Sunday Gratitude: Happy Mother's Day

Today, on this Mother's day I am thankful for...

• All the Mother's that have been a part of my life both related and unrelated. A special thanks to my own Mother, Mother-in-law, and my foster mother.
• To be a Mother of 4 children. There was a time that I thought my first might be the only one. I had 3 little miracles after her. Of course they are all miracles, and I am so thankful for each one.
• All the sweet messages and cards from friends, family, and my children all weekend long. It is nice to be recognized, not for the attention, but to know that they realize how hard this job as a Mother can really be, and that they appreciate it.
• For a nice Sunday with my family celebrating Mother's Day.

The celebrations began on Saturday evening with a family dinner out to The Cheesecake Factory. When we arrived there was a 75-90 minute wait. It's attached to a mall so we walked around and made sure we were back within an hour. It worked. Just shortly after we walked into the restaurant, our little buzzer went off.

After our dinner, it was dark. We were there so long, it was dark.

When we were finally seated, it took 2 hours for us to get through the entire meal. From start to finish. It was a good thing we didn't have to be anywhere. It was super busy. But, it was actually kind of nice just sitting there and visiting. The boys did a pretty good job for how long we were sitting there.

We spent a good amount of time perusing the cheesecake menu, trying to figure out which we liked the best. We even got some paper out and wrote everyone's favorites down. I was originally thinking we would get 2 slices of cheesecake for us to each have a few bites of, but Mike surprised us and ordered everyone's favorite. It was delicious. We've never gotten the cheesecake before because it's just so expensive. The 2 youngest got hot fudge sundaes from the kids menu's.

I got the peanut butter cup something (can't remember the exact name). It was delicious.

Aaron got a layered cake/cheesecake combo. I really can't remember the names of these things.

Mike's....

April's gluten free cheesecake...

I spent most of Sunday morning unpacking my new Pampered Chef products that arrived a few days previous. I went through and opened it all up to get more familiar with everything. It felt like Christmas on Mother's Day!

For Sunday night's dinner I decided to try out the Rockcrock Everyday Pan. This pan is amazing! I am excited for all the possibilities. I can use it in the oven, stove top, grill, or a slow cooker base (when I get one).

And, finally at dinner I got some sweet gifts from my kiddos. A necklace and homemade card from April with a super sweet message. She had all the boys sign the card too. A flower bouquet from Aaron that he made, and some cards from the kids that they made at church today. It included a nifty duct tape pen with a bow on top. I have 3 of those pens now because each boy made one. Such sweet gifts. What a great Mother's Day weekend.

 Happy Mother's Day!