The highlight of Mother's Day weekend was definitely our surprise Muffins With Mom on Saturday morning! I wasn't quite sure what to do for my mom for Mother's Day, as I usually try to do an experience with/for her. We've done zoos, a Kenny Chesney concert in Minneapolis, and brunches in the past. I could have done the usual flower delivery, but I wanted to keep with the experience area despite quarantine. Thus, my idea for Muffins With Mom in the morning was born.
The middle mini spent all day Friday baking muffins, my dad got my mom out of the house Saturday morning, my sister and I (and the two youngest minis) set up tables and chairs outside in their backyard, Hubs and the oldest mini went to the coffee shop to get coffees for everyone, and we surprised her with a morning while still maintaining a social distance. It was supposed to be a chilly morning, but it wound up being warm, sunny, and a great morning to spend outside! It's been challenging to come up with ways to spend time with others, but so far we've thrown two successful get-togethers. Sadly, we'll have to keep up with social distancing throughout the summer (at the very least), as daycare will be ramping up again (and I would hate to spread the virus to those more vulnerable).
Saturday was the first time since March 8th that we've had to be up and out the door. It was rough for all of us....and we didn't even have to start set up until 9:30 a.m. When (and if) school opens in the fall, it's going to be a shock for us all!
Cocoa muffins, strawberry muffins, cinnamon and sugar donut muffins, and my sister made coconut muffins. Pair with the coffee from Grounds For Celebration and it was delish!
Fun story about the morning: my sister and I relied on our dad to get Mom out of the house. He was supposed to run to the grocery store for a couple of things and she rode along. Over an hour later we were texting him telling him we were ready (and had been ready for a long while), but no answer. Next thing I know, I got a text from my mom asking if we were home so they could drop something off! My exact words at the moment were "why in the hell is Mom texting me??!!?" They arrived a few minutes later and we got to surprise her.
At my parent's house for 45 minutes and the middle mini broke part of their deck. Typical. "That's a "Happy Mother's Day, now you have to fix something." Eye roll.
Everyone chatted, the minis ran around the yard, and we all spent time together. It wasn't gathered around a table for a meal, it wasn't hugging hello and good bye, but it was much better than nothing!
When we got home the minis requested "can you make us margaritas please?" So, I gave into their request and made them nonalcoholic margaritas. They're clearly my children. After debating/arguing about what to do with the rest of our day, we settled upon doing the Des Moines street murals that the kid's school sent a map of where to go for art class (for last week). We had a great time viewing a few murals for the first time. We ended up in the East Village, visiting some of our faves we've seen over and over again.
I had wanted to go hiking. While I'm slightly bummed we didn't manage a hike for Mother's Day weekend, driving around and seeing the murals was fun too. Since we were out and about, we stopped at a couple of stores so I could run in and grab things for daycare/homeschooling. Saturday wound up being a great day!
We've done a great job of getting out of the house a little bit every weekend so we don't go absolutely crazy. However, it's been to isolated areas for hiking. Our drive through Des Moines took us to urban areas and that proved to be difficult for the minis. As we drove, the smells of all of the little Mexican restaurants and taco trucks filled our car. The minis requested we stop somewhere for food, which I agreed to. But it was a tough concept for them to grasp that they couldn't go inside to order their food to go--I brought up menus online so either myself or the Hubs could get out to get it, but it was still a hard concept to grasp that they couldn't go in too, even with masks we're too big of a number at once to safely social distance in a small space.
The minis have been wonderful about quarantine and social distancing, they've never once argued about not being able to go to stores, or restaurants, or seeing people. But this was the one thing that sent the over the edge. They got quite grumpy until I talked them into thai food.
I had to take a picture of Elizabeth "grumping me" as we call it.
The mural is cool, but the decorative gate is my favorite.
The minis insisted I take a picture of this window drawing.
Now for my favorite moment of the day: we were walking by all of our favorite shops (keep in mind this was after the restaurant issues) and the minis kept talking about how they weren't open. We got to Raygun and the middle mini excitedly said, "oh my god! They had bags sitting out...can we just take a bag?" I had to tell him to stop as he happily ran up to the PICK UP ORDERS area. I then had to explain pick up orders and why they have them sitting outside, but he legit thought the store set out bags for people walking by. I laugh just thinking about the excitement in his voice over the missunderstanding!
As in years past, I was woken at 7 a.m. for an improvised play put on by the minis. They're obsessed with the printer we finally fixed. They printed a banner plus banners for all their birthday's, just to be prepared. After the play, we indulged in a to go brunch from Americana, complete with a mimosa kit. It was excellent, but my stomach was upset (probably from the sugary muffins on Saturday!) so I spent a good majority of the day in bed watching a movie. It was great, the minis played outside and by themselves, and in the evening we watched the Disney Sing-A-Long II. Simple Sunday.
Fun stuff during their play: the middle one nearly chopped his finger off cutting a carrot (as part of the play) and the youngest threw herself on a chair that nearly went flying through the front window. All before 7:30 a.m. On Mother's Day. That pretty much sums up with life with my children at this time in our lives.
The oldest directed and filmed the play while the other two performed.
Brunch and mimosas in kid cups because I was too lazy to drag our champagne glasses out of the basement.
As with every Sunday, I took some time to prep for the week. The plungers that made the cashier uncomfortable (and gave me a laugh under my mask) will be used at the end of the week for Plunger Painter.
Snuggles before bed. The cat was in between us, not happy about being smooshed.
