On This The Day of Mothers

It's difficult to say what part of this day I loved the most...

 Was it the Mother's Day scavenger hunt that the teenager placed overnight for me to find first thing in the morning?

Was it that the final prize of the scavenger hunt was a hug from the Teenager himself?

 Was it the amount of snow STILL on the mountain at our Snowbasin?

Was it the way Papa snatches Olivia from her parents as soon as he sees her arrive?

Was it the thoughtful gifts?

 Was it the amazing plethora of food stuff?

 Was it the ice sculpture?

 Was it the meat carving station?

 Was it the third of fourth time through the buffet line?

 Was it the gathering of my family...minus one lawyer girl...and one red-headed angel?

Was it that this was my daughter's first Mother's Day?

 Was it the desert line?

 Was it the Almond Florentine with White Chocolate Mousse?

 Was it the teenager's meat plate (which was about his 7th plate of food)?

 Was it sharing a cupcake with my granddaughter Olivia?

 Was it seeing my adorable grandson Henry wearing plaid?

Was it the delight of having a decadent dinner and not having to cook or clean a thing?

Was it "A Tribute to Mama Lisa...on This The Day of Mothers" another fabulous video tribute from Lawyer Girl in LA. Yes you should definitely watch this one too!

I imagine it was absolutely all of these things and more, because I am blessed to call these people my family... and being showered with love and attention always makes me happy!

Yes, But What Day Is It

Confession...I was standing in the checkout line of my local grocery store a few years ago. It was enough years back that I was writing a check instead of swiping a card.


"What is today I asked the clerk?" She responded with "Well it's Cinco de mayo!"

"Yes, but what day is it?" Laughter and guffaws errupted behind me. Yes, their all-knowing mother didn't know that Cinco de mayo meant literally...the fifth of May. And I learned it from a grocery clerk!

So there you go...I am admitting it...I did not know what Cinco de mayo was for a ridiculous long time. Judge away...

"Mom, really, can I just eat my Cinco de mayo food without a camera in my face."

By the way...Hubby just flew in from Mexico City today and reported that no one in Mexico celebrates this holiday anyway!

I might not be so ridiculous after all!

Adorable April

A few things to adore about the month of April...

• Babies, babies and more babies!

•  
• Playing patty cake with Olivia's toes.

• The catchlights my camera always finds in Olivia's eyes.
• The perfect peaks in her Gerber Baby mouth.

• Learning to crawl using those buff baby arms.

• The way she easily drifted off to sleep while nestled snug in her Papa's arms.
• Cupcake jammies...do they come in my size?

• Henry's newborn kicking, stretching and playing.
• Listening to the soft sounds of a cooing baby boy.

•  Henry's blue eyes and his ever growing eyelashes.

• Tub time with babies. Cass and I tag team the two of them...it takes us quite a while to bathe and dress 2 little ones.

•  Olivia's curl.

•  Swaddling up a freshly washed baby and breathing in the deliciousness.

•  Remembering the bliss of carrying a sleeping baby off to bed.

•  Armfuls of my grandbabies.

• The contented look on both of their faces.

• The way Olivia plays with her Uncle Chet.

• Watching my daughter embrace motherhood completely.
• Babies are simply adorable...in every single way!

Introducing Her Royal Highness...

I'm bringing home a baby honeybee
won't my Mommy be so proud of me!

Extremely cold and long...winters in our Northern town can be hard on everyone, including girls trying to keep warm in their hives. Sadly, we lost Queen Caroline and her entire hive to an early cold snap. Lady Gaga's hive was knocked over by uninvited house guests...don't get me started about those pesky elk. And yet...somehow Lady Gaga and the rest of the hive survived!

Dean, anxious to bring his bee population up in numbers brought home a new queen plus 10,000 of her closest bee girlfriends to move into Caroline's hive.

Once moved into the new hive, the girls need time to settle in. Then cross your fingers to make sure they stay.

This is the queen's royal coach that Dean is removing from the hive. The queen lives in this tiny box for the first few days in the hive so she begins to smell like the hive. The girlfriends efficiently eat away the small sugar plug in one end of the royal coach and free her!

Slowly, Dean pulls frame after frame out of the hive to check on the progress of the girls. And things are looking good...the hive appears to be healthy and growing.

But to be sure...he will need to find the queen. It is quite literally like looking for a needle in a haystack. One queen among 10,000 girlfriends.

Wait what's this...could it be? Look just below the yellow stick. She's longer and bigger than the other girls.

Introducing... Queen Kate Middleton...The Duchess of Honeybridge.

And there are many buzzy days ahead for Queen Kate!

Fortunately the bee master had a scientific assistant for the day.

Royal Shenanigans

Pip pip...cheerio (to be read in an English accent)!

To celebrate the Royal Wedding...

 join us for a spot of tea, and perhaps a very pleasing English scone.

Don your favorite hat...

 bring along a cheeky playmate...

 because it's Olivia's first tea party!

Hip Hip Hooray...three cheers for Prince William and Princess Kate. 

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