Mother's Day 2014

I had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend, thanks to John and our awesome parents.  

Saturday was a great day for being outside, so while John and Ray worked on the new shed, Gran did some yard work while I entertained the kids.  She mowed and sealed our outdoor furniture (getting it ready for the new patio!!).  

I requested to have breakfast at our house on Sunday, and the only thing John or I had to do was turn the ovens or stove on and everyone else brought all the food…which was all so good!

I also asked everyone to help out around the house for the morning.  My anxiety was increasing significantly with the thought that Ben could come at any time and everything was a mess, everywhere.  And we had about 10 unfinished projects outside.

My Mother's Day gift from John was a clean house - we arranged for a cleaning lady to come over the next day and it was the best gift I think I've ever gotten.  When I talked to her, she was really concerned about being able to get done in the 6 hours she had for the day… and if you saw our house, you would know why!  I told her to not worry too much about the small details… some dusting, cleaning the floors, countertops, and bathrooms would go a LONG way.  It still took us most of Sunday just to get everything picked up and organized so that actual cleaning could get done.  LeeAnn helped with that - and we did about 8 loads of laundry… we washed everyone's sheets, towels, blankets, throw blankets, pillows… anything I could find to wash, really.

Mom worked on cleaning the inside and outside of the windows and while she cleaned, John entertained the kids...  

I think John enjoyed hosing them down a little too much!! 

The guys all stayed outside and picked up all the garbage, boards, concrete forms, stakes, sticks, etc.  I went out to let them know lunch was ready and Rudy promptly told me, "No, Mom.  Jus guys!"  He loves hangin' with his Dad and Papa's!

Needless to say, I owe our moms a real "Mother's Day" sometime soon because they spent theirs making my life easier!

Awhile ago I bought an unfinished, unassembled kids' picnic table for Rudy and Avery, with the idea of painting it and giving it to them for Easter.  I couldn't get it done in time (and I didn't really need to because at that time we had no place to put it!), but was able to get the boards all stained one day a week or so ago.

After naps the kids helped John get it put together...

…and they are loving the finished product! 

As am I :)

In just a few short days, we had the shed built, grass mowed, yard cleaned up, furniture stained and sealed, windows washed, loads and loads of laundry done and put away, and a clean house… now bring on the baby!!  (<--- I was working diligently on the blog Thursday afternoon, trying to get caught up before the next morning when we were to have Ben.  After typing this sentence, I felt my water break :)  To be continued…)