The Lee Family: Mother's Day 2017

We had a very fun Mother's Day celebration today. Yesterday afternoon we ended up swimming and hanging out with Marco, Stacy and their boys in their backyard which is always fun and relaxing. Mid-afternoon CK and Sofia headed out to "run errands" and we all decided to go out to dinner together once they returned. We ate at a brand new Asian restaurant called Sai Fine, which ended up being very delicious and much fancier than we all expected. We actually set out to eat at the Italian restaurant Ruggeri's, which is outstanding! CK and I visited Ruggeri's on Cinco de Mayo while the girls were at Open Gym at Sunbelt from 7:30-9:30pm and ended up having the entire outside balcony to ourselves. We figured it might be the same, so we headed there. However, it was completely packed and they had no way of accommodating us. It was fun to try a new restaurant and the food was outstanding.

This morning the girls were super excited to have me open their Mother's Day gifts and CK and the girls brought me coffee in bed. I actually have a hard time sleeping past 7 or 7:30am, but did end up lounging around in bed until 8am, which was nice. The girls and I walked Buddy in the neighborhood while CK ran out to get us donuts. Once we returned to the house, we all got dressed and then ate donuts, enjoyed coffee and opened my Mother's Day presents which had a cooking theme - one of my favorite things to do. Before I could open any of my gifts, Sofia had me read her Mother's Day gift that she made at school. It was so sweet and really thoughtful and well made! I really love homemade gifts for Mother's Day! After reading her gift to me, I opened up my gifts. Olivia gave me a cool new hand blender, since the one we use now is one of my Mom's from probably 35 years ago and it tends to overhead very easily. Sofia got me a bunch of fun stuff including a new smiley face spatula, a new whisk, a bumblebee scrapper and a "monkey" cookie cutter. Ck got me a really pretty summery apron and a gift card for cooking classes. So, we'll have to schedule a fun date night! It was all so sweet!

After donuts, we went to Meeting and then drove into Dallas for brunch at the Park City Club, where CK is a member. It was the first visit for the girls and we lucked out with a great table right next to the window! The food was just as outstanding as our visit with CK's parents during their visit except there was a lot more options and it was really hard to decide! We went through first with the girls and they picked out fruit, bacon, poached salmon, and brisket. Later, I realized they had a small "kids" table set up that included mac and cheese, tater tots and chicken nuggets and I was so glad we didn't see the food earlier. They really loved their selections and Sofia even said the salmon was good but "not as good as the salmon you make." The shrimp with the homemade cocktail sauce was outstanding! The buffet had tons of fruit, salads, deviled eggs, smoked salmon, eggs benedict, and brisket as well as cornish hen, cod, and sauteed vegetables. It all looked outstanding and what we ate was very good. Of course, they also offered a huge dessert table with cakes and pastries and the girls had small ice cream sundaes and chocolate-dipped strawberries. We enjoyed our meal and the ambiance for a bit before heading home.

Once we got home, CK and I both ended up taking a pretty long nap while both girls were completely quiet. Around 4pm I started to wonder why they had been so quiet and found Olivia curled up on the arm chair asleep and heard Sofia upstairs playing with her toys and making up stories. Olivia woke up when I came out, so she got up and curled up on my lap and slept maybe 30 more minutes. She doesn't nap often anymore and hasn't had the opportunity to curl up on my lap, so it was a rare treat.

After Olivia woke up, I headed out to the backyard and watered my plants and Olivia decided to swim. Sofia soon joined her and I slipped off for a very relaxing pedicure. After returning home, we ordered a pizza and just relaxed. It was a fun Mother's Day full of the girls and CK, my favorite people. I love having the day to think about what it means to be a mom to my girls, remember my Mom and think of all that she taught me and loved me, and know that I am so lucky to have our girls and be able to love them so much.

The girls and I on Saturday night