Suburban Odyssey

Don’t go overboard

When I announce on Saturday my plan to emulate Beth’s dad and enlist all non-mothers in helping to create a breakfast-for-the-moms extravaganza on Mother’s Day, she admonishes me: “Don’t go overboard.” I merely nod and say “Oh no.  Of course I won’t.” Obviously, I’m lying. This is Mother’s Day we’re talking about. Plus, it’s the first time we’ve been together with my mom for Mother’s Day in a LONG time.  Certainly since Cady was born. It needs to be special.

I get up early with Cady. Of course, Juju decides that she wants to help too, so she gets up as well (she usually sleeps until 8:30 or 9…not today…7 it is). No worries though. We sign the cards and get the gifts in place, then begin the preparations. Michele joins us, and things are rolling along nicely.

The menu:

• Coffee
• Mimosa
• Fruit Salad
• Assorted doughnuts (from “The Amish”) & muffins
• Made to order Omelets
• Pancakes with choice of chocolate chips, blueberries (or both)

Is that overboard? Of course it isn’t.

The moms sleep in, as they should, and preparations continue in the kitchen (There are no photos of this as the only people capable of taking photos are busy preparing).

When they rise, the moms are seated, and the omelet/pancake cooking begins in earnest:

We’re joined by Grandma’s neighbor, Maura. She’s not a mom, but we treat her like one because she’s awesome.

Note the empty chair in the photo above. While the moms are enjoying their feast, Cady is long finished. She is playing in Grandma’s living room. Suddenly Grandma notices Cady rolling around on the floor beneath a wrought-iron table that she has in a corner of her living room.  It’s a small table, and has a potted plant on top of it. Grandma implores Cady to be careful. As she says this, I look up in time to see the table start to fall towards Cady, who is prone directly in its now- falling path. Beth also notices this and lets out a scream: “CAAAADDDYYY!”. We all scatter towards the table as it falls in what seems like slow motion towards our helpless child. Fortunately, it misses Cady all together. This doesn’t stop her from crying like crazy though (we’re pretty sure Beth’s scream scared her). The plant, and Grandma’s lovely plush, pile carpet were not so lucky, however.

The cleanup effort commences, and miraculously that pile of dirt/mud comes out of the carpet completely. Big thanks to Maura who supplies her vacuum cleaner, and even bigger thanks to Beth who patiently dabs the mud out of the carpet.  Shes an amazing woman, no doubt.  Also, big up to the supervisors of the cleanup, Grandma & Juju:

After the houseplant incident, we move on to the gifts. Grandma gets a book of photos that are threaded together beautifully by a poem written by Beth.

The plan for the rest of the day is to head to Aunt Virginia’s house for sandwiches and a visit with her and the Spinks family.  While we get ready, Cady takes the opportunity to try on some of Auntie Michele’s shoes.

When we get to Aunt Virginia’s, Juju gets to know Glen, and treats him exactly the same way her sister did 3 years ago.

He starts to speak her language however, and she warms up a bit.  It is his birthday after all. (Happy Bday, Glen!)

It takes Cady a long time to say hello to anyone, but she soon becomes best friends with Jeff.

Juju wonders why people love playing with her feet.

We end up having a great visit with tasty sandwiches and Jeff’s special Green Salad, a fantastic concoction of marshmallows, pistachio pudding and some other stuff.  It’s a wonderful Mother’s Day (and birthday) for everyone!

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