Mother’s Day 2009

I hope all of you moms out there had an absolutely smashing mother’s day! I know mine this year was quite a step-up from years past because:

1. it didn’t rain. In fact, it was the first time in the past ten days or so that it didn’t rain even the tiniest littlest drop.
2. it didn’t rain like last year, which I remember because I spent part of Mother’s Day last year picking up Justin from the airport (he was returning from his first trip to Alaska).
3. Justin was awake this year.
4. no one was puking.
5. I woke up to Gavin reporting that “a dog pooped on the couch”. Okay, that wasn’t good, but it was still better than all the puke I dealt with last year.
6. we got to have IHOP for breakfast. Most of you know my deep and lasting love relationship with IHOP–the day could’ve ended there and I would’ve been happy. Especially since I got their Cinnamon Swirl French Toast combo, so I ate my eggs, sausage, and hashbrowns there, then brought home my cinnamon swirl french toast to eat later. That cinnamon swirl french toast, btw, is essentially a cinnamon bun w/syrup on it–yum!
7. I did yardwork the entire day. Yes, I’m quite excited about that–no (or very little) sarcasm. I had plants that I had ordered weeks ago from Spring Hill Nursery that I had been dying to get in the ground ever since our return from our Midwest Tour, but couldn’t due to the monsoon that blew in for over a week. On Saturday I did a little bit of work, but on Sunday, after I made Justin my garden slave (he got to dig all the 18-24″ deep, 18-24″ wide holes in our fabulous Virgina clay soil full of random chunks of flagstone), I planted six hedge roses and six zebra grass plants to help fill in where we lost two pine trees and over a dozen forsythia bushes (courtesy of last summer’s drought). I also finally got my strawberries into their big strawberry pot (needed Justin to help drill 1/4-inch holes in the pvc pipe I ran down the center of the pot). I still have a ton more yardwork to do, but I at least got all those dormant plants into the dirt before they woke up and died.
8. and finally, my mother’s day was better than last year because my wonderful husband and two fantastic boys gave me sweet, heartfelt cards and surprised me with this fabulous purse:
   
   

   The new Cricket Satchel from Coach. In this nice, light, neutral color for spring and summer. I actually sent pics of similar bags from much less expensive companies, but Justin couldn't find them in the stores, so he improvised with this, which I like WAAAAYYYY better than the ones I originally picked out.

   
   
   

   Look at all the pockets!...and besides the one on the front with the big buckle that Gavin likes, there's a slide pocket on the back, which means there is plenty of room for binkies, McDonald's Spiderman toys, matchbox cars, and used kleenexes.

   
   (pics borrowed from Coach Leatherware online)
9. I did not cook the entire day. Justin made us steaks on the grill (and chicken nuggets in the microwave for the kids).
10. after we put the kids to bed, we sat and watched this week’s SNL on hulu.com and laughed our butts off.

I really do hope every other mom out there had as nice a day as I did (or better!), whether it was getting a thoughtful gift, a break from cooking, watching a good show or movie, or just having some peace and quiet to accomplish something you’ve been meaning to do for a while.