Mother’s Day 2011

If the truth be told, Mother’s Day Weekend 2011 was a bit awkward.  Originally, I had planned to be totally selfish on Sunday.  I just wanted to spend the day with J and the boys- brunch at the Crowne Plaza followed by a trip to the beach.  I didn’t feel like hosting brunch at my house for my mom and J’s mom like I had done for the past several years.  Tension between my side of the family and me has caused me not to want to host family functions anymore.  Since my mom pretty much opted to spend Easter without us except for a drive-by basket drop off for the boys, I didn’t felt like putting much emphasis on Mother’s Day this year.  But I felt bad for not planning something special for my mother-in-law since she helps us out so much with watching the boys.  However, my conscious would not let me do something for my mother-in-law and not include my mom (although my own mother has no problem with such things).  So, I opted to plan nothing and sent flowers instead.

Then a text message changed everything late last week…

My aunt invited us to join the family to celebrate Steph’s birthday and Mother’s Day on Saturday night at a local restaurant.  Ugh!  Admittedly, I was torn but accepted anyway to keep the peace.  J and I schlepped the boys over to meet up with family (my mom, my aunt, Steph and her sister, Auntie Jo).  They chose to sit at the tiki bar out back with the live band.  It was loud and uncomfortable sitting on bar stools.  The only thing we could find for the boys on the limited bar menu was chicken fingers.  I ordered a couple of mojitos just to cope with the tension.

Steph’s kids were not there but Steph’s 63-year-old boyfriend was.  The more he drank the more touchy-feely he got with Steph and the more uncomfortable the rest of us became.  Our poor waitress was totally confused when she stopped by to check on us and the person she probably assumed was the father was making out with the person she assumed was the daughter…

Mr. Suave managed to spill a martini on himself and his dinner.  Then moved on to sing the praises of Elvis Presley.  Quote: “No one who has ever been on American Idol has had the talent that Elvis had in his pinky…”

Thanks.  You’re totally dated yourself, pal.

Mr. Charming further impressed me by quizzing Auntie Jo, a 28-year-old, on the writers of the 70’s folk songs the band was singing.  When she couldn’t answer the first question (Arlo Guthrie) and laughed it off by saying it was before her time.  He condescendingly spouted, “Well, Abraham Lincoln was president before I was born and I know who he was!”

I had to restrain myself from asking him if he knew any pop songs and song writers from the civil war because that was a more accurate comparison.

We trudged through the meal, the drinks and the pie that my aunt brought for Steph’s birthday.  My kids were a cute distraction from the necking at the end of the table.  I’m just sorry they had to witness that crap.  Everyone else at the table swiveled themselves away from the blatant PDA.  Even though it was totally inappropriate and awkward for everyone, my aunt, mom and Auntie Jo tried their best to act as though everything was perfectly normal and they were having a good time.

I’m really not sure what kind of birthday celebration it was supposed to be because I’m the only one who brought a gift…  After I gave Steph her present we all thankfully called it an evening.  We couldn’t get to the car fast enough!

On Sunday, we invited J’s parents to join us for brunch at the Crowne Plaza.  It was the most normal, well-adjusted experience!  We all had a wonderful time eating outside under a tent by the ocean.  It was how Mother’s Day should be.

The boys clearly enjoyed the treats from the chocolate fountain 🙂

Is it possible to travel on all holidays both major and minor to avoid the BS of my family?  Probably not but, believe me, I’d like to!

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Preschool Museum of Art

Cutie Pie’s preschool art and music program was this morning.  In true creative style, the mom who usually plans the event outdid herself.  It was truly a thing to behold.  I have lots of pictures to share but they simply don’t do justice to how cool it was.  I don’t know what could possibly be done to top it next year…

The show began at 11 AM in the church sanctuary where the children assembled to sing lots of fun springtime/Mother’s Day/Father’s Day songs.

The preciousness was almost too much to handle.  *sigh*

After the music portion was complete we met up with Cutie Pie at his class table in the fellowship hall.  There waiting for us were lots of fun Mother’s Day and Father’s Day gifts that Cutie Pie had made.

We made our way out into the hall to see Cutie Pie’s class art display in the art gallery.  Each class had an 8′ table and an 8′ x 4′ board on which to display all of their artistic treasures.  It was amazing to see what all of the children have made over the school year!

This year, the food was set up outside on the breezeway between the chapel and the church administration building.  Each snack was staged to look like famous paintings.  Ingenious, I say!

There was a photo op for the girls and a photo op for the boys set up on the lawn near the iced coffee and punch table.

One of the newest features of this year’s art show was the sculpture garden.  I take credit for this idea and I also took a lot of crap from some very stressed out teachers who did not want to participate.  In the end, everyone managed came up with a class sculpture for the garden.  I was amazed by how lovely and different all the pieces turned out!!!  For all of their complaining, the teachers ended up thinking the garden was a nice addition to the art show.

Cutie Pie’s class worked with a local artist (who happens to also be one of the student’s grandmother) to create Tilly the sea turtle.  It took the class many work sessions over a couple of months to create the sculpture from paper mache and I think it turned out beautifully!!!

In the end, I managed to survive not one but two heartwarming/heart wrenching performances this week.  My little boys are growing up in the blink of an eye.  What can I do to slow this down?  I simply don’t like this brutal march of time.

Teacher Appreciation

In honor of teacher appreciation week, Wildman and I signed up to bring his teacher breakfast this morning.  I got the boys up early and we headed to Starbucks for Mrs. Lacy’s venti sweet tea and chocolate chip banana bread.  We had breakfast there too.  The boys each got a slice of lemon pound cake and a kids hot chocolate.  They sat at the bar looking so cute.

I also worked with our class mom on a gift from the children.  We decided to make a shadow box with all of the students’ initials in it.  We wanted something that wasn’t over-the-top teacher-y because Mrs. Lacy is retiring this year and will not have a classroom to display the gift in anymore.  The shadow box ended up being understated and kind of abstract.  Something she could possibly hang in her home.  Also, I found the cutest owl gift wrap at World Market to wrap it in!

Wildman and I also spoiled her with this cute flower arrangement.  Mrs. Lacy really is a tremendous teacher!  I’m very sad that Cutie Pie won’t get the opportunity to be in her class.  The elementary school just won’t be the same without her.

In other news, the children are hosting a Mother’s Day Tea at Wildman’s school on Thursday afternoon.  Mothers only was on the invitation 🙂  Luckily, my mother-in-law is available to watch Cutie Pie.  Wildman has a couple of lines to learn for the program that he’s doing with his class.

“S is for snacks, we’ve tried quite a few”

“P is for puppets and playing rhythms on drums”

I cannot wait for Thursday!  Isn’t the classroom Mother’s Day bulletin board adorable?  I couldn’t resist taking a photo of it this morning.