Mother's Day Weekend

Happy Belated Mother's Day to all you mommies!

I had a very nice weekend, which, after a particularly frustrating week, was much needed. It started out with some unexpected excitement Friday night. I had just put Colton to bed and we were digging into our Chinese take-out, when Tess began barking at something outside. Gregg got up to see what she was so worked up about and saw a pretty decent sized bear lumbering through the trees just beyond our backyard fence.

Now black bears are known to roam this part of New Jersey (and you thought it was all just a bunch of oil refineries), but they're usually harmless. They just go about looking for stuff to eat and love to dig in people's trash cans. This bear was pretty nonchalant that it had just wandered onto our property. Gregg quickly shut the windows, however, which were wide open. Shortly after I came over to gawk at the bear, the neighbor's dog that had gotten out of his yard ran up to it and chased it up a tree. The bear just couldn't be bothered. It stayed up in one of our trees for a good while, shaking the branches so hard that they stratched against the roof of the house. It started down the tree when the coast seemed clear, but the dog came charging back.

I told Gregg he should probably let the neighbor know that their dog was loose and chasing after a bear. He went out the front door and a few minutes later, the couple next door came out into their yard and called their dog back. When the commotion ended, the bear climbed down the tree and went off on his way, but not before Gregg could take a picture of it!

On Saturday, we were busy getting the house and yard ready for our Mother's Day BBQ. Later that afternoon, I filled out some more pages of Colton's baby book and read for a little while. Gregg went over to his parents' to pick up a folding table and some other things, and when he came home we finished watching The Family Man on tv and ate dinner.

Sunday I woke up to find colorful messages written by Colton via his daddy on several windows throughout the house. Gregg said that Colton saw these really cool Crayola Window Crayons in the store and asked to get them. :) He spent most of the morning setting up stuff outside and then his family started arriving around 12:30. The weather was beautiful, although it became quite cool in the shade so most of us threw on sweatshirts about an hour into the picnic. The guys did everything- cooked the food, served the ladies. Gregg even fed and changed Colton for me. It was really nice to sit back and be pampered for a few hours. There was some clean up afterwards, but even that was minimal since everyone pitched in to help.

Gregg's mom, dad, and grandpa were the last ones to leave about 4:30. We spent another half an hour ourselves finishing the clean up and then relaxed for the rest of the night. After putting Colton to bed, we watched the season finales of The Amazing Race and Celebrity Apprentice.

I went to bed feeling really blessed that I have such a wonderful husband and son. My first Mother's Day as a mommy made me remember just how incredible and amazing it is to be one!























Me with my little boy. Never mind my crooked smile and the fact that Colton looks so serious, even almost annoyed that his picture was being taken. Don't let it fool you; that's his poker face, he's really smiling on the inside.


Colton's beautiful artwork!