It's Mothers' Day... kinda!

It's Mothers' Day in the Ford household!  Yes, it's Saturday... and yes, it's a week late.  But last Sunday just wasn't convenient for us!  So this morning Daddy got up with Gracie, while Mommy "slept in."  Really, sleeping in meant I laid here, smelling breakfast cooking and listening to Gracie say "what's that?" over, and over, and over, and over, again!  Before we went to bed last night, I made up the pancake batter (I make my pancakes from scratch, it's my only real motherly accomplishment!), so it was all ready for Danny and Gracie to cook up this morning.  I also made sure the camera was charged, and told Danny I wanted pictures of Gracie "helping" with breakfast.  I know this isn't technically her first Mothers' Day, but she's much more helpful this year than she was last year, and I wanted to be sure to get it on camera, since I was stuck relaxing in bed while it was all going on.  Getting Gracie's picture isn't as easy as it used to be, since she is constantly on the move, and moves right before the camera button goes "click."  But I know Danny was putting in the effort, because I kept hearing this tiny little voice say "cheeeeese!"

Daddy's little helper

Stirring the batter

Making a lovely mess! :)

I don't know how difficult it was to get Gracie to help out with the actual breakfast part, because over the last week or so, our little girl has become a bit of a diva.  Gracie will literally fall on her face and jump right back up, despite the fact that she now has road-rash from chin to noggin (yes, that happened) with barely so much as an "ooooch."  But get a little dirt on that girl's hand... oh my!  She stops at least 20 times a day to make sure somebody cleans her feet off, and out of nowhere now we often hear "dirt, dirt, dirt, diiiiiiirrt, DIRRRRRRT" only to find that Gracie has a hair on her finger, or a little speck of something from the floor.  Now, we vacuum our floors (or, really, the Roomba does it for us) all the time.  But it doesn't matter... she will find the one piece of dirt left behind and get it stuck on her hand.  Cooking isn't always a clean job, but I'm hoping since the batter was pre-mixed, it wasn't too traumatic for her! :)

The finished product!

Family Photo!

After breakfast, we decided to get out and enjoy the sunshine, so we packed up some snacks and sunscreen and sunhats, and headed for Annapolis.  I lived down there (in Upper Clements, actually) until I was almost 6, and there's just something about the place that always makes me want to go back.  Especially on a beautifully sunny day.  We went to Fort Anne and rolled down some of the hills, walked along the boardwalk, and explored some of the little shops.

We were back in time for lunch and nap time, and we actually all laid down for a little snooze.  Of course, since Gracie slept for an entire 10 minutes on the drive home, she refused to sleep this afternoon.  And we spent 1 1/2 hours listening to her yell, "Mama? Mama? Dada? Dada? Nana? Nana? Poppa? Poppa?" over and over again, louder and louder!  Afterwards, we headed into New Minas for a sushi-buffet supper (I learned my lesson last time... Gracie can eat, order more food!), had yogurt pops for dessert, and got Gracie to bed.

Now Danny and I are snuggling up to watch a movie... When Harry Met Sally, which we've  never seen.  I'm going to try to get a Mothers' Day massage out of Danny, but I think I may be out of luck, since I woke him up at 4:30 this morning to rub the Charlie horses out of my legs.  I didn't mean to wake him up, but apparently the cursing , flailing, and heavy breathing is hard to sleep through. :)

So today was a fantastic Mothers' Day for me... job well done, Daddy!  I can't wait to see what next year will bring.  It's hard to believe Danny will be out there making pancakes with two little girls, instead of just one!