (oh yeah, totally didn’t follow through with my New Year’s resolution to give up the Diet Coke.)

13. Today is the first day of summer for us! Exciting stuff!

I am a task master. I love making to-do lists. I like to get things done and sometimes I add things to my list just so I can get more things accomplished.

Every day, my to-do list looks a little bit like this…

Get dressed.

Put on makeup.

Dress kids.

Take Hudson to school.

Exercise.

Shower? Maybe? Only if there’s extra time.

Play with kids.

Respond to emails.

Devotional and daily Bible reading assignment.

Read for fun. But read at least two chapters.

Do some laundry.

Do the dishes.

Prepare supper.

Make sure the dogs have been taken care of.

Feed kids.

Bathe kids.

Blog.

Sleep.

So some of these things are part of a mental to-do list. I don’t really have “sleep” on my list. I also don’t have anything about sitting and have good conversation with my kids and husband on my list. But those are important parts to my day.

I also really enjoy the unexpected phone call that lasts 45 minutes, but you don’t regret a single minute that you spent chatting with a great friend.

Some of the items on my list are non-negotiable. I wake up early to exercise. I take Hayes out on my runs every day when Hudson is at school. I blog either early in the morning or late at night.

My quiet time is non-negotiable. I really need to have dinner for my family every night, but leftovers are absolutely okay. Showers are great, but so what if I only get one every other day? Or every third day? (Promise you won’t stop reading my blog just because I said that?)

Sometimes I think the list keeps me on track. But other times I think the list weighs me down. The list reminds me what I haven’t done. The list reminds me that I’m not moving fast enough to keep up.

The list reminds me that there are only 10 minutes left in nap time and I’m not even close to getting it all done.

And this summer, when Hudson is out of school, I have an amazing opportunity. I get to have a “summer” with my kids. I’m not giving myself the summer “off.” But I am giving up on the to-do list.

I will make a point every single day to take some time to do something for myself. Maybe I’ll read during nap time. Maybe I’ll blog during nap time if I choose not to wake up early. But I refuse to run around all summer like a chicken with my head cut off trying to put a little check mark next to every item on my list. So I’m getting rid of the list.

Things will be forgotten. Balls will be dropped. I will most definitely be disappointed at times that I forgot something or that we ate sandwiches for supper because we stayed too late at the zoo and there wasn’t time to cook supper.

And I’m giving myself a pass to not have every single thing on my list done.

Here’s the deal with my lists. I put the responsibilities on the same list as the “want to” items. And then I get upset when I see that some of my fun items didn’t happen. But those are the things that keep me sane. But laundry also has to get done. Our house has to run and I need to set an example of responsibility for my kids.

But I also want them to remember that I wanted to have fun with them and play with them. I wanted to sit on the floor and play card games on rainy days and I wanted to run through sprinklers when we’re out with the stroller on a hot day.

So this summer I’m giving up on the to do list and focusing on the happy.

What are you giving up on? Are you a slave to the to do list?

Visit her blog to see other videos from bloggers to see what fun things they have to share today.

For more info on the two product lines I mentioned, visit:

Bridier Baubles

Lil Light O’ Mine

What’s making you smile today?

I don’t spent time worrying about the weather or dreaming up horrible things that could happen to my family members. But I definitely worry about things that are beyond my control. I guess that’s why I worry at all in the first place. There are so many things that are completely beyond my control and I don’t like to feel out of control. So what else can I do but worry?

This house selling process has really consumed me lately. I spend time wondering when our house will sell and worrying about what we can do to help it sell. It worries me that I have no idea where we’ll be living in a year. Maybe we’ll still be in our house. Maybe it won’t sell by then.

Since our house has been on the market we have seen two other houses that we’ve loved get sold to other buyers. Every time this happens I worry a little more.

When I have a free moment, I start looking at houses. I start looking around at what I can do to make our house more attractive to a buyer. I lose sleep because I’m just worried. It’s incredibly ridiculous.

I know that this is all a test of faith. Not testing whether or not I believe in God. But it’s testing whether or not I believe that God is in control of all of this. Whether or not I believe that He has this covered and He knows exactly where we’ll be and exactly who will buy this house. He’s probably protecting us from something or waiting for the person who is meant to live in this house to move here. I don’t know. But I definitely need to be more trusting.

I need to stop wasting my time worrying and wondering about what will happen. I don’t have a crystal ball. There is no point in me spending any energy on this. I can only do what I can do– and that is to make sure my house is clean when someone wants to see it. I can do that.

And I can pray. Every time I worry, I just need to give it to God.

When I put all of my thoughts in one space like this I can see just how ridiculous it is. It’s so ridiculous that I’m spending time worrying about where we will live when we already have a very comfortable home. We have a roof over our heads. We have relief from the hot days and warmth on the cold days. And why do I continue to worry about things that are beyond my control?

I spent a lot of time last week reading the posts by the Compassion bloggers who were in Tanzania. I even sponsored a boy in Tanzania after I read this post. This boy doesn’t have perfect living conditions by American standards. But he built his home with his hands and he is proud of his home because it provides relief from the outside. He is joyful in what he has. He’s joyful because he is absolutely 100% confident that he has all he needs because of the Lord.

(We’re sponsoring a boy named Hosea. I chose him because he was a boy, and as a boy mom I have a heart for helping to grow boys into Godly men. And I also chose him because his named stood out to me. The story of Hosea in the Bible is one of patience and complete faith. As soon as I saw Hosea’s name, I knew he was the one for our family.)

Talk about completely convicting me in the middle of this process. Our house will sell when the right time comes. And I know God is teaching us something in this process. Right now I’m praying that I will stay faithful and patient and just trusting of His plan.

I’m sure that I will struggle with worry until I am old woman. I know many of you have bigger things to worry about than what I’m describing here with our house. But I know that God has all of our struggles in his hands and he is loving each of us and wants to take these burdens from us.

What consumes you? Are you a worrier?

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6

Hudson is crazy about his grandparents, but he was especially excited to Poppie (and his namesake). He read “Panda Bear, Panda Bear” to him when Poppie got there.

We were cracking up because Hudson was calling the bald eagle, “Singlehopper.” Not “dinglehopper,” but “single hopper.” The only reason I can think of for the confusion is that “Scuttle” in The Little Mermaid tells Ariel that a fork is called a “dinglehopper” and the bald eagle kind of looks like “Scuttle.” Maybe?

Some friends of ours live out on a horse farm in Blythewood. They have a big pond with a little fishing dock. So we bought a cane pole and took Hudson out fishing on Friday while Todd was at work. He was really excited! I think he was mostly excited about wearing his boots and hat.

Hudson loves the water and I was really nervous about him being so close because he kept saying he wanted to jump in. Yikes!

It was the most beautiful 70 degree day on Friday. But I’m sure that water was freezing. We should have just gotten him a life jacket just in case, but I really wasn’t prepared to dive in to scoop him out. Thankfully, he obeyed and stayed back with his little fishing pole.

KK did a great job bating the hook for him. KK and Poppie love to fish. I’m completely grossed out by the idea of holding a worm or cricket and sticking it on a hook!

Hayes hung out in his stroller and loved watching. I was worried about letting him crawl around so close to the water.

After we were all done fishing (we didn’t catch anything, by the way), we walked toward the horse pastures and the barn so we could feed the horses. I felt like Laurie in Oklahoma and wanted to just sing “Oh what a beautiful morning” at the top of my lungs!

Those horses came running to the fence when they saw us coming. There were 9 of them and it was just such a pretty sight. I’m pretty much loving the idea of farm life right now.

We carried Hudson over to see the horses and he was trying to get as far away as possible. He wanted to look at them, but he definitely didn’t want to touch them or feed them. They are pretty huge.

On Sunday morning, Todd went in and woke Hudson up. A few minutes later, they were both coming into our bedroom with a little tray and a present. Hudson climbed up in the bed with me and told wished me a happy Mother’s Day. Todd fixed me coffee and brought me a yummy blueberry muffin. So sweet!

This cracked me up! This is the way Todd addressed the card to me from Hudson.

We had a great morning at church. Sundays are just one of the highlights of my week. I love seeing our friends and love that my boys get to see their friends. My praise team sang in church this morning and it was so nice to have my mom and dad, my in-laws and my grandmother-in-law in the congregation. So many generations of mothers to celebrate!

We went to Todd’s parents’ house for lunch and picked up barbecue.  It was a wonderful low key mother’s day. We said goodbye to my parents today. It’s always very sad to see them go.

After they left I got my nap, which was at the top of my Mother’s Day wish list!

*I’ve finally gone through and organized all of the pictures of Hayes and our friends from Hayes’s birthday party, so I will be posting those later this week!

Since becoming a mother,  I believe…

• In family time. No amount of fun is as fun as the time when we’re all together.
• In fairy tales and make believe.
• That it takes a village. I’m so thankful for our friends, family, and church family that love our children as much as we do.
• In getting dirty and making messes for the sake of letting loose and having an old fashioned good time.
• In praise and love. I see how important it is to tell my boys how much they are loved and let them know what they’ve done to make me proud.
• In turning to the Lord when times are hard. And teaching my kids to do the same is important to me.
• In getting down on the floor and playing with my boys. I believe in teaching them things. Their minds are sponges and they pick up on every single thing we say and teach them.

Since becoming a mother, I understand…

• What it means to love unconditionally. There is not a thing my boys can do that will make me love them less.
• How special it was to give our parents grandchildren. Parenting is hard work and so much fun. Grandparenting just looks like lots of fun!
• The need for help. I am no longer too proud to ask for help. I cannot possibly do it all alone and my kids have some wonderful people in their lives who have given us help when we’ve needed it.
• Why people told me that the days are long, but the years are short. It’s true. I can’t believe I have a baby who is almost three years old.
• How important it is to be prepared. Never leave home without diapers and wipes.

Since becoming a mother, I know…

• How to make the sounds of different trucks and emergency vehicles.
• The names of all the different dinosaurs. Including “another ’saurus” — Hudson’s name for his extra unnamed dinosaurs.
• That each day is a new day. One day will be rough, but the next will inevitably be better.
• That no other job or role I’ve had in my life will make me equally insecure as I am proud. I will never have all the answers and my kids will always disappoint me. And I’ll always disappoint myself. But I know that most of the time I am doing the best I can do.
• That we make mistakes. There will be messes. There will be holidays that don’t go the way I planned. I know that it’s up to me to control my expectations.
• Kids are forgiving and resilient. They love as unconditionally as I do and they won’t resent me for not having gourmet meals every day.

What have you learned? How have you changed?

In celebration of Mother’s Day, I came up with a little list of my favorite movie and TV moms.

1. Tami Taylor

As the wife of the wonderful Coach Eric Taylor in Friday Night Lights, Tami keeps Coach Taylor, their daughter Julie, and all the football players in line. She has sass, style, and so much grace. Yet she is always honest and loving. Her love for her husband comes second only to her faith. I want to be Tami Taylor when I grow up.

2. Leigh Anne Tuohy

Speaking of style… This woman is spunky and not a lot different from Tami Taylor. In The Blind Side, she fights for her family and opens her heart and her mind to welcome a boy into their family. She is kind, generous, and loving. And she loves SEC football.

3. Claire Huxtable

Claire Huxtable shows more grace than any TV mom I can think of. She’s smart. She’s a hard-working mother. She’s beautiful. She is absolutely in love with her husband and has a no-nonsense approach to parenting. I love her! I live for reruns of The Cosby Show.

4. Debra Barone

Poor Debra has a lot to put up with. On Everybody Loves Raymond, she has pushy in-laws that live across the street. Her mother-in-law is critical of everything she does. Her hilarious husband plays a lot of golf and can be very forgetful. But he sure does love Debra and she has a great sense of humor. And she is a great mom to her kids- setting a great example. So what if the house isn’t perfectly clean and she doesn’t prepare gourmet meals?

5. Carol Connelly (or Carol the Waitress)

In As Good As It Gets, Carol is a single mother who works as a waitress. She had to put up with such a rotten customer every single day. She’d go home to her sick little boy every day and spend night after night in the emergency room. She would do anything for her son. Carol found love and her son was connected with a wonderful new doctor.

6. Kate McAllister

Sure, she left her son behind on two family trips in Home Alone and Home Alone 2. That’s not so good. But she was willing to do whatever it took to find her son and get to him. And lucky for her, he was very forgiving.

7. M’Lynn Eatenton

One of the beautiful Steel Magnolias, M’Lynn’s world revolves around her daughter Shelby. She loves her and wants to protect her from anything that would harm her. M’Lynn even gives Shelby a kidney. She is strong, she is Southern, and she would die for her children if she had to.

8. Isabel Kelly and 9. Jackie Harrison

As the mom and stepmom-to-be in Stepmom, Isabel and Jackie show that they both adore Jackie’s children, but they love them in different ways. The strength of both of these women causes me to sob during this movie every single time I watch it.

What TV or movie moms would make your list? Would any of you put Regina George’s mom on your list?

“I’m not like a regular mom. I’m a cool mom.”

What do I want for Mother’s Day? I don’t want to cook, do dishes, or do laundry. I want to sit on the floor and play with my boys. I want to take a walk with my family. I want to spend time with my own mother. I’d really love a family nap. You know, the kind where we put the boys down and Todd and I both snooze on the couch while watching a movie on TBS that we’ve seen a thousand times.

So why do I deserve all of this for Mother’s Day?

1. I have the very un-glamorous job of changing no fewer than seven dirty diapers per day. And with an almost three-year old who still wears diapers, I practically have to dress myself in a full hazmat suit to protect myself.

2. “Mommy, I want milk. Mommy, I want milk. Mommy, I want milk.” Not only do I get tired of hearing Hudson repeat the same phrases over and over again (I’m working with him on understanding that when he says it once, I did hear him and I’m getting to it), but I get tired of hearing myself repeat the same things over and over again. “If you say ‘no’ to me again, you’re going to time out.” I have said this same sentence at least twenty times in the last two weeks. Woof. I have become significantly more patient!

3. After two months of having our house on the market, I have mastered the fine, fine art of vacuuming our entire house in five minutes. With a golden retriever and an almost three-year old little boy, I’m going to be honest and say it’s no small task. I am the vacuum master!

4. I love wearing makeup and cute clothes, but don’t do either of those things more often than twice a week. Only because I can sleep later if I forego makeup and just throw on some comfy clothes. Could I say this means I have a giving spirit? I give myself sleep? No?

So a relaxing day with my family is what I want. Because they are the ones who have made my life better. I love them with everything that I have, and I am a lucky mama, because I can feel every ounce of love that they have coming back to me.

I had church activities last night and Todd was at a Carolina baseball game. My mom got the boys to bed for me. When I got home, I checked on Hudson and he was asleep. I settled in on the couch and was in a hazy state while watching Joshua Ledet slay the competition. (Just my two cents.)

All of a sudden, I heard a sob. And then I heard screaming, “I want my mommy!” So I jumped up and rushed to Hudson’s room. I tucked him back in, kissed him, and returned to my spot.

About thirty minutes later, it happened again. So I asked him if he wanted to come snuggle up with me on the couch for a few minutes.

Those moments between 8:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. before I go to bed are my only true moments of completely relaxed “me time” during the day. I can respond to emails, watch whatever I want on TV, catch up with my husband, or just fall asleep on the couch. All things I like to do.

But when my three-year-old is calling for his mommy, it all changes.

There is nothing sweeter than the feeling of a still, snuggly toddler boy breathing deeply while his heavy eyelids blink closed against your cheek. There is nothing that breaks my heart more than looking at his soft little hand holding mine while my other arm is supporting his solid little body in the little nook where my arm meets my body.

I held Hudson while we listened to the American Idol contestants finish their performances. We giggled a few times, but mostly just laid there in silence.

I absolutely love that my kids like to sleep. But when I got the opportunity to hold my biggest baby without any distraction last night, I was overwhelmed with excitement. Truly.

I imagine this is how the Father feels about me. I come to Him daily when it’s easy and I have time. But when life gets hectic, I push my time with Him to the back of my list. So I go on about my way, asserting my independence and just taking care of myself.

But when I can’t go on like that anymore, and I finally open my eyes and realize that I need Him, He’s ready for me. With open arms and more comfort than I could ever imagine. When I pray and ask for this comfort, I imagine myself in that same little nook where I had Hudson last night.