Bittersweet Summer

It's been about a month and a half since my beloved mother in law passed away. I still grieve not having her around. I miss hearing her voice and her infectious spirit. This was our first trip to Fripp Island without her and it was tough. I never realized what a huge hole would remain without her presence. Her spirit was felt throughout our time there. I know for me, there were moments I would look out to the ocean and feel rushes of inspiration and joy. Moments where I could hear her laughter at the sight and jokes of what we were all doing or saying.















She was a beautiful human being and I aspire to imitate all the wonderful qualities that she possessed. I miss you Mama, and I hope we all make you so very proud.

Brayden turned two in June and that was another difficult time for me. For personal reasons I won't mention why, but it was a very hard month of June. I swear there were moments when I felt like it just couldn't get any worse. My kids were the only reason I was motivated to press on. Regardless, my son turned two and it was a reason to celebrate.















He's such a sweet, and sensitive boy who loves his "Momminy" (what he calls me). And I love him to bits and pieces.

Madison is now 10 months old (OMG!!) She turns one in September and I've been obsessed with having her party be "owl" themed. She's certainly a night owl, and she sure had a serious face so it's quite appropriate that we have the owl themed birthday party.

Nathan is currently working on the last chapter of his thesis (hale-frickin-lujah!) and should be done by the end of this upcoming week. He'll defend his thesis and has a job lined up to start as soon as he officially graduates. It's been a looooooong 5 1/2 years of school full time.

Me? I'm just trying to finally take hold of the things that I have an interest in. Things like crafts, painting, working out and making more of an effort to eat organically. I love that our town has a Farmer's Market every Sunday. I get to take the kids and expose them to supporting our local farmers and eating the freshest of produce.

I'd STILL like to take some sewing lessons, maybe take Madison for some swimming lessons in the Fall, and get Brayden in a part time day care situation so he gets acclimated with being around other children without "Momminy." When I say part time, I'm talking about 1-2 days a week (half days). I don't want the change to be so drastic for him so I'll get advice.

Other than that, here's some pics of the kiddos: