every day is mother's day

Or I guess at least yesterday -Mother's Day- felt like any other day.
So much so that when I went to bed I realized I had actually never thought to call my own Mother!
{Happy (late) Mother's Day Mom!!}

We had spent Saturday and stayed the night out at Mike and Kasey's house for a nice visit, so we had a lazy morning there. We all went out for lunch at a fun pizza place and a walk around the downtown/campus area before hitting the road home.

Once we were back here we spent much of the rest of the afternoon outside, doing a bit of cleaning of the back patio and the driveway. Ryan's grill cover is pretty much done for and so he's been real 'meh' about putting the cover on in between uses, resulting in a certain couple of birds building and rebuilding and rebuilding nests inside the grill every chance they get.
We use the grill a lot; we probably cook on it three or four nights a week. But these birds are fast... if that thing is left cold or uncovered for more than like 8 hours... they are at it again. Here's what Ryan would find when he would go to cook up some dinner:














And every time he'd empty it out, clean it up and remind himself to go buy a new cover.
And then forget about it.
And then he'd open up the lid the next time and find it had happened again.














And again and again and again. We've stuffed the vents on the sides, we've tried to plug up every nook and cranny when not using the grill. These birds are determined.
Needless to say, this has resulted in a rather "messy" patio. It was becoming more white splatter painted than gray concrete in color. Gross. So it got a good spray down along with giving everything else a good spring cleaning.

Also, for some reason, our driveway and front walk have been bombarded lately. Actually just this weekend. Friday night we had been out front with all the neighbors before the kids' bedtime... one of those impromptu everyone in the neighborhood ends up in the street visiting evenings; kids playing everywhere, mom's gossiping, all the dads hanging out (or starting a punting competition -both highest and longest- -and some being barefoot, ouch!-). At some point most of the kids ended up in our driveway (we have the biggest driveway around) with buckets of chalk. Chalk drawings and messages and kid outlines everywhere. The driveway was covered in bright pastels. Looked very cool.
Until we got home on Sunday afternoon and all the scribbles had been bombed by either some very big (and healthy) birds or a gaggle of geese had hung out on our driveway in our absence. Seriously, it was gross. Not just white splats, but the black chunkies too. Everwhere. I wouldn't even let the kids walk out there. It was so gross. I don't know what the attraction to our property is lately, but we've apparently become the neighborhood aviary lavitory.
So I spent a long time out there spraying down the driveway (and sadly washing away all the lifesize sillouettes and messages scrawled out there), as well as the front walk and the porch. Yuck.

We finally came in for some dinner and our usual Sunday movie night.
We watched Arctic Tale, which by the way is really good. It's like a younger audience version of The March of the Penquins type of documentary, following a mama polar bear and her twin cubs. Also a herd of Walrus (focusing on a mama and calf in that herd too), as well as various seals, fox, and other beatiful creatures of that wintery world. It's about their life, from birth full circle, narrated by Queen Latifah with fun music and it kept the kids interested easily. Very cool. It also put a lot of focus on climate change and the reality of the struggles the animals face with the deteriorating conditions in their world. It's impressing to find a childrens' movie that does a good job of educating them on the creatures around the world and why we need to take care of our earth in such a fun way! Check it out with your kids!

Anyway.
Not much of a specific Mother's Day celebration around here. Like I said, I kind of forgot it was "my" holiday. I did get some fun homemade cards from the kids (with Sawyer's two scribbles on it-- he is so NOT into drawing or writing or anything of that sort) with a book store gift card and a promise of a treat of a haircut. But other than that, it was status quo around here; Kids squabbling, Ryan napping, messes everywhere, crabbing about dinner, etc, etc, etc.
Just their way of reminding me I'm the mom I guess :)
Good thing I like the job.