Mother's Day

 This Mother's Day Christina was sweetly treated to her annual brunch cooked by Steve, and presents picked by the girls.  Elena picked out a sweet necklace (knowing that Christina does like new jewelry) and Clara got her an iron statue of a bird (remembering that she likes black things and cute things - not remembering that she and birds are not on the best of terms).

And then there was the annual trip to Benson's nursery.  It's rewarding to see Elena and Clara remembering these kinds of traditions, and not only acting in them but recognizing how we re-enact things that are important to our family.

 

The decision-making was really hard this year - so many beautiful varieties to choose from!

 

 This was one of Elena's votes:

 And Clara was thrilled to have found so many blooms on the ground (we told her that she could take any she found that had fallen, and she sure found a lot of them!).

 Ah, the Benson's bear.  He looks a little rattier every year, and our girls look a little taller every year.  One year we will have college students and this bear is going to be dust.

 One last shot of the three girls:

 And then we took off for lunch at a little cafe just adjacent to our neighborhood - the Burns St. Bistro.

 

Then we goofed off for a bit at REI - this was some fun with masks and photo filters.

  

And Christina got the dress you can barely see here, and these are the plants we ended up getting down at her feet.  It was a happy, happy Mother's Day.