Mrs. Rogers Neighborhood

These are my godsons, Eli and Aiden.  
To say I love them would not even begin to describe the way I feel about them.  

These boys are so special to me and they have an important place in my heart.  I want to help their parents protect them and show them unending love and support.  I want to make sure they never feel a moment of pain that is within my control.  I want to be around them all the time and I want them to know that I am always here for them. 
This is all hard when one of these tiny little gentlemen lives in Maryland and the other in Oregon and I live in California.  A long distance godmother is something I never knew I would be, but I am really enjoying the journey.  As they get older and understand where things are coming from I plan to send them notes, letters, gifts and reminders of what is important in life.  I want to get to Oregon to see Aiden again and squeeze those big cheeks while he is still so little, and his first birthday in November cannot come soon enough so h…

My mom came for a visit last week and it was so lovely to just be around her.
She came into town for my sister's California Bridal Shower, and I will blog about that wonderful event seperately.  This entry is just to dwell on the wonderful time I had with her.  She stayed with Bill and I in our loft and we spent mornings together eating breakfast and going on walks.  One morning she even helped me through using my sewing machine :)  She drank plain black hot tea and we chatted about life every day before I felt for work.  I also got to spend lunch with her everyday while she was here, which was almost a whole week.  I just love to be around her. It didn't matter where we were, I just loved spending time together.
We got to watch a beach sunset, eat at a few fun restaurants, hang out with extended family and cook a little together.  She is a woman I aspire to be like, and she will genuinely do anything for anyone and never view it as an inconvenience.  I love that.  She literally…

This post took me much longer to get to than I originally intended, but better late than never has always been my motto :)  
The pictures below are from my recent trip to Baltimore, and while there are many more, these are some of my favorites.  The long weekend was full to the brim.  A Bridal shower, a wedding, meeting my godson Eli (pictures and post to come very soon) and quality family time with memories that I will always hold dear to my heart.  It is so amazing to have such a wonderful family to call my own.
Our family dynamic has changed over the years, my brothers (not pictured) and sisters and I have all evolved.  We are getting married, living in new places, and blazing our own trails, and as anyone from a big family knows coming together can be the best thing and the hardest thing because it feels like you know each other so well and not at all.
We are fighting the urge to fall back into our old ways and learn who we are now and how to co-exist in a healthy way.  While that is…