Mother's Day Weekend

Best gift of all for Mother's Day was a fun-filled weekend of togetherness!

The fun all started off bright and early Saturday morning at the Lake Run. Scott loves this run and has done it by himself the last several years. Well, this year he signed us all up, whether we could run or not! They had an event for everybody. Kennedy, Cassidy and I ran/walked the 5K. Kennedy took off ahead leaving Cassidy as my running partner. We walked whenever it was uphill and ran whenever it was downhill! I was so kind as to walk a nice flat part with her while she walked out a cramp in her side just for her to leave me at the very end of the race. Cassidy ended up beating me by 5 seconds! Kennedy beat both of us by about 5 minutes.

Scott ran the 12K. Our race started first and we were done in time to meet Scott at the finish line. He surprised us all with his finish - not his time but his form! He did a somersault over the finish line! Always the performer!

After the 5K and the 12K were over they had a kids 1/2 mile Dash. Karsyn, Layton and Will all ran in that according to their age groups. The boys were getting all pysched up for the race by listening to some music.

After seeing his dad do something funny at the finish line, Will wanted to have his own move to show off as well. His options were running in with his hands raised up or running in backwards. I was afraid he might fall or trip over someone if he ran in backwards so we agreed on the raised hands. The only problem was he lifted those arms with about a quarter of the race still left!

Layton was the best! He was the very last 9 year old to get out of the gate. He did that 'head down, leaning way forward with the elbows up high' run that so many of my kids do! We don't know where they get it from...neither Scott nor I run that way but 4 out of my 5 kids all run like that! I was video-taping his run so didn't get a good photo of Layton but if you look hard you can see him behind this girl.

Karsyn took off flying! She was in the last group to start since she was in the oldest age group but she came in before most all the 8 and 9 year olds. You could tell she ran fast because she had nothing left when we saw her at the finish line. She even beat Layton - maybe all the coaching with her run on vault has payed off! Karsyn did find enough energy to do a front handspring over the finish line!

This is us after running the 5K

Then after a yummy hamburger and blackberry shake from The Giant Burger we headed out to Seattle to the Marineers game.

Sunday morning started out very sweet when Will woke me up with a kiss and some cuddle time. Then I was served a breakfast of eggs, sausage, bacon, fruit and juice and given a bouquet of flowers. After breakfast I got presents! The boys have been sneaking off to our neighbors house for a few weeks now having "art classes" (which are really wood-working classes). Our sweet neighbor helped the boys make these candle holders for me.

Then Scott really surprised me! We went to an art gallery in San Fransisco back in March. I wanted to show him some paintings by an artist I fell in love with last time I went to San Fransisco. Our quick little visit took almost two hours while we saw all his works and got an art history lesson from the Vice President of the Gallery. We found one that we loved and would match several rooms in our home but I just couldn't commit to spending that kind of money on a painting. I had pretty much forgotten about it when Scott unveiled it for me Mother's Day morning!

It is called Romantisme II by Pierre Marie Brisson. The real beauty of his work is seeing it up close. Besides the colors I love the texture of his paintings. He uses a style he invented called Carborundum Etching which gives his paintings an aged and layered look.

And then with these 5 beautiful blessings what more could a mamma want?

Maybe just an amazing man to help make it all possible!