A Fun Weekend with Sara

I had a hard time coming up with a title for this post because my sweet friend Sara has come 5 times to visit me since we moved!!! She is actually the one who helped me start my blog when we had just lived here for a couple of months. I'm out of catchy blog posts titles for her visits but I am SO thankful that she continues to come and see us (and we already have some more visits planned for the future!).

We started off our visit by deciding to try a new place for lunch. Unfortunately after we drove there it was closed for renovation!  Since we were near Julie Anne's we ate there instead. I was a little disappointed because what we got was just adequate, but at least we got some yummy dessert to bring home.  

Whoops- cut James out of this shot

 Then we went home for James to take his nap...which he ended up never doing. Needless to say he was somewhat of a beast for most of the rest of the day.  Sara worked on getting some photos for our Christmas card and bless her heart, she had her work cut out.  Dealing with a two-year-old that had not taken a nap plus I was not feeling well, and Ryan ended up working late so we didn't get to have any family pictures! Oh well. I was amazed at the photos she was able to take under the circumstances. 

The next day we headed to church and then went to Marilyn's for brunch. I had never been there before, but I had heard it was good and Sara needed to try some beignets.  Can you believe my child who loves sweets would not eat his beignet?  So strange...he doesn't know what he is missing. I even told him it was a donut to try to trick him into taking a bite but no luck. 

Sara's first beignet- a Louisiana staple 

The rest of the day we spent hanging out and having lots of good conversation. I was especially thankful to have some company since Ryan was working for the weekend.  

Snuggle time 

 When Ryan got off he was sweet to offer to take James to dinner so that Sara and I could have some girl time. I had a great idea to go do a little shopping and then go eat at a nice Italian place. Well, I forgot that it was Sunday so the shop and the restaurant were closed! Plan B: Fajitas, chips and salsa at Tacomania! :)

Before bed we had to take a few pictures as a group.  We took so many that the next morning James kept pretending to set up the camera, he would count to 10, and then say "cheese". 

So thankful for her sweet friendship 

Sara has been extremely kind to take pictures of James since he has been born, and I will forever be grateful for the memories that she has captured.  She talked with me some this weekend about her passion for lifestyle photography and for her desire to capture those simple, every-day moments that we will one day forget.  Sure it's nice to have a good posed picture of your family but in reality my life isn't so picture perfect.   One day I"m going to look back and miss these precious moments and memories, things that I think I will never forget but in reality I may. I love how each photo triggers a memory of our time as a family at that exact stage of life.  Moments I want to remember such as: 

Those tiny hands that still like to hold mine 

That cute little nose 

Those chubby cheeks 

5 little piggies on each foot that love to be tickled

That head full of hair that we can't keep tamed 

That precious smile

A little boy who still likes to cuddle with his Mama on the couch 

The sound of laughter and silliness in our house  

The season in life when play time revolved around trains

These are the moments I don't want to forget 

One of my favorite quotes about motherhood that I try to remind myself is that "the days are long but the years are short".  Yes, sometimes the day-to day-activities as a parent with a young child seem so mundane and the responsibilities are never ending and not very exciting.  I can sometimes feel like we will never get through a stage whether it's the middle of the night wake-ups (still waiting for that one to end), tantrums in the middle of the store, or reading the same book 5 times a day. But then I blink and the next thing you know your little baby is walking, then talking, running, and it's time to start thinking about preschool.  Thank you so much Sara for allowing us to one day, when the years have flown by, to look at these pictures and remember these precious memories. We love you and can't wait to see you again soon!