Weekend-O-Fun

This past weekend we had a lot of family in town for a Clifford Celebration Weekend. This is how we tend to do things as a family. Basically, we identify any and all reasons for celebration within a reasonable time frame and smash all the fun into 36-48 hours while we get as much family as possible in town to celebrate with us. Sounds exhausting fun, right? Besides needing a full 16 hours of sleep after said celebration in order to recover, the weekend-o-fun is always a great time. Items on the agenda for this past weekend included swing set construction (fun for kids, not for adults), Mother's Day, and a certain little man's first birthday.

But before the cake and presents, the day started off with some hard labor. We recently purchased a swing set for the kids. We (let's be serious here - my husband) thought we (or he) could put it together ourselves (or himself). Well, I CAN say that he did put it together himself ... it just took a lot of hours of turning an allen wrench by the floodlights of the garage in order to do so. This past weekend was the final stage of construction and luckily he had some help.

Sam was REALLY into the swing set construction. This boy loves tools like nothing I have ever seen. Drills, wrenches, levels ... he loves them all. He spent the entire afternoon outside "helping" in any way he could.

Don't worry, we supervised him while drilling. I guess the 184 drill holes he left in the swing set make it look loved, right? Plus, it was a small price to pay when compared to the unbridled joy the act of drilling brought this boy.

Of course the girls helped out too. Adah tested the rock wall's durability before it was put in place.

And Peyton expressed her displeasure with the amount of time the construction was taking.

But, after a long afternoon of work, the swing set was finished! Thanks to John and my very handy husband for all the work they put in on this project. The kids are going to have so much fun on it for many years to come.

After a short break, it was birthday time! Luke had a blast opening his presents. Even though Sam "helped" him open several gifts, he held his own and ripped that paper with the best of them. After presents was the cake! We got Luke a cake that aptly describes him at this stage of his life.

Before you even ask, I did not make the monkey cake myself (despite my best attempts, I could not summon up my inner domestic goddess to pull off a cake like this).

We let Luke have his traditional first birthday cake smashing party outside. The pictures pretty much tell the story.

He actually took a few minutes to warm up to it. I don't know if he's that much of a chocolate fan ...

But then he started to get the hang of it and got a little more adventurous.

Five minutes in ...

"Hey mom, you want some cake?"

Ten minutes in ...

In the end, I think he enjoyed playing in it more than he did eating it. Regardless, we had a pretty happy baby boy when it was over.

After the party, baths, and bedtime for the kids, the adults had a great night of food and fun. We had wonderful weather to enjoy the evening and really relished everyone's company.

The next day was Mother's Day! We celebrated with a Mother's Day brunch, which was yummy and very special. I know that I am a mother every day, but it's nice to have a day dedicated to moms to help me recognize my own mother and grandmothers who have been instrumental in shaping who I am today. We let the kids run around after lunch and enjoyed another beautiful day. We even found time to take a family photo (a rarity in this house) ...

I have a bunch of little hams on my hands (including the big one in the yellow shirt)! Thank you to all our family who spent this weekend with us and made it so special. We missed having my FL family here, but I know they were with us in spirit. Happy Mother's Day to all of the hard working moms out there!