Happy Mother's Day 2012!

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there reading this! Hope you have a wonderful day planned with your families. Violet and I started our day quite early -- 3 a.m. :)  She wanted me all to herself for awhile. So we hung out until about 7 when I woke up Shawn so he could get in on some of the Violet-bonding time. :)  He let me catch up on sleep from 8 to 10. Then we made brunch together while the boys played on the front porch (I am SO glad we have that cleaned up so they can be out there!). Violet is sleeping. And soon I'm about to head to Menard's Garden Center for tomato, pepper and whatever other plants I find for my garden.

Yesterday was our annual southern fish fry at the farm. It is always a ton of fun and lots of great food! This year Grandma Katy requested that Mazy do a review on her meal so you can read that over on his new blog, Food Adventures.

A few photos of the moms in our family from yesterday:

Whatever your plans today, enjoy your children and appreciate all the mamas in your life! Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day Weekend

For the first time in six years, we've missed my favorite Mother's Day tradition -- the downtown DSM farmers market. It's only about 40 degrees out and windy and cloudy. I will miss the photo opp more than anything, but will be sure to do something tomorrow that is worthy of a Mother's Day scrapbook page. I think Shawn has been talked into driving to Jefferson, so perhaps we'll take some photos of me and the boys at the Bell Tower.

Happy Mother's Day to all, and especially to my mom! This is also the first year we're not having Mother's Day Sunday lunch at Mom's house -- we did it last weekend instead. But I am looking forward to the day and know I will enjoy it no matter what.

Today's picture is of me and Mom drinking wine at sunset while on our Door County vacation last fall. It was wonderful. We had so much fun. When I think of my mom, I think of blue jeans, bottles of Corona with lime, lawn chairs, good books, laughter and delicious food. She's the best. I look forward to drinking many, many more bottles of wine and beer with her!

My goal for tomorrow's trip to Jefferson is to check out the downtown area, possibly find some of the houses for sale and take a closer look at them, and just get a feel for the people and culture. I hope the weather cooperates with us. I'd like to find a park for the boys to run around in and maybe have a picnic.

Update: Dina no longer needs a reference letter so I can skip that step. I think that brings me to Step 4: Visit Jefferson, make a list of five pros and five cons.

And since I mentioned Door County, I would be remiss not to mention my dear, dear friend Jane. I talked to her on the phone last night and told her of my plans. She was very excited for me. Incidentally, this new life plan started because of a conversation with Jane. She is a true kindred spirit. Thanks for everything, Jane! I miss you!