park.

with some of this:

and a lil' bit of that:

and lots and lots of this:

Honestly, could a girl ask for cuter nephews?

Or a cuter son?

I think not.

surprised face mad face

sad face happy face

I know that one perfect day won't make up for 2 months of "crazy, absentee mommy," but it's a start. Here's to many, many more to come! I was writing an email to a friend earlier today, and since it summed up my pageant thoughts perfectly, I thought I'd share it here:

*

"As for the pageant, this is just absolutely, positively NOT my passion! I really had fun 2 years ago, and so I guess I just assumed that pageantry would always be that much fun to me, but I guess I have changed over the past 2 years, and the girl who ADORED that sort of thing is....well...poof! Gone! The last two weeks leading up to it, I just thought - why. am. I. doing. this?

I want to be home with my son, I want to be cooking dinner for friends and talking about new fundraising ideas, and planning a trip to Africa, and I want to have time to write my blog and connect with other moms, and express myself through words and photography... and ALL of that fell by the wayside so I could prepare for the pageant... and I just hated that! So, end of the road for me!

...and not in a bad way at all! It's kind of like playing volleyball for years and years, and then you try basketball and suddenly go "Wow, I like this so much too!" so you try to do both for awhile, but now all the volleyball stuff just feels like work. Work that is keeping you from playing the basketball (a.k.a. full-on humanitarian work/blogging/homemaking/mothering/ etc.) that you REALLY love. The stuff that is REALLY your purpose and REALLY your passion. So, I am thrilled to be done, yet very grateful and happy that I had the chance to reconnect with you, and Heather, and Rachelle, and Karen, and Sawsha, and Cynthia, and all of the new and amazing girls this year. That made the experience worthwhile for me."

Anyway, it goes on from there, but that's the jist of it. I'm grateful that I had that experience though, because it really clarified a lot of things for me and made my TRUE and worthwhile priorities crystal clear in a way that they never have been before, so you can't ask for better than that really!

Seriously, pageant pics are coming. I am just so bored with it, and I have missed blogging about my beautiful baby! ha ha!