Mother's Day

What exactly is the expectation for Mother's Day and where did that expectation come from?  As we dined with friends for Mother's Day we found ourselves discussing the difference in expectations (meaning culturally perceived expectations) for Mother's Day versus Father's Day.  It seems the custom for Mother's Day is that it's a day for Mom to lay back and not do a whole lot while the family fills in the gaps, perhaps a day at the spa, breakfast in bed, whichever of those fits the Mom in honor.  But in contrast, Father's Day seems to be a day when the Father is supposed to spend quality time with his kiddos.  Is the difference because the Mom's are perceived as spending all day everyday with their kids so they deserve a break where as Father's are off hard at work and need that dedicated day to spend quality time with their kids?  We didn't come up with the answer, but it was an interesting comparison. 

I really wanted to give Jason credit for actually remembering Mother's Day all on his own this year (3rd times the charm right?) but I just managed to gently remind him several days before so he had time to do something if he felt moved to do so.  [I asked him if he knew it was Mother's Day before I happened to mention it on Wednesday and he said "no, probably not."]

He had Blythe and Jericho put together a masterpiece for me, which I can't wait to fully dry so I can decide where in the yard I want to put them.







I woke up to these wonderful things:





I'm not the pamper me up and take my kids away kind of Mother so we spend Mother's day together, as a family, just the way I wanted it to be :)  And that includes some of the daily chores like hanging clothes on the clothes line.




I've worked hard for those smile lines and I'm proud of them!

I wouldn't be celebrating Mother's Day in the same way if it wasn't for these two cuties







You know when you are really excited about a present or just any surprise in general and you think you want the person you are surprising to try to guess because you are just so sure that it is SOOO good they won't ever guess...yet it seems like 90% of the time this person knows you well enough that they guess  it fairly quickly, of course you keep giving them hints until they come up with it and then you don't know what to do because you don't want to admit their right before they open it or before you arrive...  Jason gambled on that game and I guessed where we were going to eat, BUT although his face said "DANG IT YOUR RIGHT" he wouldn't admit it, he just denied it, but his expression was more telling than his words.











We had a skiptastic Mother's Day....Hope you did too or that you created one for that special Momma in your life!

The Great Outdoors

This past weekend we ventured out to Garner State Park with some friends. Unbeknown to us we apparently picked the perfect park for last weekend as I heard several stories of others who were camping at other camp grounds and woke-up to a soggy mess.


Most trips that start out like this:



End quickly, but luckily we were about an hour behind the Allison's so we were able to rescue them and bid farewell to their minivan as it took a hike back to San Antonio to the repair shop. Jericho quickly discovered the zipper action on the tent during the un-packing process (yes I regret only taking the point and shoot and getting these horribly noisy pictures).





The first thing on the little one's priority list was finding the river







Learning the oh so important, but no so much appreciated lesson of what a current it and what it can do





Don't worry she recovered quickly and enjoyed her time at the river







The next morning we started our day with camping breakfast burritos. The difference between a camping and none camping mean (for those of you who don't know) is some essential ingredient was missing/forgotten. In this case we didn't have any salt or pepper for the eggs....

Next it was off to the the hiking trail





At the start of the hike Blythe wasn't very interested in the walking aspect of hiking, but once we turned it into a climb and not a hike she really got into it and would get very excited every time we saw another yellowish-orange footprint and would proudly proclaim "we are going the right way!"

We finally reached our destination 'The Crystal Cave;' however Blythe is VERY familiar with the book Going on A Bear Hunt and did not believe us that this was a crystal cave and not a bear cave









Daddy long leg soup anyone?



Apparently you don't get too old for the hiking backpack



Good morning campsite







It was perfect camping weather, hot during the day, and cooler evenings and mornings!

When you are served camping pancakes - syrup was forgotten - it is easily solved with roasting marshmallows and using that as the sugary topping



After camping, hiking, and playing in the river, it's time to climb some trees





Sister disagrees and decided playing in the dirt is much more fun than climbing trees



The art of deflation





We had a great weekend, hope you did too!

Half Assed

I am feeling behind on the blog, but no inspiration to write so pages from the girls scrap book will have to do. BUT we have a camping trip planned for this weekend so stay tuned!