Our Saving Grace

Seriously, what would we do without water?!


Little tummy...

BIG tummy (oh, how I love that belly!)...

"Mommy, if I'm a mommy when I grow up and your a grandma, then you'll be a grandma." (yes, although redundant, true)



"What will daddy be?"



"Ummm..."
(long pause)


"Tall and goofy."

To which Rob replied, "No different than now."

I must be crazy

To try this...


And of course, also do this cake in the same weekend :)

Baby brother graduated!

CONGRATS EL!

On several levels, it's hard to believe that you graduated from high school this year. On one hand, you're my baby brother... and there's no way that you're turning 18 this month or heading to MSU next year. On the other hand, I feel so young to have a sibling 'just' graduating from high school! Thanks for keeping me young ;)

The evidence:

El and Ra

Mom and El

El, Ra & Josiah

Ra, El and us

El and I

Oh, and of course, he got a special cake made by his two big sisters :)

(I don't yet have a picture of the "final" product with a green State pennant coming out of the top or the cupcake trees with 105 cupcakes, but you get the idea...)

All my marbles in one bag

Or two or three, depending on how you look at it :) Some of you know, many of you do not, that I have decided to officially be a SAHM, Household Manager (a coworker put it) or CEO of the Dykema Corporation (another coworker put it)... However you see it, I will no longer be spending my days working for Deloitte Consulting.

To not bog you down with the details, here's a brief synopsis of our decision making process:

* March - Went part-time hoping for the perfect work-life balance
* April/early May - feeling extraordinarily overwhelmed with my numerous responsibilities
* May 14 - stressed beyond belief, Rob and I talked to the wee hours in the morning and decided that it was the time to end my career (or better put, I finally broke down and he got a glimpse of all the stresses I had put upon myself)
* May 15 - I informed my boss, difficult... to say the least

Since then, I can't begin to tell you how this decision has already blessed me and our family! I feel like this enormous weight has been lifted off my shoulders and I am finally able to be the wife and mother that I've only imagined I could be (I've even started cooking... and love it!!!). As I've been so guilty of my whole life, I was doing more than I could handle, physically and emotionally! I've never been one to be satisfied with mediocrity, therefore, when I felt like I was doing a poor job at work, being a mom, being a wife and taking care of our house, something had to give.

I still can't mentally comprehend what my days are going to hold, what our life is going to be like, what benefits and challenges that it will pose. None-the-less, I am incredibly overjoyed and have an amazing sense of peace that this is where God wants us at this point in our lives.

My official last day of work will be July 2... Bring on the playdates (and advice on how to be a SAHM!) :)