Mother's Day

Despite having worked a twelve hour shift Saturday night, my Mother's Day was awesome! Of course, it would have been even better if I had actually been able to spend it with my mother, but still. Darren and the children made it one of the best Mother's Days ever! I was home from work early enough for us to make it to the same Mass my brother was attending, and we were so happy to be able to sit with him!

We treated ourselves to donuts (with pink sprinkles!) when Mass was ended, and then spent some time at our favorite bookstore. I was especially happy to run into an old friend of ours, who was telling me about a few different homeschool groups she is involved in and who invited us to join them at their next park day tomorrow! Her two children--a son and daughter--are close in age to Dylan and Caitlyn, so we're really excited to go play with them and the other children in their group!

From there we went to a store we generally try to avoid, because we had promised the children a swimming pool! They wanted one similar to the one we had last summer, but we opted instead for a less expensive one that would give them a little more room to play. Upon hearing that we could just stick our own slide into one end of the pool, they were even happier with their selection. :)

We also purchased the cutest little baby pool for Kristen to splash in. The pool itself is a large inflatable turtle (we love turtles!) but it's shell comes up to form a large sun shade. I love it! It's so perfect for little Miss Kristen. She's still much too small to play in the big pool with her bigger, rambunctious siblings, but this one is just right for her!

We all had a great time playing outside, and then, after coming inside to dry off and warm up, Darren made the most delicious dinner of eggplant Parmesan, a salad, and cherry covered cheesecake for dessert! (Does he know me, or what?! We even had cherry limeade!) :)

I just have to share this next set of photos, too, because they so hilariously illustrate why group shots are not always such a good idea around here. It's because, as you can see, what begins as a nice, sweet, sibling hug...

...often quickly becomes a mischevious death grip!

Also, I just have to share these two short video clips. They are so cute, and besides, Darren and my mom will be checking my blog until they're up. :)

Hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day, too!