In Celebration Mode

It seems like every time we turned around last week we were celebrating something – whether fun days at preschool, a friend’s birthday, time out with the ladies, or Mother’s Day. Friday night was Arwen’s preschool’s annual pizza party. We filled up on potluck fare plus Big Y pizza while picking Arwen out of the lineup in the preschool slide show and catching up with other preschool families. Here she is writing all our names on the paper tablecloth while waiting for her dinner. Go Arwen!

Meanwhile Gavin was celebrating friend MaryLynn’s birthday Under-the-Sea style. Encouraged by the invitation’s urging to come decked out in scuba gear, Gavin recast his Luke Skywalker costume as a wet suit, donned a scuba mask and black gloves, and even temporarily sported an oxygen tank (empty water bottle). He had a great time eating hot dog octopuses and making sea creatures, and even brought home his own goldfish! Unfortunately, his first pet lasted less than 24 hours, but Gavin loved the party. Thanks, MaryLynn!

Saturday I played chauffer to four of my friends as we traveled to the New Haven area for a women’s conference featuring Sister Sylvia Allred, first counselor in the LDS General Relief Society presidency. We heard from several inspiring women, listened to beautiful music, and loaded up on refreshments before heading back home, where a few of us enjoyed dinner out before returning to real life. I’m thinking a girls’ day out could be a nice day-before-Mother’s Day tradition!

Apparently Chad found my absence timely as well, making all kinds of wonderful preparations for the big day. He and the kids showered me with flowers – both the delivered sort and the garden variety – as well as a favorite book and some wonderful kid-made gifts. My favorite in the latter category actually came today as Gavin was doing his homework. His assignment was to write a letter to someone he cares about, and he referred to me as “loving”, pretty”, and “faithful”. What more could a mother ask for? (Except maybe that he extend the list to include “smart”.)


Sunday afternoon we took a wonderful drive through the country, taking a short hike at Devil’s Hopyard State Park and making a stop at Gillette Castle State Park, both in East Haddam. I love getting away from it all as a family – there’s something about being in the car without any distractions to get us to pay attention to each other, and we always love being out in nature together. While Gavin and Arwen do occasionally get tired of riding, this time they found a new pastime – playing with the camera. Tonight’s baseball photo above, as well as this one of Gavin in the car are compliments of Arwen, with the second video below coming mostly from Gavin. The first video is our gift to the grandmas. Happy Mother's Day, everyone!