Sisters

Sister Love...I just LOVE these girls so much! What a lucky mommy and daddy we are to be able to raise these two amazing girls! We love how much they adore each other and can't wait to see how their relationship grows and changes over the years.....Sisters are amazing and they are so lucky to have each other!

B is for Baby Shower

I had the honor of hosting a good friend's baby shower this weekend...I had so much fun! The theme was B is for Babee! It was a bee theme with yellow, gray, and white colors..... It was fabulous and special day with about 40 wonderful women! We all can't wait for this little "babee" to come this summer!

Here are a few pics:

Cheesecake cupcakes

My first attempt at cake pops! They were yummy....a bit lopsided but yummy

Flower napkin holders

Congrats banner

yumm...Kettle corn!

Maddie and I made these flower poms to hang...fun

Food was fabulous!

Lemonade and Mango Bellinis...

Check out the spread we had!

First Outside Dinner

Last night we BBQ'd and sat outside and ate dinner. It was so relaxing and we loved it. The trees in our backyard are so calming...I know this will be the first of many outside dinners. Summer is coming!!!

17 months

Today our little Bella is 17 months old. It has been 17 months of pure love. You are such a busy busy girl and at 17 months you:

1. Never stop talking....you are saying a few sentences and phrases and pretty much repeating EVERYTHING! You love learning new words and ask what things are by pointing and repeat anything we tell you.

2. You love copying and following your big "sissy" all over.

3. You love music and love dancing to the music. You tell us to turn on the "mon guy" which means music :)

4. You love mangos and every morning you ask daddy to cut you up some mango....you say "Mongo daddy!"

5. You still love mama to hold you a lot! If I don't pick you up right when you ask you cry and pull on to my leg and say "up mama, up!" until I pick you up.

6. You love walking everywhere we go...and you make sure to tell us "walkie walkie!"

7. You are so outgoing and friendly and often greet strangers at the store with a smile and a big "Hi!"

8. You still love your "baba" and have one first thing when you wake up every morning.

9. You love to color. As soon as you see a pen, pencil, marker, or crayon you say "coloring!!! coloring!!!"

Showing us your teeth

You love to laugh!

Trying to play soccer with sissy

We love you Bella and love watching how much you change every month!

We Walked It

I did my first 5k the other night with Miss Bella. It was a fundraising run and there were about 60 people who participated from our school district so there was money raised for a great cause! I am not a runner...I wish I could say I ran the 5K ...but we walked it. I had so much fun with my good friends Katie and Carly and there little sweetie pies too. We made many "baby stops" along the way, so we didn't finish dead last...but pretty close. Just proud to have been a part of it with my good friends and co-workers.

Here are the Hedden mamas...well just three of us. Katie with Max (11months), Carly with Leah (6 months), and me and Bella (17 months).

Here is our team from school....love these folks!

Mother's Day Thoughts

Today on Mother's Day I am thinking about how much I love my mom and also thinking about all the things that I love about being a mom. These are some of my favorite things about my mom and my favorite things about being a mom:

My mom.....

• is strong...one of the strongest women I have ever known. I have learned over time I get this from her


• is giving...she has given everything to her children. Unconditional love, her time, devotion, and even gave up a dating life when we were young!


• loves to laugh! She has the best sense of humor. She laughs all the time and I love laughing with her.


• has excellent manners...she stressed having good manners and how to respect others from the time we were very young. I am sure we all thought this was annoying at times, but now we are so grateful for all that she has taught us. Having good manners is priceless


• always makes the beds....I love this about her and now I do too (almost always).


• loves my children....she adores my girls and they adore her back.


• loves history and keeping traditions...thank goodness!


• loves a good cup of tea and a good glass of wine...she is always ready to hand out one of these if we are having a good or a bad day! :)


• was a mother and a father when we were young and stepped in to helping me parent when I was a single parent too. I am so grateful for everything she has done!


• has a green thumb and loves to grow beautiful things

Mom, I know you read this blog...I love you so much and I am so grateful to be one of your daughters and thankful for everything you have taught me! xoxo

What I love about being a mom:...these are just some of the things because I find new things everyday:

• Knowing the strongest and purest love ever after having children!


• Seeing my children discover learning and new things in the world.


• Holding them, rocking them, singing to them, gazing into their eyes and seeing that they love you as fiercely back as you love them.


• Reading to them and seeing the love of books blossom in them.


• Laughing at them and all the things they do daily!


• Learning from them...I have become a better person since becoming a mother and I hope I am always changing based on what I learn about being a mom and from what they teach me


• Seeing them smile when they are so excited about something


• Feeling so proud of who they are becoming as individuals


• Watching them grow and change...this just the most amazing thing to me


• Hearing them whisper "I love you"


• Tucking them in, watching them sleep, and waiting for them to wake


• Seeing their innocence
  

Date

Yesterday we had a date.... A real date all day long! Stacy bought a wine tour at Covington Cellars so we headed up to Woodinville for some wine tasting, good food, and lots of learning about the process of making wines. The girls stayed home with grandma and mama and daddy got to totally relax.

We got to see the wine barrels and sampled a wine that was about to go to bottle! YUM

There were beautiful tables set up for us in the wine barrel room after our tour

The steel canisters where the wine goes after the barrels...I never knew how different the process was to make a red or white wine. We loved how knowledgeable the owner was and enjoyed listening to how passionate he was about making wine!

Our food pairings with 4 more wine samples. The coconut curry soup was DIVINE! Not to mention the gorgonzola almond crusted truffle...WOW!

They are putting out a cookbook soon with many of their recipes and how to pair different wines with different foods....it may be on my list of books to buy!

Happy...after good food, good wine, and good company.

"Chance"...one of their winery dogs. He was super sweet and enjoyed getting his picture taken

Just a shot of the wine bar...what fun day!!!

Sliding with Daddy

Today we got a new slide/play toy for the backyard. We are HOPEFUL that the sun will eventually come and stay for a few months so Bella gets a lot of use out of it! Today daddy spent some time teaching her how to climb up and go down her new slide.

Get ready....

Here we go! Come on Bella......

She wasn't so sure how to do this......

Up she goes.....

I LOVE it Daddy! Thanks for the new slide, I will use it all summer!

Vitality Spine and Rehab

We have been working really hard on remodeling Stacy's office. I should say...he has been working REALLY hard and so have the contractors....but I have also been trying to help as much as time will allow me to. Most of the remodel is totally done and we finally found chairs we liked, and we love the paint we choose. We still have some big pieces of art to pick out and some additional things...but for the most part it is looking awesome! So excited for Stacy and everyone at Vitality! Bella and I drove up to help daddy set up a few new things in the office today.

In the car on our way to go and see daddy!

New lamp and one of the new chairs we picked! I LOVE the lamp...it may be my favorite thing!

A piece of art we got from Ikea...it looks great on the eggplant wall and ties is perfect with the green in the rest of the office.

Second set of chairs we picked. They are up against the green paint...too hard to see it, but we love it!

Another view of the lamp(I love), the chair, and the eggplant colored wall. You can see his new logo on the front window. To the right is the new counter top. So excited for the new look of Vitality Spine and Rehab!

Peek A Boo

Still one of her favorite games....Peek a Boo Mama!!!

I love this little peanut!