Happy Mother's Day

After our hectic Mother's Day brunch last year, I wanted to avoid going out on Mother's Day this year, so I suggested we take my mom out Saturday night. My sister Theresa and her family joined us. We went to Buca di Beppo. They have gluten free options, which my niece and nephews need.

My sister Lia warned me that it would be crowded on a Saturday night, but I thought we'd be ok going at 5:30. Plus it's hard to find a nice sit down restaurant that has gluten free entrees and is located halfway between us and my parents. Maybe if it wasn't located next to a theater on opening weekend for Star Trek, it wouldn't have been so bad. Thom and my brother-in-law ended up having to park in a shopping center across the street. My parents had the good fortune to find a parking spot just outside the restaurant.

Dinner itself was not bad, but Aaron was "done" before the food even arrived. And then there was the incident where he knocked Thom's Italian soda over, leaving Thom to endure the rest of the evening in damp pants. But Aaron had fun sitting on Grandpa's lap, then Auntie Tree's and playing with his cousins.

Before we went out, we took a few photos by the tree in the backyard. Hard to believe I am only 4 months pregnant in these photos. Aaron wasn't very cooperative, but these photos capture what life is like with a 2 year old.

This last photo was taken while Thom and Ernie were retrieving the cars after dinner. I enjoyed seeing my family, but hope next year we can manage something less hectic. Maybe we just need to celebrate a week early.

Today, we celebrated Mother's Day with a nice breakfast at home. We had some cherry custardy things (from the Trader Joe's freezer section) with our coffee. Then Thom cooked up some bacon and I made some scrambled eggs with green onion, mushrooms and cheese and we ended with some fresh blackberries. It was a relaxing morning. Around 11am, we all went to the park to feed the ducks (they were already full apparently) and to throw the frisbees around.

Thom had asked me what I wanted for Mother's Day and I didn't know until late in the week, which wasn't enough time to get what I want. I want to get a better camera for capturing video. The Canon that I use primarily for snapshots has been OK so far, but I'm ready for something that captures better quality video and that allows me to zoom in and out while filming. Thom's been researching for 3 days and we've narrowed it down to 3 simple models (I don't want something bulky and with features I'll never use). None seems ideal, so I'm trying to decide which features I want the most.