Mother's Day 2013

The one thing I wanted to do on Mother's Day this year was spend it with as many of my favorite moms as I could, so while it wasn't possible to be with all my favorites, I could at least make a dent in the list with a trip to York!  So after our softball game that Friday, I loaded up the boys in their PJs with their favorite blankets, and got on the road. We didn't leave until after 8pm, so I fully expected both kids to fall asleep at some point on the trip... but they never cease to amaze me!  Liam, of all people, was asleep minutes after we got on the turnpike (!), while Joergen, of ALL people, was wide awake, marveling at every truck and construction vehicle on the way (in the dark and pouring rain, no less!), until well after we'd hit York County.  "Mommy, wook! A goo-night 'struction site! And I saw a buhdozer!  And and and!  And an esscavator!  A mini-esscavator!  And a twahctor!"  Throughout the trip I would keep checking my rearview mirror to see if he had fallen asleep, and sure enough, I'd find him looking out the window with two big brown doe-eyes, neck strained so as not to miss a single thing.

Dad had his usual Friday night basketball game, so he met us at Nana and Grandpa's house the next morning.  We met my good friend Desiree (another favorite mom) and her kids over at Cousler Park on Saturday morning for a little while-- until we got poured on, that is!-- and then it was off to Normandie Ridge to join GG, Nana, Aunt Jayne, and Joanne for lunch.  After lunch, we spent some time visiting with everyone at Aunt Jayne's apartment.

Aunt Jayne and GeeGee

Daddy and Joergen giggling

Liam, Mommy, and Joanne

Now Joanne had brought her cat Smudge with her on the trip, and the boys were obsessed with trying to get that poor cat to come out and play with them.

Those kids tried everything they could think of to get Smudgie out from under that bed, but that cat would have none of it!  Meanwhile, Joanne and I had fun trying to remember the old game of Cat's Cradle with a piece of string the boys had found to try to lure Smudge out.  Like the boys, though, we were pretty unsuccessful.

Back at the ranch, while Joergen settled in for his afternoon nap, Liam was thrilled to get to help Grandpa clean the deck.

That evening after dinner, the boys were so kind as to serenade us with a little dinner music.  Aren't they sweet?

The picture is certainly worth a thousand words... and in this case, a thousand decibels!  

Liam and Joergen had so much fun at Nana's piano (more fun than we had listening to it, anyway!).  Liam then took a solo turn to play his old standby favorite song while Joergen danced-- and I finally got his little moves on camera!  He takes his dancing quite seriously!

Nana saved the day (and our eardrums) by getting out an old Disney songbook and playing some songs for the boys.  They were completely and utterly enthralled.

On Mother's Day morning, we went to Normandie Ridge for brunch after mass.  Someone was pretty excited!

My reasons for celebrating:

Everyone met in Aunt Jayne's apartment before heading downstairs for brunch.  I really treasure these times with my grandma!

Could it be?!  A picture with everyone looking right at the camera and smiling?!

GeeGee, Joanne, Aunt Jayne, Nana, Grandpa, Mom, Liam, and Joergen.  Daddy is behind the camera!

We had a few minutes to wait before we could be seated, so we decided to move into the community living room to give all the mamas their gifts. 

Once seated at our table, Liam got to learn a most important skill:

Thank you to Dad, Liam, and Joergen for giving me such a special Mother's Day again this year.  We had such a wonderful weekend with family and friends, and can't wait to celebrate more of our favorite moms on vacation this summer!

A few of my favorite mementos from my Mother's Day celebration.

Happy Retirement, Grandma!

School's Out!

Villanova's Commencement exercises were held last weekend, the residence halls on campus are empty... and Liam successfully completed his first year of preschool today!  For our little family anyway, school is now officially out for summer.

Liam and his teacher, Mrs. Tenney

Liam absolutely loved his first experience in school, and his teacher, Mrs. Tenney, was definitely a big part of what made his experience so positive.  We are so grateful to her and the rest of the staff at Valley Forge Presbyterian Nursery School for taking such good care of Liam and giving him the structure and tools to really grow this year.  He has learned so much about letters and numbers, taking a recent interest in spelling and trying to figure out what letter comes first in each word he hears or says.  ("That's a cool toy!  Tuh, tuh, tuh... toy starts with T, right Mommy?!")

Now, when I was a kid, you got one school picture a year.  And that seemed adequate, right?  These days, they get their school pictures done in both fall and spring.  Good grief!  Here are the best of Liam's spring preschool photos; we liked the fall ones better, but they're still better than most pics I get out of him at home!
 

This next photo was sent to us just the other day from Liam's teachers.  The 4-day teacher, Mrs. Trumpler (who will be Liam's teacher next year), has a nephew serving in Afghanistan, and they got all the kids in the school together to take a photo to send to him overseas.  Liam is in the top left corner.  Especially with Uncle Tim in the military, we just really appreciated that the kids are learning to say thank you to our servicemen and women!

The other thing that preschool has really inspired in Liam is an interest in writing and drawing. He likes to sign his name (and is starting to use lowercase letters instead of all caps) on everything and his drawings are getting much more detailed and fun!

Liam writing in his new book of tools from Uncle Sam

Liam drew this  next one as as 30th birthday present for Uncle Tim before my trip to Charleston, and it is without a doubt one of my favorite drawings of his so far.  Any guesses as to who/what he drew?

Why it's Goofy, Minnie, and Mickey Mouse, of course!!

He drew that picture in early March, and this next one is from early May.  You can see that his people now have pupils, fingers, and some sweet, sweet toes :)

Liam will be off to 4-day preschool (same school, different class) in September... it's going by too fast!

Visiting with GG

As a reward for a week of good behavior, the boys were so excited to go on a day-trip with me to York to visit Nana, Grandpa, and GG last weekend.  GG had her second hip replaced a couple of weeks ago, and we couldn't wait to go visit!

Liam and Joergen entertained themselves with an episode of Caillou on my Kindle while I got myself ready on Saturday morning.  Seeing the two of them peacefully cuddling together seriously made my morning.

Our first stop was Nana and Grandpa's house, where Nana and Liam put together the finishing touches on a fantastic picnic lunch.

"Mmmm.  It's yummy, Nana."

"Nana, you make the dressing while I stir it together."

Then it was off to the rehabilitation hospital for our lunch visit with GG!

HealthSouth had a really nice "backyard" area, just right for a picnic.  Throw in picture-perfect weather, great food, and even better company, and you couldn't ask for anything more!

GG was in great spirits and ready for a party!  She is doing really well in her recovery, making solid progress towards her goals.  Praise God!  As an added bonus, Aunt Jayne, Judy, and Mike even joined us for lunch.  I must have been so busy talking and/or chasing little ones that I never got a picture with them...

After lunch and a little side trip to Rita's for a safe treat, Nana and I took Liam and Joergen off to Cousler Park, which quite possibly has the best playground ever.  The boys love it there!  Liam did a ton of climbing, swinging, sliding, and playing music...

... while Joergen did his own share of climbing, driving the "choo-choo-rain"...

... and picking up girls!!

Although it was more likely the other way around.  This little girl took one look at Joergen, hugged him, grabbed his hand, and paraded him all over that playground.  I was so sure that Joergen would run away from her, but he just looked at me and said, "She my friend!"  Wonders never cease.

After an action-packed day and a yummy dinner at Nana and Grandpa's, both boys fell asleep in the car ride home (Joergen was out before we even got out of town; Liam not long after).  We came home to a sparkling house, clean laundry, and freshly-cut grass... wow, do I have a solid nomination for Husband of the Year!

I feel so grateful for my parents taking such good care of GG, and I know how much everyone's prayers, visits, cards, and well-wishes (including some sweet surprises from our IL family!) mean to her and help keep her spirits high while she works hard in therapy.  She promised Liam she'd be playing tag ("and can we play hide-and-no-seek too, GeeGee?") in no time.