Mother's Day Weekend

Mother's Day began with basketball as all of my sundays in May have! One benefit was that all games were done by 12:30 and they were all held at the same college. Sarai and Carmen had their tournaments at Holy Cross. I was able to see both girls play.

Here, Sarai is trying to move the ball.

Sarai and two of her teammates trap the opponant.

I believe she's shouting "no ball"

Carmen is known for her steals. Here she comes for another. She played a team from Maine. I love that they have Mainiacs on their shorts!

Quick passes.

Carmen is number 22 for Shamrocks. Ironically, that was Sarai's number for the Oak middle school. Sarai's number is 34 for travel Hoops and Shamrocks.

Just thought this was a great picture of Carmen with her empty Gatorade bottle.

Carmen had back to back games on Sunday. During Sarai's last game, Carmen and Rachel found a table to work on Sophie and Luke's birthday cards. We were having dinner with them in NH.

I have two great stories to tell about this mother's day.

Story #1: Saturday was very busy for me. We had 5 basketball games in Worcester and two scheduled soccer games. The weather was horrible in Worcester. We had thunderstorms and downpours all morning and into the early afternoon. Carmen's home soccer game was canceled enabling my day to be a bit slower. Rachel had an away game about 35 minutes south of Shrewsbury. I am the assistant coach for both Rachel and Carmen's soccer team. This weekend, I was coaching the U10 team on my own. Rachel had her game under sunny skies, thankfully. While we were traveling home from Rachel's game, Abram asked if we had anything to grill. I wanted to get take-out, but thought grilling would be faster since we had to get back to Worcester at 6:30. (Rachel's game was at 4:00. Sarai has her third basketball game at 6:30. So I am driving home at 5, rushing to get Sarai food she can eat with her gluten allergy and food for the rest of us.) I returned home tired, but rushed to bring Sarai food before her third game she would play on Saturday. I had asked Abram to get the grill ready and marinade the chicken. I had hoped he would put things on the grill while I was driving Sarai's food to her. I returned home to find out he didn't get the food on the grill. A bit peeved, I walk into the house. Rachel asked "Did you see what's on the patio?". I am thinking, "what's wrong on the patio!". I look out and see this:

a new grill for Mother's Day! I was SO happy. 11 years ago we bought a grill. It had served us well, but we needed a new one. This new grill is large and cooks so much better than the old one. For those of you who don't know, I am the grill master in the house. I chose a grill over a dryer 11 years ago! That's how much I love to grill my dinners. I forgave Abram for not putting the chicken on the grill while I was out. I guess he rushed with Tobin to get the grill up from its hiding spot in the basement before I returned from my travels. Nice job guys and great surprise!

Here's story #2: Sunday's weather was sunny, but very windy. There were warnings of 20+ mile an hour winds. Despite this, we decided we wanted to have an adventure after the basketball games were over. We would bike to NH and Isaac would drive the kids in our van up to NH. We were having dinner at Marie's with Leah, Nettie's family, Isaac and Jenna and Marie's parents. The ride was wonderful. The wind wasn't too bad. Occasionally we had a cross wind. I felt safer on the tandem than I would have on my own bike. We weigh more on the tandem. Jenna took this picture of us when we arrived in NH. It took us 3 hours to bike 48 miles!

Now, we are in the house and here are some pictures of the birthday celebrations.

I caught Tobin playing the piano at grandma's.



Rachel gave Luke a koosh ball, which he seemed to enjoy.

Carmen picked out a cool skirt for herself and a matching one for Sophie to wear. I will have to get a twin picture of them later.

Carmen and Sophie have a love for Starbursts. Carmen gave Sophie 3 lbs of Starburts and 2lbs of Jellybeans! Should I mention that Sophie recently got braces.


Happy birthday Sophie!

Happy birthday, Luke!

Happy birthday, Leah!

It was a wonderful mother's day. I decided many years ago that it was ok to attend sporting events on mother's day. I enjoy watching my children grow as athletes. Without them, I wouldn't be a mom. I saw my daughters play well, received a new grill, went on a great bike ride with my husband and spent time with family.

I feel so loved and blessed by my hubby and children, thank you!