Mother's Day 2017

I had a wonderful Mother's Day!  We started out with our annual breakfast at the CDA Resort.

I sure do love this boy!

Greg's plate.

Always wanted to try dragon fruit.  The taste was mild with a hint of sweetness.

My honey.  :)

  

We walked around the shop area.  This is outside the toy store.

A vintage toy display was neat!

These little boxes of candy were so cute, I had to take one home.  Orange was a good choice!

Rain, rain.

I finally got to visit a friend's shop in an antique store!

It was fun spying out the Mother's Day touches here and there.

A few more items from the candy store.  The banana pecan caramel was amazing!!

A great way to conclude the day: cards from my boys.  :)

Mother's Day 2015

I had a nice Mother's Day.  :)  My gift each year is flowers for the yard, mostly petunias.  It's a lot of work between weeding, shopping, and planting, so I prefer to do it the weekend before so that the weekend of can be more relaxing.  (Is it just me, or are flowers getting more expensive!  Ouch!)  Thankfully, the weather cooperated, and we were able to do it the weekend before.  So the day of, we had a calm morning and ate brunch out at the fancy buffet in Coeur d'Alene.  It was delicious as always, and I managed not to overload my plate with meat for once.  I even had room to actually enjoy my dessert!  It's so hard not to overdo it there!

See my dessert at the bottom?  A petit four and a macaroon!

I was hoping to catch a glimpse of my uncle's family, since we knew they were going to be at the park, and as we were headed over, I spotted our good friends, the McD's!  It seems everyone thought Coeur d'Alene was the place to be that day!!!  Then, we drove over to Spokane for two games of laser tag.  I wouldn't have planned to play laser tag on Mother's Day.  It was incredibly beautiful outside, and I would have preferred to window shop in Coeur d'Alene, maybe take a stroll along the lake.  But Greg had suggested laser tag as an outing for boys at the Union Gospel Mission where he and Kylen occasionally volunteer.  There weren't enough boys in residence to make it a go, so they pitched it to the women, who WERE interested!  They chose Mother's Day, so that's how we ended up playing laser tag.  But it worked out fine, because I love playing it.  Plus, I got to meet the UGM gal that Greg works with - a super sweet lady.  And it was also neat getting to meet some of the women and kids who stay there.

They are usually slow on that day, but we had a pretty good number of people both times, around 25.  There were three young men who dominated both games, but Kylen still managed to wrestle a second place the second game!  I came in 8th both times.  Better than 9th, I guess!  :)

At laser tag with my son.  Can you believe how tall he's gotten?!  I can't!!

Afterwards, we stopped by the Flour Mill to pick up a gift card, and I took the opportunity to look around the Chocolate Apothecary.  I hadn't been in quite awhile.  They've really improved their selection!  I learned a lot about chocolate while teaching a co-op class last spring.  I was surprised how many high quality brands I recognized.  Last time I looked, they had barely any variety.  Now I know where to go for a good chocolate fix.  ;)  They also have delicious ice cream and fancy cheeses.  We found out they carry my favorite cheese, which we haven't been able to find in a year (not that we've looked around much!).  But the store we get our meat at stopped carrying it, so it was nice to run into it there.  I picked out a chocolate bar, and Greg and I shared a scoop of ice cream while Kylen had one of their chocolate drinks.  Wish I had taken a picture or two!

Eventually, it was time to head home and get ready for school the next morning.  It was a busy weekend!

Happy Mother's Day!

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

Mother's Day

I usually like to eat out for breakfast on Mother's Day, but we had been so busy that it seemed better to have a quiet morning.  My preferred gift is always flowers for the front yard, and my boys didn't disappoint!  They spent much of the day planting and doing yard work.  :-)  Later in the afternoon, I asked to stop by a coffee shop and go for a drive.  It was a beautiful day!

Mother's Day

My Mother's Day gift each year is for the boys to do yard work and plant flowers in the front, mostly petunias.  Between inclement weather and lack of time, it usually gets delayed several weeks.  This year though, Saturday was perfect.  We spent the morning purchasing flowers and hanging baskets for the porch.  The boys helped weed, Greg assisted with planting, and we all got plenty of fresh air and sunshine . . . just in the nick of time!  The weather turned muggy and overcast the very next day, but when summer returns, our yard will be ready!

The church we've been attending hosted a special bell choir from a Bible college.  It was an interesting experience!  I couldn't see very well from where I was sitting and hoped to get a closer look at their set up, but they were almost finished packing by the time I reached the front.  One of the musicians noticed my curiosity and was kind enough to chat with me.  I was surprised to hear that many of the students learned everything this year, some even how to sing!  That's pretty impressive considering how well they performed!

Afterwards, we went to the same brunch buffet at the Coeur d'Alene Resort that we visited for Valentine's Day.  We appreciated being seated next to the windows again!  The weather was fairly humid and warm, so we didn't feel like carrying our full bellies far, but we did manage to make our way along the boardwalk until the bridge.  I took a few pictures, we drove home and called our parents, and I opened cards from my sweet boys.  It was a happy Mother's Day!

My Day/His B-Day

I wanted to do a quick post about our May holiday and b-day!

I spent the morning of Mother's Day preparing for my art class, but my hard work was rewarded with a wonderful lunch at Old European.  It was incredibly cool seeing all the other moms, some of whom posed happily with their kids for pictures, just like us!  Add in a little shopping, scenic driving, a couple of cards, and you have the ingredients for a lovely day my way.  Oh, and my present is always getting to pick out flowers for the front yard, though that usually gets put off for another week to two.


We were in good company!  Moms all over the place!

 Greg's birthday ended up being on the same day we visited my grandfather's grave with my uncle's family and Grandma.  We got to share memories and enjoy all the flags and flowers.  Then we went out with them for lunch, came home a few hours for cards and gifts, and finally headed back into Spokane for dinner with Greg's parents!

Kylen got Greg a jumbo card!

 

Greg and His Dad Perusing the Menu



WHAT is he doing?



WHAT IS HE EATING????!!!!!

Are you even SERIOUS?!  He is NOT my son!

Mother's Day 2009

We began Mother's Day with food, and there is hardly a better way to start than that! AND, this was food I didn't prepare! Though Hubby cooks a yummy breakfast, and Kylen is an aspiring chef, this meal didn't come from them. I was treated to a marvelous ballroom brunch buffet! So many things to choose from, I didn't know where to start! Tables and tables with breakfast dishes, salads, carved meats, appetizers, fruit . . .

The baked salmon was melt-in-your-mouth scrumptious!

Desserts! All kinds! Big and small! Cakes, tarts, eclairs! I was over-whelmed!

Then we did this:

I'm still sore today! After picking out plants (including a Japanese maple, as you can see in our trailer above), we came home and did a tremendous amount of yard work. One of the few really nice days we've had since winter, and I wanted to make the most of it! We cleaned out the garden beds and added more dirt to them, pulled weeds, spread new bark, and savored the sunshine!

Our tree finally has leaves!

I prepared a new pork chop recipe for dinner that turned out delicious. At the end of it all were two wonderful cards from my boys. It was grand!

Saturday's High Tea

On Saturday I met my mom, grandma, sister and sister-in-law at a local tea shop to celebrate a belated Mother's Day. It was lovely!

I sent out less formal invitations than usual, as I was short on time. Each envelope contained a small note card with the date and time, a business card, and a flyer from the shop with information about their teas.

In honor of the holiday, my gift to each mother was a bundle of blank handmade cards with my artwork. They were bound together with ribbon and included a few small gifts tucked between the envelopes: a flower magnet and baseball card of my son. I decorated each a little differently. I included a special card for my mother and grandmother.

A close up:

The table was beautifully decorated and ready to receive guests!

There was a nice roomy feeling even though the table occupied a large portion of our small room. One wall had a cabinet filled with tea related items for sale. In fact, virtually everything we saw was for sale!

We could have picked a hat to wear!

Grandmother, Mother, and me!

Each of us poured from our own small pot and was allowed one refill. The pots held 2 ½ cups, so we could each drink up to five cups. Most of us picked different kinds and shared. My favorite ended up being one I picked called Vanilla Spice, an herbal tea. Here you see my pot and a "menu" of suggested teas with descriptions. Both sides of the menu was full of options! Plus, our hostess offered to make any of the teas not listed but sold in the store. Talk about choices!

Our meal began with lemon sorbet and a mint leaf to clense our palettes. It was wonderful!

The remainder of the meal arrived on three tier stands. We were to start at the bottom and work our way up. Fresh cranberry scones with cream and jam, tea sandwiches (egg salad and red onion, cucumber, and tuna with nuts) and quiche with relish, and assorted desserts. These consisted of fresh fruit, brownie/cheesecake bars, tiny raspberry muffins, fruit-filled tarts, and cookies. It was scrumptious! Plus, I was so stuffed I took most of my dessert home to share with my boys later!

This was in the adjoining room where there were several small tables for groups of two or three.

Several of the walls had paintings for sale by my watercolor instructor! There was also a rack with handmade cards featuring her artwork and other artists. If I paint some tea scenes, I might someday have cards for sale there, too!

One of the neatest things in the shop is the “hall of teas!” As you can see, there are several shelves with lots of different kinds for sale. Next to each flavor is a container with a lid. This way customers can smell before buying. It is said that if you like the smell of a tea, chances are good you will like the taste. This is logical since most of what we taste is with our noses!

At the end of the hall is a large selection of vintage tea cups and pots for sale.

Here is a close up:

And another:

A marvelous assortment of scarves and purses.

More hats to wear or buy!

At a time when many tea shops are struggling to survive, this one is doing a bustling business. Each of the three times I've visited there have been a steady stream of customers in and out. I believe their main profit comes from their fine selection of top quality teas. I'm sure I will be visiting again soon!