Mother's Day 2016

My cup runneth over!

As Chris would be heading out of town on Mother's Day Sunday, he took us all to breakfast on Saturday morning as my outing treat. We went to our favorite diner, where the food is fast, yummy, and filling, and the atmosphere is family-friendly for a bunch of children.

Tolerating one of Mama's required photographs!

Afterward, we did errands as a family so one adult could dash in to a store while the other stayed in the car with the children. I, for one, got to go into an office supply store by myself, which was its very own Mother's Day gift. Guess what I bought myself? A pack of fine tip dry erase markers, each of which has an eraser on the cap and is magnetic so it sticks to the board. I am so pleased by these little things in life!

On Sunday morning, I was feted with thoughtful cards from my husband and children . . . and it's so endearing to read what 7- and 9-year-olds are mature enough to think about and thank me for. Chris gave me an intriguing book he imported from England on the subject of the benefits of boredom, knowing how much this would interest me ("The Upside of Downtime" by Sandi Mann)--and I warned him that when he gets back from his business trip, I'll probably have thrown away our television and iPhones--and a beautiful cut glass bowl he found at an antique shop.

John (9) found at that antique shop some book plates that he bought for me--and this is the kicker that gets me tearful--because he remembered when I saw some at a shop at Old Winston Salem and I remarked to him how fond I was of using book plates when I was a child. John bought me the exact same book plates I had when I was young! What is so touching is that he listened and he remembered something I said, and knew it would bring fondness to me.

Note Margaret (5) doing her own bunny ears.

Our breakfast menu was:

• croissants
• scrambled eggs
• bacon
• chocolate-covered strawberries
• blueberries in cream
• sparkling cider

I would share with you the toast Chris made to me at the breakfast table but there is just no way I can quote his speech without being overly self-serving and prideful. His words were so thoughtful.

After Mass, we joined friends for a celebration of two First Holy Communicants and three mothers on Mother's Day.

The menu included:

• vegetarian chili
• macaroni and cheese
• pesto pasta
• green salad
• Southern greens
• fruit salad
• watermelon
• cake

A festive time was had by all, and the fourteen children even did a relatively decent job of cleaning up their Very Big Toy Messes.

Happy Mother's Day to all!