Mother's Day Weekend

I went into Mother's Day weekend feeling overwhelmed by what lay ahead. I had a lot planned which wasn't so bad at first, but a last minute addition tipped me over the edge a bit and I had to do my best to be open minded about it all.

To start with, we had a school carnival to attend on Friday night. Riley's school was trying to raise money for things like field trips so it seemed like a good cause, and fun too. They had food trucks, games, an auction, and a book fair, but all Riley was interested in was the book fair. Go figure. We talked her into one game and a Kona Ice and then proceeded to hang out with a friend from work and her family that live nearby.

love the kid in the back

Saturday felt like one of the busiest days on paper, but it was actually a really great and somewhat relaxing day. I had planned to go to the gym, drop Riley off at gymnastics and then later a birthday party, before coming home to hang out with my birth dad and family before Jesse headed out for boy's night. Instead I worked out at home and then went shopping while Jesse carted Riley off to her respective events. She ended up coming home a little early from her party as the birthday boy went to the hospital with a high temperature (but is fine now). Actually, it was all a little weird since the kid's at the party were left with the remaining adults at the party while the birthday boy's parents took him to the hospital. One of them eventually called Jesse and left him a message that some kids went to the ER and he could pick up his kid at any time. When Jesse got there (a local bowling alley/restaurant), he couldn't find Riley anywhere and when he finally did, it appeared that the kids were just running around unsupervised. Not my favorite thing to hear, but she got home safe and sound.

We relaxed a little before my birth dad, and my birth brother and his family showed up. They called earlier in the week noting that they hadn't seen us in awhile and wanted to come up to the cities. We walked down the street to a park and then went and got frozen yogurt. We don't get to spend a lot of time with them and Riley hasn't been able to play much with her 3 year old cousin, Rowen, so it was a nice little visit.

After they left, Riley complained of not feeling well so we took it easy for the rest of the night. I worried that she might have picked up whatever her friend was sick with, but she was fine. I think she was mostly worn out from her busy day.

Since Jesse was out late playing games at his friends house, I got up early with Riley on Sunday. Once she realized it was Mother's Day, she went and woke up her dad and they presented me with the gift she made at school, a clay bluebird, and one of those 'about mom' questionnaires. I absolutely loved it and remember making a duck in school when I was her age.

My Special Mother by Riley

My mother is the most wonderful mom in the whole world. 

She's a pretty as a flower.

She weighs 4 pounds and she's 44 ounces tall.

Her favorite food is a salad.

In the good old days when mom was little she used to play with a ball.

I think mom looks funny when she giggles.

But I know she's really angry when she asks me to take a time out.

I wish mom would play games with me every day.

I wouldn't trade my mother for a fish.

Happy Mother's Day!

She verbally clarified that I don't really have to give her time outs, but my favorite part was that she wouldn't trade me for a fish - such a relief! Jesse went back to bed for a bit so Riley and I cuddled on the couch while she watched some (painful for me to watch) kid's show.

Once Jesse was up I noted that I wanted to walk around Bass Lake Park and then check out the new playground at Wolfe Park. We had a lovely walk, but the main playground wasn't completed yet due to the recent rainy weather. Luckily there is another smaller playground nearby which satisfied my daughter's need to play.

Thanks to this blog (and Timehop) I was reminded that we hung out at this same park last year on Mother's day where I have a similar picture of Riley and Jesse while they are spitting in the water (the fish would rush up and 'eat' the spit).

For lunch we met up with my in laws and had a lovely lunch together. They gave me a beautiful plant for our garden and helped deliver a bracelet gift from Riley. I'm quite impressed that she didn't say anything since she picked it out a couple weeks beforehand. We attempted to find a playground to hang out at after lunch, but it didn't quite turn out. Still, it was nice to spend time with both of them.

We came home for a couple hours before heading out to the Cheesecake Factory to meet my birth mom for dinner. She had reached out a few days before and even though the weekend felt packed, I don't get to see her much so I agreed to meet up. I should have spoken up more about where she and my birth brother wanted to eat, but I didn't know all the details until almost dinner time. I typically don't go to the Cheesecake Factory because there is always a wait, but will go there from time to time. Let's just say that Mother's Day is not the day to go... and bring 10 people. I had no idea there would be so many of us and even if there hadn't been I should have said no or suggested some other place. Basically, we showed up at 5:30 - shortly after my birth family did and was told that there was a 90 minutes wait. This was wrong and after 2 hours, we decided to order a couple slices of cheesecake and go home to eat leftovers.They were seated about 15 minutes after we left, but I'm still glad we left since it would have taken forever to get our food and my the time we would have gotten home it would have been way past Riley's bedtime. Anyway, we talked with our family outside for 2 hours which was much easier than trying to have a conversation inside the restaurant so there was a plus side to all of this, I guess.

4 generations

Over all, a fantastic weekend... especially the time I got to spend with my little girl and how much love she showed me. She's the best.