Celebration Time

After Joey's dedication on Mother's Day, we headed to one of our local favorites:  Brookside Gardens.  Armed with KFC, we settled in for a relaxing picnic

 

with our friends Chee Kin & Niina.

Shortly after sitting down, we realized that I forgot to get plates and silverware.  After a trek to the parking lot I returned with two baby spoons we borrowed from a family of seven.  We used the biscuits box and various other lids and parts to containers as makeshift plates.

It's a good thing our friends are flexible.  Dining with four small children and their scatter brained mother can be tough on a soul who is otherwise accustomed to order.

After lunch, I insisted on a group picture for Mother's Day.

And then another.

And another.

Then we wanted to finish commemorating Joey's dedication.

And things got too serious for Joe.

And then Joey got tired.

And refused to cooperate for any more pictures.

But I was not deterred.

I just kept snapping away in hopes of a good shot.

When I was finally convinced there were no pictures left to take, we headed out to explore the pond and the geese.

The girls had been begging since two minutes into lunch to go see the geese.

We explored the park until it was well past naptime and then headed home to relax.

On Tuesday morning, my mother's day gift arrived with custom-made wrapping.

Each girl colored a side, all by themselves.  Theia (above)

Liyah

and Xandra, too.

The inside was just as good:  a new running watch.  I've been without a running watch for a few years and I've missed having one.  The evidence of that is the fact that I've worn my new watch everyday since they gave it to me.  It's just the right size, has an alarm, a stop watch, a pulse calculator, the date, and, of course, the time.  It's no oven rack, but it does get just as much (if not more) use!