Mother's Day 2012

I had a great Mother's Day this year.  I started off meeting a friend for tea at Starbucks.  By the time I got home, Paul had put both kids down for a nap.  We hung out on the deck and had a glass of wine. The weather was just perfect out.  Warm in the sun, but in the shade you wanted a light jacket.  That afternoon we met Mom, Rick, Sam, Grandma Lois, Grandpa Gene for a picnic at the lake.

Both of the boys brought gifts home for me they made at school for Mother's Day.

This is the front of Noah's card

The inside of Noah's card

The back of Noah's card

This is a laminated photo/magnet of Elliot.  I love his expression. This is what he does if someone says "smile!"

Noah planted this flower for me

We decided to meet at Lake Jacomo and enjoy the weather.  We had a nice picnic.

Skipped rocks and explored around the lake

Fished with Grandpa Rick

And Noah practiced his batting, with Grandpa Rick giving him some good coaching

We decided to rent a pontoon for an hour.  It was fun and relaxing.  The kids took turns being "captain".

Overall it was a great Mother's Day.  Got to spend time alone with a friend, my husband, kids and of course my own mom and Grandma.

Happy Mother's Day!

Noah Carter

 

 

 

Elliot Henry

 

Mother's Day 2010

Who fed me from her gentle breast
And hushed me in her arms to rest,
And on my cheek sweet kisses prest?
My Mother.
~Anne Taylor

It may turn out not to be entirely memorable, at least for all the right reasons, but at the end of the day, we understood what was important.

The weekend was busy with many things, not the least of which was hosting our annual Mother's Day grill-out. Sunday morning dawned cloudy, cool and gray. Mandy had stayed out until 1:00 AM the night prior - an unheard of hour for us, given our offsprings' sleeping habits. Elliot woke up for the day around 6:00 - blessedly late, but not late enough - and I quickly changed him and got him out of the house to give the remaining two occupants a chance at some additional sleep.

Babbling the entire way, trying to tell me about his night apparently, Elliot and I headed first to the park we went to the previous day. The purpose of this visit was the mysterious disappearance of two perfectly good sippy cups. Not finding them, we headed to Eggcetera for breakfast. It was a dicey proposition, as Elliot has taken to indicating displeasure, acceptance, and "hey, a new thought" by screaming this ultra high-pitched scream that makes the nerve endings in your skin retract.

Luckily, we were the only ones in the place. He chowed. Bacon, eggs, pancakes, fruit, etc. He even reached for my coffee a few times to wash it down. As Mandy says, he'll eat anything but carbs. Only this time he did, although once he tasted the bacon, even the pancake with syrup was spit out like it was toxic.

While we were waiting for the food, I gave him a few condiments to play with - half-and-half, and a jelly packet. After about 10 minutes, he 'strong-baby'd' those two props into a Vegas volcanic sideshow, squeezing each of them in perfect unison as I shot out one napkined-hand to catch the flying jelly and the other to catch the flying cream. I only partially succeeded in either, but at least the table wasn't a total loss. Before breakfast was served, anyway.

Around 2:00, everyone started coming by, and as usual, they all felt inclined to bring a side dish. This year's theme was apparently "dessert", as we had about four times as much dessert as there was people to eat it. The sugar had an immediate, and predictable affect on Noah.

After polishing off dinner, the boys eventually convinced Uncle Todd and me to take them to the park for an afternoon of play. I asked Mandy if she wanted me to leave Elliot behind, and we had a few moments of polite "whatever you want to do, honey", before it dawned on me she would really appreciate me taking E with me. What they hey, it's Mother's Day. Off we went.

Bath time finally rolled around, and we got to wrap the day up. No gifts, no cards, and given the busy-ness of our lives these days, nothing to show for Mother's Day except my undying appreciation for all that she does, day in and day out. It's a tough, tough job. And you have definitely risen to the occasion.

Happy Mother's Day.