Mother's Day 2014

 We started a tradition of going to River Stone Manor for Mother's Day brunch.  Everyone gets dressed up, and there's only one seating so we have the table for the afternoon.  Fancy glasses, and cloth napkins and children on their best behavior.

It's always lovely.

I woke to presents, and kisses.

At school, Dani had made a vase and planted a seedling, that, after two days in a brown bag, was wilted and yellow.  But it was beautiful, sunny day, and with a little water and some sun, it perked up, and the kids have been able to watch it grow daily.

Even our little caveman managed his own full size silverware with no messes!

 After we ate, we walked the grounds.  We took this same picture last year.  I hope to take the same one every year.

 Getting everyone to look at the camera is generally impossible.

 We managed it for this one!

 Look at her.

 This one's my favorite.  Walking side by side.

Some days, I just look around, take a deep breath, and give silent thanks for the love of an amazing husband and three little sweeties.

The *mostly* perfect Mother's Day.

I am woken by Dani and Tori, stuffed animals in tow, asking to snuggle.  They climb into our bed around 7am, and hug, and hop, bounce around.  After a few minutes, I step into the bathroom to brush my teeth.  Tori sneaks in, "Happy Mother's Day!" she exclaims.  I come back into the bedroom and there are presents, lots of them, wrapped in Christmas wrap, which seems to be a trend in our house.  Dani has decorated a card, filled with pictures of people; when asked, she tells me, "This is you teaching me ballet, Mommy."

Daddy takes the trio downstairs, and I fall back to sleep.  I wake at 9:30--as a mother of toddlers, this is an all too rare luxury.  I head downstairs to check in--we all have some cereal, and I head to the shower.  We have plans.  Big plans. Stupidly risky plans.  We are taking three toddlers to a fancy restaurant for brunch.  We get dressed, do hair, Big Man sports a suit and tie.  He tells me I look pretty in my dress.

We arrive--head to our table.  I fix a pair of plates for the girls, while Big Man sits with Tommy.  As I head to fix my own, I look over at the table, all is well.  When I return, Dani says, "I don't like this, Momm-ARRRRRRGH" and she starts to puke.  Thankfully she had the linen napkin on her lap.  I catch most of it in my hands and the napkin, and a fair amount lands on her dress. No one seems to notice in those fleeting minutes. As the staff (and owner) notice I am cleaning, they ask if everything is okay.  Big Man assures them it's no reflection on the food, as I bring Dani to the Ladies room.  We rinse her dress off, wash up and are as good as new.  The table now has a pink cloth napkin at her place and all is well.  My plate of food is cold, but we're staying! 

Mother's Day Brunch, Take 2.

 

 Tommy masters the fork, and, thankfully, doesn't play the spoon/fork/plate banging game too loudly.

Tori sits like a little lady, drinking her orange juice from a tea cup.  Dani does the same.

 Tommy starts to get antsy so we head outside for some photos.  Tori is determined to clown around in every pic.

 When we could catch Tommy, he smiled and was a handsome little dude.

 Catching the three of them?  No way.  Between Tommy's need to move, and Tori's constipated face, we were doomed.

 They did slightly better when they posed with Daddy.

 This was us, headed back to the car.  Tommy was leading the charge.

 Daddy and Dani paused for a photo.

It really was a lovely day. 

 

And, I need to make a shout out to my mom.  I had a childhood full of love and creativity.  It was filled with playgrounds and beaches and adventures of all sorts.  Of songs, and stories, and unwavering love.  There were "tiger hunts" through the reeds at the beach (long before the universe was tick-paranoid) fresh air, and picnics, and just so much fun.  I am the mom that I am because of the mom that I had, and I very often think that I'm not doing it as well as she did.  Because she was awesome.  And now, she is showing that same love to my children--on the floor with them, bouncing on the beds, in the wagon to the park, and non-stop never-ending fun.  Love you Mom!

Leavin' on a jet plane.

In just a few days, I'm going to say goodbye to these little smiling faces for the better part of a week.
A week!  Part of me is so excited--I'm going to be an Obama delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte--a once in a lifetime experience!

I won't have to change a diaper, wipe a little booty, or get up in the middle of the night because someone is fussing.

But, the other part of me is really going to miss these smiles.  The mad rush to the door with cries of, "Mommy's home!"  Family dinners.  Little people sitting on my lap just to snuggle.

And Big Man, who is more capable of holding down the fort than I, has once again absolutely encouraged me to participate in the things I love.  He's taken the week off, and will be, essentially, a single dad.  He'll also get a week of more sleep than he's used to getting, which is the small plus for him.

I received a really nice card in the mail today, from an old friend and teacher telling me she was so glad that I would be representing our county at this event--and telling me I should keep a journal so someday the kids can read about "Mommy's trip to the convention."  And, I will.  I've focused this blog on the kids, primarily, and not as much on the Big Man and me.  I have it printed every year, and hope that for the kids, they will be able to go back and read the narrative of their lives, and see pictures of so many days, and remember so many things.  But they will probably really want to know about what mommy and daddy did too.  So, Dani, Tori, and Tommy, Mommy's going to start telling you about the neat things she and Daddy do, as well as telling everyone what adorable little monkeys you all are!

Foiled again!

This was me yesterday, in the quest for the perfect blond:

It's been years since I actually had a professional color my hair, and Big Man was super about me coming home late--even held dinner for me despite my urging that he and Dani eat without me. Sometimes, we all just need to take a few minutes (or in this case, hours) for ourselves.