Mother's Day

I ♥ Mother's Day because I get to plan the day!  The last few years I have surprised Brian by wanting to do something outdoors (not my favorite location).  I think the spring weather always inspires me.  So, I picked a  location that I thought would be pretty empty and bought some picnic food the night before so we could get up and head out.  

We brought a stroller just to haul the goods:

Plenty of room to jump:

Or be at peace:

It was a no-brainer to find the tree we would picnic under...the weeping willow is my favorite tree.  We were excited to find one!

The kids' blanket was placed where they wanted it--partially in shade.  I preferred the sun because it seemed less buggy.  A spider did run over Samuel's plate but they stayed calm.

This was the last picture we got because the camera died and I forgot my phone.  No big deal!  I'm glad I got 1 picture with Mom and kids, though.  :)

After we ate lunch, we walked the trail before heading out.  The next part of my day included shopping but for plants.  I asked if we could plant an herb garden for my gift.  We had to stop at 2 stores and the kids were getting antsy but we found some nice-looking basil, cilantro, peppermint and dill.  We headed home for popsicles and planting.

I painted the name on the pot and then the kids painted a picture.  They enjoyed putting dirt in, too.  :)

We headed inside to rest from the sun.  It was too late for Nathan's nap so we let the kids relax in front of a movie while I challenged Brian to Skip-Bo.  Unfortunately, Nathan came to "help" and spilled my cherry limeade all over the game and into the bag of chips from the picnic.  Sigh.  We got that cleaned up and decided it was rest time for parents.  Ha!  Brian got me a salad for supper and then took the kids to his Mom's house for the evening.  I enjoyed some quiet time and I loved it.  It was a great day!  I have to share the cards the kids made me:

Hunter: lots of hearts and he wrote "Mom rocks.  Math rocks.  We love Mom."

Samuel: drew a picture of me and I was yellow, which is the highest compliment

Nathan: a wonderful mass of scribbles on paper, instead of furniture

Lily: outside of card said "Happy Mother's Day Mom" and the inside said "Your the greatest mom ever. Your beautiful as a marigold. You don't need makeup. Your already beautiful. Your so awesome I'm going to  die.  Love your daughter, Lily." {yes, I intentionally misspelled "you're" because she did}

How precious are those gifts!!