Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!  Wishing love and happiness to all the mamas out there.  My heart is full of gratitude as I celebrate my fourth Mother's Day this year, and was awoken to the sweet scent of pancakes, a card bearing by my children's names in my daughter's penmanship, and a bouquet of  flowers.  I love my children fiercely, and though they sure wear me out by bed time, I couldn't imagine life any other way.  

Also sending a heartfelt prayer to all of those women dreaming and wishing to be mothers, who may not have gotten the opportunity yet for a number of reasons.  Today, I am thinking of you today, and praying for you. 

In the event that you have a little extra time to peruse links on your special day, here's a roundup of a few that intrigued me this week.

+ this episode of Radio Lab (it's old, yes, but very interesting about the challenges some same-sex couples face internationally related to surrogacy)

+ watched The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks on HBO this week. I read the book years ago, but this gave some perspective to the character of Deborah Lacks (Henrietta's youngest daughter).  Oprah is powerful and captivating as Deborah, you truly forget that she's Oprah!

+ this sweet, reaffirming post on aging 

+ salivating over these antipasto skewers, summer picnics are in sight!

+ eager to read this new parenting book

+ loving this post on finding the balance between being motherhood and everything else

+ interesting read, "our mothers as we never saw them"

image/designmom

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to my wonderful, quirky, funny, amazing mom.  I love you phoofer!

{my mom and I}

 {my mom and my grandma}

Mothers Day Recap

We celebrated Mother's Day with a family feast at my parents house. We dined on delicious Kalbi marinated ribs, avocado, pomegranate, and feta salad, and baked potatoes with all the fixings at my parents house. After dinner, my mom and I went to a 7:15 showing of the new documentary Babies.

The movie was a little different than I'd anticipated, but a good show nonetheless. I'd expected a narrator or some kind of voice over to navigate the audience through the very different lives of these 4 babies. However, there's almost no dialogue in the movie, aside from parent-infant chatter. It's interesting to see the similarities between parents and children from rural Namibia and Mongolia to very urban Tokyo and San Francisco. Also, many funny moments, including babies interacting with their local animals, and of course sibling rivalry; which is apparently the same 'round the globe, even down to the biting, hitting, and hair pulling.

Anyone else seen it yet? How was your Mother's Day?

Happy Mother's Day

It's Mother's Day, we've been making Mother's Day cards all week, and I just watched as all my little ones crumpled their love notes into their backpacks... If you've moved past the days of homemade cards, and are still wondering what you'll get your mom by Sunday...send her a checklist for some feedback.

This Mother's Day gift checklist is available in PDF form, perfect to your mom if you don't live closeby is available here. You might not be able to provide all of the choices, but I'm sure she'll get a kick out of it!

images/ambrosiagirl

Garden Delight

When I think of a watering can, I picture a yellow plastic bucket stashed beside a coiled garden hose. However apparently times have changed, and this little piggy here, is indeed a copper watering can from Smith & Hawken.

With all of the effort my mom has recently invested into her backyard, I thought it only fitting that I celebrate her success with an eye-catching watering can that can only serve to enhance the thriving flora and fauna she's already cultivated. I had hoped there'd be a frog watering can, but the options were limited to pigs, roosters, and squirrels. The squirrel is definitely noteworthy, he was my runner-up.images/smith&hawken

Breakfast in Bed

What mom (or person for that matter) doesn't enjoy breakfast in bed? This gift-set from spoonnyc is just the ticket. Complete with buttermilk pancake mix, strawberry jam, and Vermont blueberry syrup, this $35 picnic will certainly sweeten up that Mother's Day breakfast.

Here's how I see it, there are 2 options for delivery
a). Present to mom as such, with ingredients sealed and wrapped, making for a gift that is aesthetically pleasing...
or
b). Be a rock star and actually take the time to whip up these ingredients into a scrumptious breakfast in bed (or maybe convince a younger sibling to do it for you) and deliver it to mom on her special day. I'm thinking option b). is the way to go...brownie points!

image/spoonnyc

Cookies in Bloom

Stumped for what to get your mom for mother's day? Fortunately my mom is easy to please and has an incredible sense of humor, so I might just go with this cookie bouquet, with the especially dorky tag-line "I love you like no udder mudder!" Yes, complete with a herd of cows.

Ba dum bum.

If your mom is a little more traditional, try this one, "If Mothers Were Flowers, I'd Pick You." It definitely makes a statement. And after it's been artfully displayed on the kitchen table for everyone to see, the sugar cookies are literally good enough to eat.

images/cookiesinbloom

Ribbet

Once again on the lookout for frog-inspired decor for my mom for Mother's Day. I came across this brass doorbell ornament at Restoration Hardware. Thought it be clever if when put to use, a "ribbit" sound replaced the traditional ding-dong ringer. I'll look into it...