Mother's Day

It was sad to see another weekend go by so quickly and slip back into the Monday routine.

I was very pampered this Mother's Day.  Mother's Day actually started on Saturday night for me.  Since Mother's Day often ends up being more of a "Grandmother's Day" in a lot of ways, Jay wanted to do something special just for me.

Sooooo....he cooked this...

 It was a delicious meal of homemade spaghetti sauce and homemade meatballs and garlic bread.  Jay used Giada's recipes and it came out really great!  My sister-in-law, Julie, and her boyfriend, Tom, came for dinner, too!  The meal ended with Ghiradelli brownie sundaes...and Jay made the brownies, too, so they were good!  I am a terrible brownie maker!  

Jay and the kids and Julie all did the clean up.:)

Then, we all played games!  It was a fun night!

Mother's Day started with some special surprises from Ellie and hugs(with promises for a spruced up flower bed) from the rest of the kids.  Ellie made lots of posters to decorate the house, a special hat for me and a construction paper sculpture.

She was so thoughtful!  More on Ellie in a minute.....

After Mass, we came home and cooked brunch for my parents and my grandmother and my grandfather.  My sister and I usually cook together, but she had been up all night with a stomach bug.:(

We had waffles with strawberries and whipped cream, ham and cheese quiche, bacon, and watermelon.  I made special cookies with strawberry filling for dessert.  (Strawberries are my mom's favorite...can you tell?)

Special thanks to Jay and Sarah for helping with the cooking...and the clean up!

 Ellen entertained us all with a special puppet show that she made up!  She is so sweet:)

After a nice relaxed visit, Jay and I just relaxed with the kids while Kate took a nap.  

Then, we headed to my in-law's house to visit with Jay's parents and his sister, Jackie and her family.  Luke and Kate had fun playing with their cousins while we all enjoyed some special desserts.  Julie, even though she couldn't be there, had made a trifle.  Jackie made some yummy smores desserts.  I had made my mother-in-law's chocolate cake recipe into cupcakes(although I can't make it nearly as good as she can!) and a Reese's peanut butter cheesecake(because it's one of my mother-in-law's favorites:).  Everything was delicious!

Jay with his mom before we left:)

We got home close to dinner time.(With a beautiful hanging geranium plant and a pretty Alex & Ani bracelet that Jay's mom gave me:)  Since Jay was all cooked out, (lol),  we got pizza.  (You certainly don't have to twist my arm for pizza!)  After dinner and another quick clean up(thanks again, honey) it was bath time for the littles, and laundry folding time for me as the day came to a end. (Sadly...sigh.  It's nice to be pampered!)

I hope you had a great Mother's Day, too!