May, Mothers Day and Grandpa's Funeral

 I thought once we got home from Boston we'd be able to breathe for a little bit, but life actually just got more crazy from there! The boys were so excited that next morning to see that Davis was home! (They didn't seem to care that mom and dad were also home- it was all about that baby brother!) They hopped right in bed and snuggled him and were so happy to see him!

The next Sunday was Mothers Day. Possibly my favorite part of Mothers Day this year was this little card Chase made me at school. I especially got a kick about his guess at my weight- just because of the 114.1 (.1? What kindergartener thinks of that?!). I think every little thing he does is precious, but this one is especially cute!

 For my Mom's mothers day gift this year, Kate and I got our kids dressed up and tried to get a good picture of them. This was the one we got and I absolutely love it! (So did my mom, for the record). We blew it up and framed it for her wall. Kate made the silly faces to make them smile and I snapped with my camera as fast as I could. I love all these little ones so much- this is the cutest crew of cousins you'll ever meet!

 I had Ben take a picture of me with my boys before church on Sunday. These boys really are my greatest dream come true. I love them so much and I love being their mom. It's a hard job, but my very favorite job.

 Mothers Day this year also came with some sad news for our family, my Grandpa Smith passed away that morning. He's had terminal cancer since last fall, and we knew it would be coming, but we didn't realize how soon until just a few days before. Chase took it especially hard, since he always really liked and felt connected to "Bill" (What Chase and then Hudson always called him). For me, the hardest part was seeing my dad and Grandma mourning. We talked to Chase and Hudson a lot about heaven and where Bill was and what we was doing now- which seemed to help them.

One nice thing is that we were able to have the whole family together for the funeral. Heidi, Nate and Halie all flew in, and Ben cancelled the business trip he was supposed to take that week, so we were able to be all together- and we spent a lot of time together during those few days. My sibs and I sang at the funeral, and we joke about "Daddy's Hands" now and how we will have it imprinted on our minds FOREVER and ever.

Chase was such a little sweetheart through the whole thing. I reminded him the morning of the funeral to give Grandma (his great-grandma) a hug, which he did so sweetly. They opened the casket right before the family prayer that morning for anyone who wanted to say good-bye, and so I took Chase up. Sweet little Chase, with tears in his eyes, stood next to my Grandpa's casket and sweetly waved good-bye. It was such a sweet and tender moment I'll never forget. He did the same thing again as we left the graveside, stopping (unprompted) right by the casket and waved good-bye to Bill.

Hudson, on the other hand, just provided some really great comic relief! As we were walking up to the graveside he said excitedly, "I can't wait to see the hole!" Then as we were leaving, my Grandma was introducing the boys to her sister. As my mom explained that this was grandma's sister, Hudson said, "Yeah, and Bill's in there." motioning over his shoulder at the casket. It was just so matter of fact and so funny- oh that Huds is the best.

Since we were all together we pulled together a quick family photo. Over the last few years we've been steadily adding to the family and we haven't had a updated photo with everyone in it. This was quite the feat to pull together, but I think it turned out pretty good!

And here is just a little picture of little batman. I love this outfit so much- it was a gift from Keely for Davis and he looks so cute in it. He wore it a lot in May. This little man continues to be such a delight in our lives!