The Final Fabulous Finish Line and Mother's Day

Last week was a pretty high-octane, killer week. Brad spent each day in Jackson with his students who flew in and drove in from all corners of the globe for "on-campus" week. I had several rehearsals lined up for upcoming recitals and concerts, and I was on the final stretch of editing my Master's thesis. The final cut was printed Thursday afternoon May 5 and I got that things bound and presented with a big shiny "A" pasted on the front. Too bad she really didn't have a big hot pink "A" sticker to stick on it..., but then again, I guess I'm not in preschool...

The week began (where I left off in my previous edition) on Saturday. I came home from a morning of teaching lessons and running errands to find my two loves enjoying the beautiful weather on the patio.

Tuesday came around quickly and while Mommy was rehearsing at a nearby school for a choir concert, Eli got to meet and play with his newest friend Adrien - who happens to be two and a half years old and is pretty fluent in English, Chinese and French. We need to visit there more often. :)

This is during one of my practice sessions at the piano. I always turn the little TV on but mute it so I can play. The piano sits right behind this sofa and at one point I didn't hear the racket of toys clanging together, so I turned around and this is what I found. Of course he's more interested in watching Mommy play than in watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Haha.

Wednesday evening I was very surprised find this scene when I turned the corner to pick him up from the nursery at church. He's getting so big. This sitting up thing is new this week.

Friday morning my Daddy drove down south for a morning of his daughters and little sweet Eli. Breakfast at IHOP turned out to be one of those "misses" in the "his restaurant experiences are hit-and-miss" category, as it fell right during his morning nap time, but we had a good time anyway.

I had to include this one. Brad worked a 12 hour shift in the ER Saturday. This was at breakfast before his loooonnnnggg workday.

I need to find pictures of Wyatt's (Eli's cousin) first birthday party that we attended on Saturday afternoon to include here. We drove up to Ripley, my BFF Kayla in-tow, and went to the big first birthday bash for little Wyatt. Can't believe its been a year since our little family has entered baby-dom!

Later on that night Kayla and I drove to Jackson to attend a beautiful wedding on the campus of Lambuth University and danced and partied our little hearts out at the reception until midnight. Exhaustion set in promptly after that. But we SHO needed a night out to let our hair down and have some FUN! Congrats and Best Wishes to Mr & Mrs Tucker!

So after the huge wedding celebration in Jackson, we decided to bunk at Kayla's in-laws' home instead of driving the hour back to Memphis. So on my very first Mother's Day I woke up in someone else's house, without my baby! :( But I woke up super early and hit the road at 6:30am to make the drive back home in time for church! But, when I got there, we had a big breakfast and went to sleep! Yikes! (Eli had spent the night in Ripley with his grandparents after the birthday party)

We got in the car (again) and drove an hour to Ripley to celebrate Mother's Day with my husband's family out in the country. A big lunch, a tour of the backwater (the MS River is SOO high right now), some lazy talk, playing with cousin Wyatt's new birthday toys, and visiting Grammy (my Mommy) made for a full Mother's Day.

Here is a picture of me, my younger sister, and Mama sometime in the late 80s I would say. Maybe 1988 or 1989. Happy Mother's Day!!