Happy Mothers Day & Happy 2nd Birthday, Clark!

Sunday morning Jon treated me to a pancake breakfast and got Ellie ready for church. Although he did it all in the name of Mothers Day he really spoils me this way every Sunday. It's wonderful.
He was bringing the breakfast casserole to Vines and Branches but had to have it bake first so we dropped it off at his parents house with instructions for Omar (who was staying at home during first service with Grandma) on when to pop it in the oven.
 I had hall monitor duty during second service so I took my Bible Study book and read it until Kelly Culbert came and took my place so I could watch the parenting movie in my Sunday School class. Her husband teaches the class with Dad so she is usually in there for support and input. It was very nice of her to do that for me.
Brittany Mountz was the nursery coordinator today and she made sure Ellie went to sleep and she slept for about an hour. It was great! After church we rushed home and started lunch preparations for our Mother's Day Lunch for Mimi. She showed up shortly after us.
I used my spring dishes (that we inherited from Grandma Mountz) for lunch and we had leftover roast beef for hot sandwiches from the Women's Social, sweet potato fries, and salad. Mom brought a cake she had picked up that said "Mom" (or "WOW" depending on how you looked at it). I enjoyed having Mom all to myself! She even helped clear the table and wanted to do the dishes but I told her no - it's mother's day!
Jon left to play soccer and Mimi went home shortly afterwards. Ellie went down for a nap so I started preparing dinner (BBQ chicken in the crockpot) and took a nap myself. It was glorious.

My mother's day gift! Well, one of them.

Jon came home thirty minutes after Ellie woke us up from our naps. He showered and we packed up the car with our dinner stuff since after church we were having a Mother's Day Dinner for Donna in Elverson.
Peter and Brittany joined us and we had shredded chicken BBQ sandwiches (they were ok), sweet potato fries (see a trend?), salad, baked macaroni and cheese, and leftover cake for dessert. Ellie wasn't on her best behavior but we made it through. She ended up only crying in her crib so I finally gave up and brought her down and she sat with Jon and then played for a bit in the living room while we finished eating. I wanted to make sure we helped clean up the kitchen before leaving or else that would not have been a great mother's day gift -- leaving a huge mess.
Ellie was exhausted when we arrived at home at 10:00. I thought perhaps she'd sleep really well but nope - she decided to wake up every two hours or so through the night. Her teeth must be bothering her or something (I try to convince myself there is a purpose to the painful nights).

Oh - and Happy Birthday to Clark! Here is his birthday tribute:

With the Burst cousins right after Ellie was born

Christmas 2012

At Grandma's

Showing Ellie the ropes at Grandma's during her first visit

Shopping

Showing Grandpa how to work the iPad

Tending to Ellie in the car

concerned cousin

The cousins back in 2011

Aunt Rin & Clark

Friends

Clark loved his gift from Ellie!

Monday morning I had wanted to go to a class at the gym at 8:00 but Jon didn't wake me up until 7:58 when he said goodbye on his way to work. Plan B. I dropped Ellie off at Grandma and Grandpa's at 9:15 and hopped into the cycling class at 9:30, when it was halfway over. My friend Jennifer was in there with me so we lifted weights afterwards together.
Kelly, Clark, and Maya were coming to Grandma's house for lunch so I tried to put Ellie down for a nap before they came. She fought me even though she would fall asleep in my arms so I decided it wasn't worth it. No crying at Grandma's, child.
Maya was an absolute doll! She cuddled with Grandma then me and slept in her car seat through lunch. Clark sat in the booster seat so that Ellie could have the highchair. They both ate pretty much.

We went home for a nap around 1:00 and I worked on some emails before my piano lessons showed up. Ediana Faber, the mom of my students, offered to pick up some groceries for me since she was heading to BBs during her kids' lessons. I told her any fruit or vegetables that were a good deal for Ellie since I had really run out of food options for that baby.
Ellie woke up right as my students were leaving so I brought her out and dealt with the food while she snacked. I chopped up a cantaloupe but she wasn't very impressed. I tried. We hung out until my next piano lesson at 5:00 and Ellie behaved well for Brenda. She was tired so I put her down for bed while Jon was mowing the lawn.
We ate our leftovers from P.F. Changs for dinner then Jon went to Morgantown to meet up with his dad at the Verizon store since his phone was needing to be re-connected. Ellie decided she didn't want to be sleeping for the night and woke up while he was gone. I had a craft night to be at at church so when Jon came home he decided to take Ellie to his parent's house so we drove together and he dropped me off at church.
I worked on cutting out a pattern for a sun hat for Ellie and ate chocolate covered strawberries. Brittany was there and offered to take me home so I told Jon I would meet him in Geigertown. I arrived home first and put my stuff away and picked up my bedroom until they came home and I put Ellie down for the night.

Ellieisms:
Ellie is a good eater.

Trying to get a good shot of her new teeth

Serious girl (this is one of her favorite toys)

tweaked out a smile

Hey, I'm reading here

Trying to eat the chick's fuzz in the book

Pictures from Saturday:

Eating puffs at P.F. Changs

She loved the egg-drop soup