Mother's Day 2013

This past weekend, Chris, Oscar, and I traveled to Baltimore to visit with our families for Mother's Day weekend. Last month, when I was in Baltimore to babysit Mallorie and house-sit for my parents, Bill and I decided that we would celebrate Mother's Day for our mom on Saturday so the entire family would be together. That way, Bill and Casie wouldn't split up to spend time with their respective moms and each mom got time with Mallorie, too. 

Our Friday evening in Baltimore was pretty low-key - dinner and conversation. Saturday morning, we drove down to Richardson's in Chase where we met Bill, Casie, and Mallorie so Mom could pick out flowers for her garden. Bill and I bought her the flowers she picked out and then when we got home, I planted them for her.

When Bill & Casie first arrived, Mallorie was sleeping.

Uncle Chris thought it was funny to return our "cart" to the cart corral.

Check out Little Miss Sunshades!

I planted Coleus, Vincas, and a Knockout rose bush here.

A long shot of the side garden along the house.

A long shot of the garden opposite from the house.

I planted another Knockout rose bush here.

Mom worked on some pots.

I planted these begonias in this pot.

Mom planted this hanging pot.

I planted these Gerbera daisies, leaving room for a third one that Mom bought and planted on Sunday.

After our afternoon of planting, we showered and got ready to head to dinner. Originally, we were going to go to Kahler's, but they could not seat us until 8 PM. We figured that wouldn't factor well into Mallorie's schedule, so we decided to go to Al's Seafood, instead. Mallorie was such a good baby while we were out at dinner - sleeping at first, and then happy and alert. She sat with everyone at some point in the evening and even danced on her daddy's lap at one point.

Just me and my bean! 

Love these two...and the Big Guy in the background!

Mmmm...dolly. Nom-nom-nom!

Dancing with Daddy.

Doing the Hand Jive.

Rockin' out!

Mallorie surprised me with an awesome Mother's Day present (I'm her Godmother). She and her mom and dad got crafty and made me a super-cool flower pot with butterflies made from her footprints.

It says, "Happy Mother's Day, Aunt Beth! Love, Mallorie" and I LOVE IT!

Sunday, after a brief visit at Bill & Casie's, we went over Chris' parents' house to meet them, Chris' brother Steve, and sister Kim & brother-in-law Matt so we could all head out to lunch for Mother's Day for Chris' mom. We had a very nice meal at Jad's. It was great to have Chris' entire family together. I can't remember the last time we were all together like that - it's definitely been a long while.

Chris' family - Kim (sister), Ernie (dad), Shirley (mom), Steve (brother), and Chris.

We left lunch and headed back to my parents' house to pick up Oscar so we could make our way home. We had a fantastic weekend visiting with our families, especially little Mallorie. She is growing like a weed! I'm so happy that we've been able to visit as often as we have (we're averaging about every four weeks), so we're able to see her change during these first few months. We're going to try to keep up that frequency because she's changing and growing so fast; we don't want to miss it!!!