Happy Mother's Day

First and foremost - I send out love and gratitude to my own mom - for giving me life, teaching me about love, faith, and strength. You are an amazing woman. I love you Mom.

And, also, love and appreciation to my mother in law. Thank you for giving life to the greatest man I know and shaping him into who he is. Thank you also for the love and acceptance you have given me. I love you Mary Beth.

My day has been great! Let me review it - starting with these past few moments and on to the morning. Both boys are tucked in, and probably close to sleeping. I loved hearing their laughter tonight as they played together. When they are really playing hard - their laughter is so full. It is contagious. I love it. I am thankful for each of them today - for their lives that have allowed me to enter the world of motherhood. What a beautiful experience it has been....with a lifetime more to learn, enjoy and experience ahead of me. I love you Reece. I love you Chase.

 

We enjoyed a nice dinner in a a great atmosphere...live instrumental music. A resteraunt that is in a restored church (I think). Good food. Great dessert - always a big thing for me! Excellant company! The kids were so well behaved - a gift in itself when taking 2 toddlers out to eat - and considering they had missed their naps! They loved the music too. We took a family picture to remember the day.

 

We also had a good morning and afternoon with our Christian family.

And this morning I was awoken by the giggles of my children as they helped Benjy deliver me breakfast in bed...although most of my food was gobbled up by hungry little Chase, I enjoyed the thoughtfulness...and the homemade card of course! The big suprise was also presented to me today! Had the secret not been leaked (see previous post about suprises), I would have been blown away! As requested, Benjy played it all out as he had originally intended and as the picture below shows...on the dessert plate...my suprise!!!!!

 

I was still blown away at the gift and the kind words from my husband that explained the "why" he chose a new and quality camera for me. I am really excited and very, very thankful! I think it has been proven that a camera in my hands gets put to good use. Thank you so much. I love you Benjy!

Oh...and since I am on a roll, I want to say thanks to all of the other people that walk in the role of Mom and who influence who I am as a Mom to my kids by their example, their encouragement, sharing experiences and ideas together. I feel like my kids are blessed - either directly, or indirectly from our conversations in the great topic of "parenting". I will be the first to say that we have a very important role in this life and that we need each other!

Happy Mother's Day!

Coffee Update

For all of you praying for Cafe y Algo Mas....

Tonight proved to be our most successful night! Yes, we sold the most stuff and gained the most money - but more importantly, we had pockets of people sitting and about 15 in the shop at one point! Apparently cappuccinno is a hit in the Volcanes (our neighborhood!) We are excited and thankful for your prayers. 

What Goes up Must Come Down

 
Chase's newest trick is tossing things up in the air - usually over his shoulder - and then laughing with glee at his accomplishment as it hits the ground. He has quite an arm if I do say so myself. He adds his own sound effects and makes it all quite a dramatic production! It has been entertaining to us as well. The problem is that although it is a developmental step for Chase to throw, it is creating chaos in the "we don't throw things in the house" rule that Reece had been abiding by until now. They have their own little competitive game going on - and pretty much if it is within their reach, it is likely to be airbourne very soon...the latest: Chase's plate of food. Not quite so entertaining that time! 

Spring Cleaning

A sigh of relief to have experienced success at a long talked about event around our house....a garage sale! We finally did it this weekend and got rid of things like clothes, books, toys, etc.. What will we do with the earnings? (we faired quite well I must say!) Probably, with time, end up buying more stuff. Isn't that sad?

So now I have a little more space and I feel the urge to jump all the way into spring cleaning. If our storage was more organized it would hold more stuff. The problem with me is my age old habit of having great intentions and then running out of ummmphff before the job is done. Usually, instead of sticking to the task, I stop and look through old journals, reminisce through stacks of pictures, and on and on...while life continues around me and I run out of time to finish well - so it all gets stacked back - unorganized - and not much better than where I started. So...I think I might take it a bit slower this time and try to achieve a bit more success. I have heard that it helps to start in one corner of your house and work your way around. Any other suggestions from you probably much better housekeepers than me?!

I Love Suprises!

Okay, I love suprises....but I hate finding them out before it is time!

My husband knows this and he has really been good at suprising me! With Mother's Day coming up, I expected a nice dinner at a good resteraunt or something like that - but one day he got a suspicious phone call from the States - and I was on to something. BUT, like I said, I hate a spoiled suprise so I pressed him a little, just enough to show interest, but then let it go. Then I noticed an email in the inbox - that if I opened - I knew it held valuable information! SO...I didn't touch it! Then, I received a call from one of our AIM guys who was home in the States for a visit and was returning to Mexico City the next day - he assured me he had our package (which my instinct told me to delcare to him that it probably was a suprise and to keep it that way) but I changed the subject to his flight schedule instead - thinking we were safe. Nope - as the conversation ended - he said IT. I responded with a, "uhhh - what?" and he tried to recover....but the cat was out of the bag...and my heart sank - while, at the same time I was very excited at what Benjy did for me. What a great man!

I think a great part about suprises is the joy it brings to the one doing the suprise - not just the receiver of it. So, I decided I would not ruin Benjy's planning and would just act like I had no idea. So, I called Bryan back in the States and told him not to tell Benjy he slipped up and we would just play it out as though I had no idea. Great. Right? Until Benjy gets home that evening - asks if Bryan called, we discuss his flight schedule, and then he looks me in the eye and says something like, "and did he say anything else?" I am not good at lying so tried my best to be casual and act normal but he knew immediately (that's what 7 years of marriage will give ya!)that I knew. I even tried to deny it - but he didn't buy it. So, I first thanked him for the great gift and then apologized that his hard work was ruined and asked him to not to talk anymore about it with me and just continue on with his whole plan of how he intended to suprise me in the first place - as if I had no idea!!! Doesn't this just stink. I am not one of those people who snoops and tries to figure things out (I remember when I was young and accidently saw my sister wrapping my Christmas present and it ruined my Christmas because all I could do was focus on how I was going to fake my reaction so she wouldn't know!) People who snoop should find this stuff out, but I was making effort to not know and now I know. Grrrr.

But - there are lots of details about this gift that I don't know so I will just enjoy thatpart of it. And, to bring some redemption to this whole scenario....I won't tell you what I am getting until I really get it. So...suprise!