Monday, May 12, 2008

Mother's Day





Pictures: Kevin with his huge piece of mud pie at Jakers; my kiddos with my Mom at the Peking Restaurant; my Mom and I; Caleb sporting his new hair cut
I guess Mother's Day officially started for me on Friday. Our 4 older kids (13, 12, 11, 9) all went to our friend's church for a party. Caleb and I entertained ourselves by going to Pet Smart and looking at the fish and birds and mice and hamsters. I was so pleased with Caleb's attentiveness and curiosity. He seemed much more aware than the last time we visited (of course, THAT time his main purpose in life was to escape out the front door; THIS time his smarter mama had him in a cart). When Kevin got off work he took me out for dinner at Jakers, thanks to a gift card. Caleb went along with us, of course, and enchanted the waitress with his smile and his very hearty and loud approval of the appetizer she sat in front of him. We all laughed. My next moment of hearty laughter occurred when Kevin received the piece of 'mud pie' he'd ordered for dessert: a gigantic chunk of double-layered chocolate ice cream with chocolate crust and chocolate syrup on top, lathered with whipped cream and nuts. Poor guy had to eat it all because I don't eat chocolate and he couldn't put it in a 'to go' box cuz it would melt.

I then went to pick up the boys from the party while the girls stayed for an over-nighter.

Saturday morning I was supposed to pick the girls up at my friend's house at 9:00 am. I got up in plenty of time, it's just that I picked up a good book and lost all track of time so that when I got out of the shower it was already 9:10 am and I hadn't even awakened Mr. B. yet. Anyone who has ever been on wake-up duty with my oldest son knows that 'get up immediately and put your clothes on' is the almost-sure recipe for tantrums and loud resistance. So I was very late and then, of course, I had to chat for awhile. We had fun (but time-consuming) errands: buying flowers for my mom and a wedding present for a long-time-ago Sunday School student of mine. We also stopped at a store that gave each of the kids a free bucket, soil and flower. Caleb almost immediately dumped his upside down so his little marigold had a rough start. I was very touched that my 12 yr old daughter bought me 3 gorgeous ranuculous (sp?) plants with her own money.

I was late again. We stopped at home just long enough to throw on dress clothes for the wedding and jump back in the van. And long enough to find out that there wasn't enough wrapping paper left on the roll in my closet to wrap the gift we'd purchased . . . so we grabbed a length of butcher paper, tape, markers and scissors and hoped for an opportunity to wrap it. We made it to the wedding just before the bride made her grand entrance. I had told the kids to be very quiet: 'if we can just sneak in so nobody even knows we are there, it will be great.' But no, we had to go into the sanctuary through an entrance almost at the front. It was horribly embarrassing but I'm so glad we made it. Congratulations Brian and Jennifer! And my boring wrapping paper was saved by the inspiration of covering the butcher paper with sayings and phrases from the wedding itself.

Sunday morning J. presented me with a rose bud he had made in art from a chocolate kiss and an original poem. So sweet. In Sunday School Caleb made a lady bug card for me. At church all the mothers got a big flower pot, soil, variety of flower seeds and gloves. And Pastor Bruce used the acronym NAG in his sermon about a mother's advice to the wisest man in the world from the FIRST several verses of Prov 31. We took my parents to the Peking Restaurant and several of us had our usual sweet n sour chicken with fried rice. Then my parents came over for our 2nd Annual Mother's Day gardening day. Mom, T. and I enjoyed weeding the garden, Kevin and Dad were mowing and S. and B. were very happy to get an opportunity to help with both push mower and rider. J. did some grass trimming. Kevin also sawed down a couple dead trees and Mom leveled out a 'moat' area that the boys had formerly created with their construction trucks. The day started out lovely but a very cool and powerful wind finally forced us inside (before we got any planting done) for baked potatoes with chili and grated cheese on top.

The day ended with Caleb getting a buzz haircut. He has been pretty funny trying to brush his bangs out of his eyes for a few weeks now so a trim was definitely in order. Unfortunately Kevin's clippers come in only one length so Caleb will not have to worry about his bangs for a long time to come. He fussed and fussed and fussed especially about all the hair in his face but didn't really appreciate it on his tummy or neck or in his diaper either. The other kids were all very concerned about him crying but now enjoy rubbing his fuzzy head. He sure looks different.

And to all my friends who are now hinting for new pictures, I am in process. My problem is that I don't have a direct hookup from my camera phone to the computer so I wait til I have a bunch of pictures and then download them on a disc at Fred Meyer and then down load them on the computer. I am hoping to go back through some of my older posts to add the pictures that go along.

2 comments:

Arizona mom to eight said...

Yea, well, a picture of the new buzz cut is desperately needed woman. LOLOL

I am spoiled with my digital camera, so I will be patient and wait for the new pictures, but I keep coming back to your blog and they are not here. ;o)

Kris
You pesky blog reader

Arizona mom to eight said...

I meant YOUR pesky blog reader, I need spell check!