Sunday Snapshot

I had a full and happy Mother's day. I hope all of you did, too. We got up a little earlier than normal and headed up the highway to worship at my parents' church. On the drive up, Li'l E provided a running commentary of the scenery, of her siblings' antics and behaviors, of the music she was listening to in Shaggy's earbuds, of the other cars traveling along the road with us, and so on. One hour and 25 minutes of almost constant conversation. MOST of it aimed at me - lately every sentence is prefaced by "Mommeeee?" But some of it was worth sharing, notably this little exchange:

"Daddy, look out! Der id a bid, bid mownten in dront od you!"

"Thank you, Li'l E. I'll try not to run right into it."

"Oh. Okay, Daddy. Youw wewcom."

She is SUCH a back-seat driver!

Anyway, here's a couple pics from our day of celebrating my mom,

both for Mother's Day AND her birthday.

Mmmmm, I made an Orange Coconut pound cake

for dessert. Thanks to Betty Crocker and my sister's

tips, this one turned out yummy and tender!

See Shaggy peeking in on the action?

It's really hard to get a serious pose in our family.

He made it up to me with a giant hug and a nice pose.

Rare, but nice. (The pose, not the hugs!)

Apparently, our celebration was exhausting!

All three of them were asleep just like this

within minutes of clearing the table and finishing dessert.

It took some doing (multiple calls to gather,

multiple admonishments to smile nicely,

and multiple "takes" of the same pose), but we did it.

Here is my Gang with my mom.

OH! And look!

The rarest sighting of the whole day!

A real hug AND a real smile with Dr. D.

It may have taken all day to coax the hug

(he's not the biggest fan of all the hugging that happens here!)

and some "naughty" words to prompt the smile

(body functions get him every time - he is a boy, after all!)

but it was totally worth it.

And the PERFECT way to end the day!