Mom's birthday weekend re-cap

This weekend, we celebrated my Mom's birthday with a cookout and crabfeast in my parents' backyard.

My Mom's two sisters Fern and Valerie drove down from Boston with my Nana, Nana's boyfriend Mr. Raymond and a family friend. My Uncle Michael and Aunt D'Jenne came from Knightdale, N.C., with two of their 3 kids (their oldest just went off to college in Texas), and my cousin Alexis drove in from Richmond. Add those folks in with my family, Kadija and her family, and a bunch of other cousins, neighbors and friends, and there was a big crowd of people happy to help Mom bring in year 59!

Who is that beautiful woman who looks waaaay younger than 59? Well, that's my amazing Mommy!
And who took that beautiful picture of that beautiful woman? My friend Angel!

Didn't she do a great job? My Mom was thrilled at this photo -- thrilled! -- and that is saying something because she hates all pictures of herself. And my Dad was psyched that the yard looks so nice in the background. (Dad would be excited about something like that.)

I asked Angel to come take portraits of my Mom, her sisters and her mother since they'd all be together, and to also maybe try to get one or two nice photos of my Mom and Dad, since we have no decent photos of the two of them (seriously, the last good photo of them was taken in like 1985 or something). Angel did that, but also took some lovely off-the-cuff photos of just our family milling about being messy and unorganized and loud. She's processing the photos now, but sent a few for me to steal a sneak peek.

It's my Cary! Actually smiling in a photo. Awwww.

Me and my little sister Kadija. Isn't she a pretty girl (when she wants to be)? I love her!

Nana, Auntie Val, Mommy and Auntie Fern. Aren't they beautiful?

It was soooo great to have so much of our family in town for Mom's day. I love having family around. But it is made that much nicer when you can look back at really great pictures of everyone who was there. I'm so grateful to Angel for documenting this special day!

I saw her take some super cute photos of my nephew Matty, and of Clair with Lester, and of Dean. I can't wait to see those, and also see the shots she got of my Dad (who fought me tooth and nail to change out of his working-in-the-yard clothes to go get his picture taken.)

OK, really, I can't wait to see ALL the pictures! The sneak peek did its trick. My appetite is sufficiently whet! I'm so glad to have such talented friends!

P.S. Happy birthday today to my dear grandmother, Rosyth White, who I miss every day. I know you would have been at this party, dancing and laughing and eating all the ice cream. I love you Grandma. I miss you.

Mom's birthday/my anniversary/Angel-takes-photos weekend!

My wonderful Mom's birthday is on Sunday. She'll be (cough, cough, ahem!) years old, but she doesn't look a day over 40.

To surprise her, my Nana (her mom), and her two sisters Fern and Valerie drove down from Boston today!

Aunt Fern is on the far left, my Mom's in the middle. Auntie Val is on the far right and my Nana is in the middle. The other two dudes are two of my Mom's brothers. (Uncle Mike didn't make this reunion.)

With all that family in town, we knew we needed to do something fab. So we're having a party this weekend!

I'll be busy, busy, busy (what else is new?) cooking for the party, dealing with the kiddos and basically being hostess-with-the-mostest, because my Dad has made me Chief Party Planner.

But I am so excited because my girl Angel C. is coming to take photos of the party, and some portraits of the Jackson girls (that's my mom and her sisters and Nana)! The photo shoot is my gift to my Mom and to Nana, whose birthday is on the 10th.

I get to see my family! And hang out with Angel! And get some kick-ass photos!! (You can see some of Angel's beautiful portraits at asc-images.com.)

And...tomorrow is me and Lester's 6th anniversary! 

AND...Nana and my Aunties brought LOBSTAH! (Gotta say it the Boston way!)

So this is going to be a great weekend! Can't wait!

Happy Birthday/Mother's Day/No-Bottle Day

What another fabulous weekend!!!

The boys had a wonderful birthday, in spite of the fact that I barely planned anything!

They had fun blowing out their candles in their ice cream and I even gave them seconds when they asked for it.

Dean ate his so fast, I barely had time to get the camera out before he was finished. He even ate the candle too. Can wax poison small children? I guess we'll find out.

Cary also ate his candle. My children either have PICA or they're just weird.

 Later on that night, Lester gave me a pre-Mother's Day gift to die for: He BAKED for me! My friend Angel, seeing my love for Morton's LEGENDARY HOT CHOCOLATE CAKE!, sent me a recipe for molten chocolate lava cake (or something like that). Lester tried his hand at it, and it was delicious!!! I ate two of them, hot out the oven, with ice cream on the side, and swooned from happiness. Thanks, Angel! Thanks, Lester!!!

On Sunday, Mother's Day, all three of my boys fixed me breakfast (pancakes, fried cinnamon apples, sausage and coffee) and then gave me beautiful cards and gifts.

They also sent a Mother's Day message to all the Moms in their lives. (Well, Dean did most of the messaging. Cary was too busy "READING!")

Later, my mom, Dad, my Aunt Fern (Mom's sister) and my Uncle Buddy and Aunt Pam (Mom's brother and sis-in-law) came to Baltimore to have brunch at the Rusty Scupper, overlooking the Inner Harbor. So they stopped by our house afterward. I loved having them over, and so did the boys. And Clair didn't get put down the entire time they were there, so she was in Heaven.

Aunt Pam, Auntie Fern, me and Mom. Happy Mother's Day to us!

It was a wonderful, wonderful, family-filled weekend. I was really very much at peace and feeling loved and blessed, and not stressed, all weekend long. That is a beautiful thing. Happy Mother's Day to me!


AND!!!

As planned, we sent the boys to bed last night without a bottle for the first time in their lives! Following my weekly weaning plan, they had already gotten down to only 2 oz. each, so I figured they might not miss it. Boy was I wrong! There was considerable crying from both boys -- but the hysterics came mostly from Cary. Deanie seemed to understand much more when we explained that only babies have bottles and they were big boys now. But Cary (as usual) didn't really care what we said. He flipped around in his crib and screamed bloody murder. He wailed and moaned like someone had died. He refused to sleep, refused his lovey, refused his blanket, refused comforting. He was really putting on the performance of a lifetime.

I was feeling very determined as a mother to cross this bridge, but I was also feeling quite sad for him. It's Mother's Day! And I'm torturing my child. Also, I had to bathe Clair and put her to sleep. And also Mad Men was coming on in an hour or so! I needed this child to sleep!!

So after 45 minutes and several times of me going in to comfort him and reason with him, finally Lester went in and firmly told him enough was enough and it was time to go. to. sleep!

And you know what? He did. Just like that. Not a whimper out of him for the rest of the night.


Yes, it was Mother's Day, and yes I am a darn good Mom, 95-percent of the time. But I've said it before and I'll say it again: Thank the good LORD for fathers. :-)

(Note: One night bottle-free down. The rest of their lives to go. Pray for us!)

(P.S. This is my LAST WEEK of maternity leave. Waaaaaaaah! :-( )