The Parrillo Family

Here's our crew with the.best.mom.out.there.  Happy Mother's Day, Nat.  Thanks for all you do for all of us. 

As I posted yesterday, we celebrated Mother's Day with *most* of our family over the weekend .  It was great and I'm glad we got to pamper Nat and the other Mom's with a day of activities. But as I mentioned, the girls' cousins, who are living in Switzerland, weren't there.  Aunt Kiki is SD's Godmother and to mark the occasion and as a very.small.token of our thanks for having us stay in their house, Nat thought it would be a good idea to plant a perennial in their yard. And that's what Sadie did!  Here she is digging up the hole (with an assist from her brother Frankie!), pushing the dirt aside and then putting the plant in the ground.   Sadie was so proud of herself!  She's promised to tend to it all summer and keep it watered so it will survive this first year. We put it in a pretty prime spot, so it should get some good sun. Hopefully, it will come back year after year and Aunt Kiki will remember the time that her Goddaughter Sadie lived...

Over the weekend, we gathered at Aunt Sharon's house and our 'own' house (Thanks, Marinis!) to celebrate the Moms that we love.   I've posted photos from Mother's Day celebration here on the blog that was all the way back in 201 1 when Eloise was not quite two years old.  Sadie wasn't quite in the world yet!  I also posted some photos in 2012 when SD was, indeed, in the world.   There's also this post of Eloise's first-ever Mother's Day card .   This year, we started the day with breakfast at our own house and some home-made gifts from the girls to Nat.  After a nice walk to-and-from Church, we went over to Aunt Sharon's house for brunch to celebrate with Noonie and the Coyles and Dyers as well as Grandma and Grandpa Marini and Aunt Lisa.  The Swiss Family Marinis were missed!  But...we *did* do something on Mother's Day for Sadie's Godmother Vic, so I'll post about that another day. I posted about Natalie and Mo...

Happy Mother's Day, Momma! Here's a full slideshow of all the activities from Mother's Day this year.  If you are reading this in your inbox and can't see the photos below, click here to read them back on her site . This Ellie's 3rd Mother's Day.  Check out the post and photos from 2011 here .  I can't find a post from her first year in 2010.

Eloise and I woke up Momma with a hot cup of Starbuck's coffee, and a scrambled eggs and toast breakfast in bed.  It is tough to really pamper Nat in any way on Mother's Day because there is such a scramble throughout the day.  We went to Nat's folks house in the afternoon to celebrate with her Mom (as well as with Aunt Elise - Eloise's Godmother), and in the morning, Nat worked her magic to pull together an amazing brunch at our house with my entire family.  Natalie is an amazing mother - and wife - and does so much for so many people that I am always taken aback by the way she handles situations and the grace she possesses.  Both Eloise and I are VERY lucky to have her in our lives! As for the day, we got lucky as the weather cooperated and we were able to spend much of the day outside in the backyard.  All the cousins got together and - while it appears that Eloise *really* loves her cousin J, the bearhug was the sweetest thing in person!  Such a cu...