I've been negligent in posting, which I regret. Here's the recap from my journal about Mother's Day weekend to keep you in the groove...
The weekend was a whirlwind of activity. Saturday morning, Gus and his dad did the Father-Son Campout Breakfast, as I mentioned previously. They left our house at 5 am to get there in time to sit in front of a locked gate. But they were let in and made a fabulous french toast/bratwurst breakfast for everyone. There was quite a lot of food left over but that was because the attendance was about half of what had been reported. That was ok, though, because I took the left-overs to a family in our congregation who really needed it. Seeing the looks on the kids' faces when they saw all the fruit was really great.
We wanted to go on a hike together in the afternoon, but we were never able to get in a place where all of us were awake long enough to pull it off. So we hung out around the house until it was time to go to dinner with Gus' mom's family for dinner. We went to her favorite restaurant-- Ruth's Chris Steakhouse-- and had a reasonably good time. Gus' dad was home babysitting and we had fun hanging out and talking photography when we came home.
Sunday morning, I made corsages for Gus' mom and our friend Rosie, and then we took Gus' mom's over to her along with the bouquet that Gus had picked out the day before on his Costco run. We also gifted her with the promise of a photo shoot with each of the kids. She was very excited. She gave me a lovely little pot of soft pink carnations, which will join the rest of the plants on our back deck. We headed home, and I made some crepe sauces while Gus and Chie "napped" (the term is used loosely since it was so short that Gus was more disgruntled when he woke than when he'd gone to sleep). After some wake-up angst, we headed to our friend Isaac's for brunch. My sauces (carmelized banana with Metaxa, orange cream glaze, and strawberries with citrus zest) all went over splendidly, and we gorged ourselves on scrambled eggs, sausage, and perfect crepes (Isaac served a mission in Paris and even has a crepe pan). I think that the strawberry, Nutella, and orange crepe was my personal favorite.
Another nap was had by the baby when we returned, and Rosie and Jaden stopped by to get Rosie's corsage on their way to church. Then Gus headed to church while I stayed with the Sleeping Pea. After she woke we headed there as well. And I got a wonderful surprise when I went in to Sunday School: my old roommate/bridesmaid Kaarina and her husband have moved into our ward for the summer! He's doing an internship with a local construction company and so they'll be here for four months. It was great to see her and catch up. They just moved into their place the day before and so we brought them dinner. That involved a bit of fancy footwork on our part. I'd left chickens roasting in the oven during church, but we only had enough of the sides (smashed potatoes and asparagus) for us. So I put together some quick parmesan rice and glazed carrots. They were, understandably, quite happy to see that dinner. We left them to settle into their place and returned to eat our own dinner, put The Pea to bed, and relax. That involved watching a movie that I won't even tell you the name of because it angered me so thoroughly. But it gave Gus and I a chance to dialogue some things and we went to sleep feeling very close.
All in all, it was a wonderful weekend. There was a lot to do but much of it was extremely enjoyable. And Gus gave me a lovely bouquet and very sweet card, and the promise of some Me Time, which was the only thing that I really wanted at all. I guess I don't see the point in spending tons of money for every holiday. Knowing that I'm loved and appreciated, when that is given genuinely, is thanks enough.
