Mother's Day Traditions

I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day. Even though I look forward to Mother's Day every year, I will have to admit I was dreading this one. I felt like something was missing because there was. Anyway, I thought I would tell everyone about our Mother's Day tradition. Every year we gather at my Great- Aunt's house. We celebrate almost everything here, it's just where everyone ends up I guess. However, this holiday comes with rules. Rule #1: Husbands, boyfriends, and significant others are not allowed, or as Ava told Danny, "it's a girls only party, dad". It sounds harsh, but it is so nice to be surrounded by strong, funny, witty women.

Rule #2: Everyone has to make their mother a place card, so they know where to sit. Ava picked out what we were going to make for Grandma. :)

My mom is such a good sport. You can't tell but Ava wrote (with some help), "princess grandma" on it. She made one for my Grandma too, but she was being a little bit of a party pooper.

Rule #3: Every year we have a different theme that is announced at the previous year's party, so we have a whole year to plan. Well, this year was "Look what I made/Look what I found". This is what my mom made. Aren't they so neat looking. I kind of slacked off with taking pictures of the other gifts. Ava of course wanted to paint something, so I found little canvases that she painted and glued magnets on the back to make refrigerator magnets. We also had some neat kitchen gadgets, books, umbrellas that fasten onto wagons (for us moms with little ones), and plants just to name a few.

Rule #4: Every woman/girl has to make a dish to pass along with an appropriate name.

There was also a lot of yummy desserts, but I was too busy eating them to get any pics:)

Rule #5: Every child makes their mom's plate ( for the many times that moms must serve their starving kiddos first)

Rule #6: Mom's must clean their plate (for the many times that kiddos hear this rule)
This is my great aunt and grandma, can't tell they're sisters, huh? :)

Ava enjoying the fun conversations.

Of course Ava and Chloe had to test out the umbrella's their momma's got.

Do you see the necklace that I'm wearing? Danny got me this and had some of Gracie's ashes put into it. It is so beautiful and makes me feel so comforted. I love it!

Even though this Mother's Day was a little rough, it was a lot of fun. I'm already starting to think of ideas for next year's theme: "what every girl needs". Any suggestions?