A pretty perfect mother's day

Up early, before the rest of the house. Out for a long and windy bike ride. Back home in time for a big waffle breakfast with the family. Made then to sit on the sofa while the kids presented their Mother's Day gifts: from Liam, a picture of himself in a frame that he decorated, and a piece of writing from school about why he loves me: "she feeds me" (with "pizza" originally tacked onto the end of that sentence, and then scratched out); and "she takes me places" (with "places" written over top of where "to Disney World" was once written). From Mallory: well, this went on for a while, as she warned me it would. "I will have to go upstairs a whole bunch of times to get your stuff," she said. All in all, she probably made me 8 or so cards, various combinations of 'eye' 'heart' 'u' and 'xoxo'. A couple of pictures she coloured. A picture frame she decorated. A canvas of her handprints. A painted garden stone. And my favourite: not a lilac bush, but a booklet of drawings of "3 things mom loves": lilacs, taking pictures, and 'me'. She was also positively giddy as she presented me with 5 Cadbury Creme eggs and a mini pack of peanut butter cups. Girl knows the way to my heart.

From there we went to church, came home for lunch, and spent the afternoon in the back yard. Chad opened the pool this weekend so he finished that up, while I did some yard work that was long overdue on what turned out to be a gorgeous day. Chad and Liam celebrated the pool being open by jumping in the deep end and swimming to the shallow end as fast as possible - the 63-degree water did not warrant any more than that.

We wrapped up with crab legs for dinner (a recent kick we've been on for special occasions) and a trip to the Cone & Shake Shop before settling in for a game of Stratego with Liam - how is it that he beats me every time, despite the fact that my strategy *must* be more well thought-out than his to begin? Bedtime cuddles in front of hockey on TV. As I write this, the Kings are on their way to a victory in the series against the Coyotes. Having his Stanley Cup prediction come true would go a long way toward salvaging this hockey season for Liam.