Birthday & Mother's Day Weekend

First of all, thank you everyone for your birthday wishes and your Happy Mother's Day greetings. They were all so very appreciated!

Cailin didn't feel good in the wee hours of Friday morning so we spent some snuggle time in the chair in her room until she could go back to sleep. Luckily she slept in a little. I didn't so much, I was excited for the day to start.

I bought a new cake pan a while back and decided to try it out for making my birthday cake. Now, I'm not sure why Cailin and Bailey act up when I bake 'serious' cakes, but they sure kick up a fuss. They handle regular baking with ease - muffins, cupcakes, cookies and cakes that don't require much/any icing or decorating. But alas, Friday morning found me frantically trying to manage a new cake recipe on its maiden voyage in my kitchen while wrangling an angry toddler and unmanageable puggle. I don't know how they know, but they know how to lay it on really thick.

Cailin really wanted to crack an egg and I just didn't want to handle the mess and that started her meltdown. At any rate, the cake batter went together nicely, and baked up just right. Maiden voyage a success! To ease Cailin's baking-fury, I unplugged the big mixer and let her spoon bits of icing off the beater with her finger. It kept her busy while I pulled the cake out of the oven and cleaned the tornado that had somehow hit my kitchen. And yes, I'm still waiting for my Mother of the Year Award. It should be coming in the mail any day now.

One horrifying kitchen mess aggravated by toddler help plus underfoot dog made for a not very happy mommy - but once Cailin was escorted to an early nap (she needed it) I sat down with my icing and finished the cake up:
Ta da! Orange blossom cake with classic vanilla buttercream icing. I was expecting the cake part to taste a lot more orange-y, but the flavor was pretty subtle. Everyone loved it, so I'm happy.

After her nap, I packed Cailin a picnic lunch to eat in the car and headed out to the farm. She loves having her lunch in a little tupperware container and she ate the whole thing! GG and Papa Ray were there waiting for us when we arrived. Of course, Bailey got to go too, and the second we hit the farm's driveway she mellowed right out. Not a bit of her morning mood or status came through.

It took Cailin a little bit before she warmed up to GG and Papa Ray, but once she did, they were in trouble. She's got them both tied around her little finger. She played with GG like crazy before we ventured outside to play. Nana got a new lawn tractor and Cailin loved to sit on it and 'steer' with the steering arms.
We played outside until suppertime. Cailin was such a stinker at the dinner table, teasing Papa Ray by putting her feet up on the table until he would tickle them. Then she was stealing his napkins and throwing them on the floor. Dad was eyeballing my birthday cake and asked if we were going to dig into it. Since Cailin had been begging for cake all day, I didn't see why we'd wait, even if it wasn't my birthday until the next day.

Cailin entertained us until I realized how late it was. Mom suggested that we both stay over to avoid the long drive home. I agreed since I'm all for avoiding deer and moose on the highway like the plague.

Bedtime started out promising enough. Cailin refused to lay down in the playpen while I was in the room with her, so I rocked her to sleep. I made sure she was sleeping hard before I put her down. At 2:30am, she woke up crying. I picked her up and proceeded to try to rock her back to sleep like before. Ha, ha. Not so much. After a while, I relented and put her in the big bed with me. She proceeded to kick me and elbow me while she flailed around trying to get comfortable. After a while she got off the bed and starting winging toys around, laughing like crazy when they would bounce off of me. She talked loudly during this whole session, and her favorite phrase was to ask me if 'B went poopoo outside.' Did I mention Bailey was also in the bed with us? Yeah.

Eventually Cailin woke Bella up and she started meeping to get out of her kennel. Nana got up to walk her and Cailin started calling for Nana quite loudly. I tried to keep her laying down on the bed, but it just wasn't happening. That kid was so happy and so excited to be at Nana and Papa's that she simply could not sleep.

After a few things hit my forehead, including my Blackberry, I made her get back on the bed. I was trying to doze a little bit between watching her out of my one cracked eyelid. She managed to get the lid off the Gaviscon bottle and pour them out in the bed. I put them back in the bottle and let her out of the room. She wanted to see Buster and Bella, so I opened the office door and there was Nana, trying to shush the dogs. Cailin was so loud she had woken them up. So I walked the dogs with the sun rising across the field and Nana had a cup of tea. It was 5:30am.

I was tired. No bones about it. After she had been up for a while yet, Cailin started yawning like crazy and I took her back to bed. She brought a noisy toy into bed to play with and I laid down and tried to doze again amidst some annoying toy noises. I woke in a panic realizing that Cailin was being quiet. She was sleeping next to me on the pillow, snoring softly. Bailey was snoring at my feet. Every time I wiggled away from Cailin she would snuggle right back up to me. We fell asleep snuggling in a pile with Bailey. I had a nap until ten.

I got up to a glorious morning and coffee on the deck. I left Cailin sleeping on the pillow and went to greet my 30th birthday. It was going to be a beautiful day. Cailin slept til eleven or so, and we had A&W for birthday lunch. I'm not proud to say she had a cookie and french fries with some milkshake for breakfast. Again, Mother of the Year Award is in the mail.

At any rate, there was lots of playing outside and walking around the farm. The Papas got to work building Cailin's playhouse that Nana had bought for her birthday next month. Ryan came out with my birthday present - a brand new polarized filter for my camera. I tried it out a lot over the next few days, but this one is my favorite:
Eventually Cailin went for a nap, it rained a bunch and Nana and Papa made birthday supper. Steaks and potatoes and veggies oh my! There was hockey watching, dining with good family friends and more pictures. Cailin got coated in icing from the leftover cake and was escorted immediately to the tub after dinner. She got the sillies and really performed for us again. Since she was sporting a bit of a cold (and still is) I decided to take her home for a good night's sleep. We both needed it. I was scared to try to sleep in the same room with her again.

It was such a good day, I was sad for it to be over. But the next day was Mother's Day, so I was looking forward to that too.

We got up late in the morning to go to Mother's Day brunch with family friends. When we got to the hotel restaurant it was a complete zoo. They had opened up a conference room for the reservation-ed people and it was packed. The line for the buffet wound around the room through the tables and nearly touched the back wall. There was a 45 minute wait for food. Eventually the line got as short as it was going to get, and I lined up to dish myself and Cailin some food. She hung back at the table with Nana and Papa and Daddy. 35 long minutes later and full of rage from the woman-behind-me's unnecessary comments, I made it back to the table and fed Cailin and myself some sadly mediocre brunch food. The line had gotten long again in my absence. Ryan, Mom and Dad refused to stand in the line for pricey substandard food and I felt really bad that only Cailin and I had gotten to eat.

I was absolutely disgusted with the whole ordeal and I wish I had known that no one else was going to eat. We could have and should have left! But we did enjoy visiting with the family friends that were with us, so there was that. When we did finally leave, the hallways were lined with people on either side right back to the lobby entrance waiting to get a table. What a fiasco. Never again. We're doing Father's Day brunch at the farm and avoiding the hell that was.

Cailin and I caught a ride out to the farm with Nana and Papa and were really glad to see GG and Papa Ray again. Cailin loves them, and went crazy showing off for them in her own way. Poor Ryan had to go in to work, so while we waited for him we walked dogs (Bailey had stayed home) and played outside. Eventually Cailin asked Nana to put her down for a nap and went without a peep.

During her nap the Papas loaded up her new playhouse on the trailer and drove it to its new location by the deck and patio. I chose a spot against the lovely pine tree. We were excited for Cailin to wake up and check it out. It didn't take long before she was up and out there exploring her new house. She carefully figured out how to work the door and its tricky spring loaded hinges. She played with the taps and sink, toted the phone around and definitely worked over the doorbell. At one point she convinced GG to come inside with her and thought it was hilarious that GG did!
We had another lovely dinner and an all-round great day. Cailin grabbed Papa Ray's finger and lead him to the playpen where he was supposed to stand around and watch her jump for an indeterminate amount of time. Which he did. She thought it was hilarious. They played in the living room with the car seat for a long time too.

We missed having Uncle Duster, Auntie Hedder and the cousins around, but can't wait for the weekend that we can all get together and share the farm with everyone. The kids are going to have so much fun playing on the extensive lawn (get mowing Nana!) and harassing Papa for rides in the Ranger. The next big event is Cailin's 2nd Birthday and it will be at the farm next month. Can't wait!

We said some sad goodbyes since GG and Papa Ray were heading home the next morning. We headed home ourselves and all slept in really late - except Ryan since he had to work.

We rolled out of bed, had a leisurely breakfast and rolled over to the playground in the new stroller. Cailin has no clue what a playground is. She didn't like the swings much, but the slide was pretty fun.

After nap and lunch, I finally put her water table together. No sooner than it was together and right side up, Cailin climbed aboard, sat in it and played with toys. I removed her from the table and filled it with water. She stared at me in disbelief - then a smile spread across her face as wide as it would go. Her little face beamed as she realized that yes, she was allowed to play in all that glorious water. And she did.

We had a nice little Monday. Missing you already GG and Papa Ray. Thank you so much for the fun and gifts and everything this weekend and all the hard work on Cailin's playhouse!