My second official Mother’s Day, the first one with two kids. I got a beautiful bouquet of flowers from an organic farm in Peru (interesting) that just keep blooming and smell incredible. I love fresh flowers and we’ve had a bouquet from this place before of lilies that lasted for weeks. I also got a new pair of Uggs which I desperately needed since my husband through away my last pair, which I wore for literally 8 years. They smelled. He tossed. I was sad but I’m now happy again. I know these boots are “so 2003″ but seriously, when something is as functional as a pair of Ugg boots on a freezing winter day (or a miserable third trimester of a pregnancy), can they really be that bad? I love these things and have no intention of ceasing to wear them any time soon. I also got a Starbuck’s card from each of my girls. Yay! We had lunch with the whole family (well, my husband’s whole family) at our favorite Italian restaurant in Dallas, where we’ve spent the last several Mother’s Days – thanks to me. I’m the only one who ever thinks to call and make a reservation. I swear, if I didn’t take care of this stuff, we’d all be doing our own thing separate of one another. But that’s another story.

The real story of the day was centered on my brother-in-law. He’s well into his thirties. He has a wife and a kid. And he took it upon himself to place an order for a dish that we all love and always make sure to have on the table. Macaroni Rosa. It’s pasta with peas, mushrooms, broccoli and chicken and a tiny bit of red sauce. Pretty simple dish, right? Not a lot in there to offend, right? I mean, even my vegetarian sister-in-law has no issue with this dish. She just picks out the chicken, she is that easy-going. And oh my God, my husband and I were looking forward to it because we’ve been doing this “diet” in our house. This was our special treat. Sad, but true. And then, it happened. My brother-in-law placed the order for Macaroni Rosa. With everything on the side. Seriously. He said, “we’ll have the Macaroni Rosa. With everything on the side, please.” The waitress said something like “huh?” And he said again, “everything on the side. Peas on the side. Mushrooms on the side. Broccoli on the side. And chicken on the side.” What the $#&@?! Who the heck orders like that at a family style restaurant? Needless to say, my husband and I did not partake of the dish. Who wants to go to a restaurant and prepare their own food? But the funniest part was later on in the afternoon, after we’d already returned home and my mother-in-law called to thank us for a lovely Mother’s Day. My husband couldn’t refrain from asking her what the heck was with his brother’s order? And do you know what she said to him, even irritated that he had the nerve to bring it up? She said, and I quote, “You know your brother can only eat KID-FRIENDLY.” Seriously. A man in his thirties who can eat on a lesser scale than my 2-year old! (Who, I should add, is not the best comparison because she will eat anything. This kid is a culinary connoisseur.)

Pea crawled up and sat between these two gorgeous kids outside the restaurant…

Here, the sis is teasing her brother, saying “do you like her?”
Two seconds before this shot was taken, he had his arm around Pea’s back.
Oh my God, so cute…

And now Mother’s Day is over, and it’s back to the real world. Getting up early with my girls, cooking three meals a day, interspersed with trips to the grocery store, Target, the dry-cleaners, you name it.

But it’s a good life. A really good life. Yesterday, sitting at the table with my girls and the rest of my extended family, I was able to really take it all in, how blessed I’ve been these last few years. I found an amazing man, one who I could not imagine being more in love with than I am today, and he gave me the gift of these amazing daughters who delight me, love me, please me, tease me and just downright take my breath away. I can’t imagine anywhere else I’d rather be today, than right here in Fort Worth, TX with my little family.