Mother's Weekend

A quick disjointed overview of the weekend. Not much time, and I'd rather be napping while the boys are quiet.

Saturday was a beautiful day. Finally, the cold has released its grip and we can enjoy the warm weather for days on end.

Unfortunately, Ian's flying lesson was canceled Saturday morning (repairs on the plane) so that bummed him out. But I had breakfast in bed, courtesy of Nicholas who came up with the idea and the others who helped concoct a bowl of Kix, bread and butter, and apple slices along with a glass of milk and a glass of water. We meandered through the farmer's market to buy some bread and chocolate milk before heading to Woodbridge to ice skate with Katherine's oldest friend, Erin. They've been e-mailing all during our tour in Manila and have been talking on the phone since arriving back. We couldn't resist Borders for a bit even though we didn't purchase anything. The kids chose stuffed animals and put on a puppet show for me on the little reading stage. At grandma's house we finally gave grandpa his birthday gifts and grandma her mother's day gifts. My mom was performing in Brahms' German Requiem Saturday night so we ate some of their food for dinner and left the birthday cake mess for my dad to clean up.
We drove back to Arlington where I dropped off the family, changed my clothes and returned to Springfield so I could attend the concert and surprise my parents. I miss a lot when we're overseas and now there's no reason to. I am, afterall, in the neighborhood. It was an excellent concert at a Baptist church given by the Springfield Chorale. I arrived late though, after taking a wrong turn, so stayed in the back. The performance took just over and hour and I was home shortly after 10.
Sunday morning we lazed around until about 10:30, then metroed downtown to St. Matthews Cathedral. My parents met us there and we enjoyed a wonderful Mass in a stunning and colorful church. A block away we had brunch at the Beacon hotel where a table was set up in it's own alcove for us. The restaurant was loud enough that kid noises didn't matter, but swanky enough to really be a nice treat. The brunch buffet was excellent too, I highly recommend it.
On the way back we all stopped at Ballston. Rebecca needed new dress shoes, so grandpa bought her some before we had a little ice cream.
It was time to say goodbye so they took the metro back to their car and we hoofed the rest of the way home. The weather was gorgeous and no one minded the long walk. We were glad we hadn't bothered trying to get a seat at the Cheesecake Factory!
At home, it was present time. Present make me moderately uncomfortable. I think it's the expectation that now that I've received something, I feel I owe equal or better gifts to them next time around. Ack. The girls had gone into Bath and Body Works and came back with wonderful hand cream and body wash. The boys helped daddy with a couple digital photography books, and Ian bought me great tea with an awesome tea cup. I really appreciated all the times they told me Happy Mother's day and how good they were all weekend. We piled on the couch to watch "Unfortunate Events" and daddy read their bedtime stories.
It was a really nice weekend and I hope that the rest of the family enjoyed it as much as I.