mother's day weekend

Mother's Day has reached a new level of awesomeness now that Garrett is in school and can make me stuff. Case in point:

A portrait of me
(it's hard to see, but he made sure to put in some "yellow hair" amid those blue highlights), and

a bar of homemade glycerin soap with his photo set inside.

He also made a card, the inside of which was filled with the letters he knows how to write: E, I, T, O, and H. I'm pretty sure that all together it spelled, "I love you, Mom."

But it gets better. He gave me these items on Friday when I came to his school to attend the special Mother's Day Tea party his class was hosting.

First the kids sang "You Are My Sunshine."


Then they were instructed to give their moms a menu, which we were to fill out and then have our children return to a teacher who would load them up with the food (cookies, cakes, and fruit) that we requested and bring it back to us at our tables.


Garrett and I sat at a table with his little friend, Sofia, and her aunt and grandma (who further filled me in on how famous and loved Garrett apparently is at their house). Because they are obviously good little pals, I asked Garrett and Sofia to pose for a picture. This is what I got:

Garrett kept trying to lean in and rest his head on her shoulder. Maybe he's starting to pick up a thing or two in the art of young love. (Or something like that.)

The tea party was a lot of fun, and it was great to again see Garrett in action at school. But the Mother's Day celebrations were only beginning. Blake was determined to give me not just a Mother's Day but a Mother's Day weekend. On Saturday we went, at my request, to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden to see the cherry blossoms before the season ended.


While I took a lot of photos of cherry blossoms ("pink popcorn trees," as Garrett called them), Garrett took a lot of photos of fish. In between the boys held hands as we walked together along the garden paths. We all had a pleasant time. It was about as idyllic as an outing with a nearly-4-year-old and a 20-month-old can be, and did much in the way of reminding me of how much I enjoy being a mother -- their mother.

On Sunday, Blake gave me what I wanted most: the gift of himself. He canceled his morning meetings so we could all go to church together. And his after-church interviews canceled on him, so we were also able to go home together, too. To top it off, he let me take a nap AND made dinner. It was a great Mother's Day, and I wish they came around more than just once a year.