Mother's Day 2014

Mother's Day is one of those days where it's super fun to be the only girl in a house of boys.  They really know how to roll out the red carpet and shower me with sweetness.  I also got the added treat that Doug was around with us for breakfast (never happens on Sunday) since he needed to go to our new North Way Dormont campus for their single service at 11am.  He actually invited us along so that we could go as a family (we never ride to church together either).  Anyways, back to breakfast.  Tavin and Doug cooked French toast.  Koen was in charge of setting the table.  

The dynamic duo behind breakfast.  I couldn't crop out the maple syrup top because I just had to have their hands in the picture.  Look at how sweet!

Look at the wrap jobs.  Tav's is the orange ones and Koen's the little pink one (he wrapped it himself and was so proud of it).

Oh, during breakfast Tavin was being adorable working hard at cutting his French toast.  I was trying to get a picture and Koen totally photo-bombed.  Hilarious!

Tavin's card is hilarious.  He wrote his name and then there was a typed message the preschool teachers designed and then they wrote a sentence for the child that the child had told them.  Tav's card said, "I love you because you let me clean and play."  Oh my goodness!

The actual present was artwork that Tavin made to look like the art on the card with his very own sweet 4-year-old handprint.

Koen's present was a sweet tiny little box that he decorated.  There was a typed message on the box that said that the box wasn't to be opened, but instead something to hold close to my heart and know that he whispered a special message of love into.  He was so excited about it.  Adorabel.

Doug snapped this pic of Penn during present time.  It looks like he's thinking, "hmmm, I had no idea we were supposed to get her a present!"

After breakfast things got hectic and we cleaned up and got ready for church.  We dropped Doug off at the church in Dormont early so he could do his pre-church pastor duties and we got to go on a little walk through the neighborhood there.  It's a cute little area that I hadn't ever explored before.  We walked passed the famous Dor-Stop (on our list of places to try ASAP) and stumbled into a sweet little used book store, Beyond Bedtime Books.  I'm actually scheming now to take my dad to both of these locations when he is in town next week.  Two of his favorite establishments to visits...good diners and used bookstores.  We also watched some trains go by at the T stop before heading back to the church.  I tried to get the boys to sit for some pictures with the amazing and beautiful church in the background.  It didn't go so well.  They've got a lot of character!!  (And you'll notice we went with a plaid theme today).

Church was lovely.  The boys all did great in Kidz Ministry in this new space and I enjoyed the worship service so much.  We all headed home for a quick lunch and then naps for the little guys.  Then I took Koen to Home Depot for some gardening supplies.  We didn't find everything we wanted, but I did get enough that I then spent the rest of the afternoon planting our vegetable garden and potting some pretty plants for the front porch.  It was so fun to be outside all afternoon with my hands in the dirt (no wonder I get along well with these little boys).  Doug also did yardwork most the afternoon and Koen proved to be very helpful with little jobs here and there too.  Tavin got to join us after his nap and it was just wonderful to be working in the yard with my boys.  Hunger did eventually creep in though and it was time to clean up and go on a date with these boys.  We headed to The Porch at Schenley Plaza.  An absolute favorite for pizza for all of us.  Tonight's weather was perfect for sitting outside.  We providentially were seated right across from the plaza's grassy center and the boys enjoyed playing around while we waited for our food.  I had fun spying on them through my camera's zoom.  

Doug taught all three of them how to do the wheelbarrel.  So funny!  Look how confused Tav looks as he checks it out the first time.

Even Penn got in on the action!  Oh and yes, of course, there's Koen being Koen too.

After dinner we let them run around some more.  I tried to force a picture with them all laying in the grass.  We were so close to getting something amazing.  Penn's actually quite upset at having to lay down in this pic, but you almost can't tell and it turns out I still really like it.  I just love these faces!

Koen was begging to take a picture of Doug and I, so we let him.  Not too bad.  

Some sweet college girls were picnicing on the grass and were just loving waving to and high-five-ing the boys during their run-around time and one of them offered to take our family picture.  Pretty special to get a Mother's Day family picture!  As usual, I can't pick a favorite as their something going very wrong in pretty much every one.  But after scrolling through the top picks you get the idea of what each one of us would look like had we all done the right thing in the same picture. =)

Well, that's my Mother's Day.  I loved it.  Extra time as a family that we don't usually get on a Sunday.  Tons of time outside on a gorgeous Spring day.  Surrounded by my boys all day.  And out to dinner (no dishes!) for a final treat.  As we were leaving the restaurant Tavin looks as me and said, "Mommy, I had a really nice time."  Doug and I both just about melted and I had to tell him that I totally agreed.  Thanks for a great day, Douglas, Koen, Tavin and Penn.  In the words of Tavin...I had a really nice time.