mother's day weekend

This year I was able to milk an entire Mother's Day weekend. It started on Friday at the annual Mother's Day Tea Party hosted by Garrett's class at school.

The program started with a rousing rendition of "You Are My Sunshine" sung by 4- and 5-year-olds, then continued as they served us cakes, cookies, and fruit. They even made us gifts: flower sprouts they planted and started to grow themselves, a big heart-shaped card featuring their footprints, and a jar of homemade bath salts so we could have "five minutes' peace," which was, his teachers regularly reminded the class (and had them repeat back), the ultimate gift they could give their mothers.

Garrett was beaming the entire time I was there, and his greeting of "Happy Mother's Day Tea Party," was wished to me all weekend. It was an enjoyable morning spent with the boy who made me a mother.

On Saturday Blake let me spend the day exploring the city with my best friend, Emily, while he stayed home with the kids. It was seriously the best gift he could have given me. Emily, whose husband also stayed home with their kids, and I started our adventure in the Lower East Side for lunch at Katz's Deli. We ordered their signature pastrami sandwich along with chocolate egg creams, and sat at table near where Harry met Sally and ordered what what she had. Everything, from the meat that melted in your mouth to the pickles they served on the side, was delicious, and just being in the restaurant was an experience that was over-the-top New York. It was great.

Afterward we briefly wandered the Lower East Side, taking in the endangered nature of its Jewish immigrant and tenement housing roots, before heading back to Brooklyn to our next stop: the Jacques Torres chocolate shop in DUMBO. We treated ourselves to a bar of dark chocolate (because what would Mother's Day be without some good quality chocolate?), as well as to a scoop of ice cream in their parlor next door, before walking the short distance to Brooklyn Bridge Park where we sat on the grass (Grass!! That wasn't trampled!) in the shade of the Great Bridge and just relaxed.

I came back home in the early evening to find not only had everyone at home survived in my absence, but that they'd even gone out to get me flowers (the boys picked out dyed neon daisies, while Blake opted for a more traditional rose) and a dinner that I didn't have to cook.

On Sunday I stayed home once again with Matthew while Blake took the crew to church. We spent a lovely morning together taking his footprints, giving him a bath, catching up on some Sherlock, and taking some much needed naps.

All good things can't last forever, and Mother's Day at my house started to fall apart in the hours after church. The boys came home exhausted and consequently whiny and, at times, completely irrational. Caleb uncharacteristically wet his pants three times (three times!) over the course of the afternoon (each time when he was in the middle of a heated fit of rage, leading me to wonder if there's a connection between his temper and a sudden and urgent need to go) while Garrett picked fights and arguments with everyone. I love my children, but I will admit that my day got markedly better once they both were tucked in for an early bedtime and I was settled in for a well-deserved bowl of ice cream and phone conversation with my mother.

Overall it was a great weekend, and I am a lucky girl to be so loved by so many people, especially those three darling little stinkers who made me a mother.