My 1st Mother's Day

What a treat! I not only got a day...but a whole weekend of special moments to remember.

"What did I do?" you ask.

Oh, thanks so much for asking. It all started Saturday morning when Carmella and I walked the 2 miles from our home to the train station in Westmont, boarded the train (with help from very kind strangers) and rode in to Chicago Union Station.

Our friend, Nicki picked us up and took us out for lunch in her neighborhood, Lincoln Park. We then drove over to the Lincoln Park Zoo and walked around. It must have been close to feeding time because all of the animals--especially the big cats—were up pacing and making all sorts of interesting noises. Honestly, I have never seen such an active bunch. Very cool.

Nicki kindly dropped us off in front of Kellogg at Northwestern University in time to catch Mark walking out of his Saturday classes. Mark took his two most favorite girls (that’s me and Carmella) out to dinner at Portillo’s. What beats a Chicago dog after a long hard day of sightseeing and, in Mark’s case, school? Nothing, I say. Add a massive vanilla shake into the equation and you have a perfect date night.

Once Ella hit the hay, we watched a movie and then fell fast asleep ourselves.

Today was a wonderful extension of Saturday’s activities. I got a beautiful rose at church for being a “new” mom then Mark took us out for brunch. The afternoon included a photo session in our back yard, a family nap, then we went on a nice stroll in the woods, and finally did some all American grilling to cap off the day.

Here are some shots of our family photo session.

Happy Mother’s Day to all moms reading this blog.