Mama's Day

This morning dawned with a ridiculously early wakeup, courtesy of a super cute strawberry haired child. Sure, it may have been partially due to the fact that she went to sleep at 6:45 p.m. the night before due to sheer exhaustion from birthday party'in her brains out. Although I suspect it was mostly because today was a holiday. And we all know how much she adores holidays. I had barely cracked my eyes open when a self-stuffed bag of goodies was hoisted on top of the covers, along with an eager, expectant cherubic face. "Happy Mother's Day, Mama! Open it, open it!!" A homemade necklace and plaque from school, self-made ceramic heart filled with love notes, cards and a nightshirt from Target (with assistance from Daddy), all wrapped up with an enormous round-the-neck hug and breathy whisper of "I love you, Mama", into my neck. I'll take a 5:45 a.m. wakeup on a Sunday morning in exchange for all of the above perks pretty much forever. Bonus is that I got to get a decent workout in by 7 a.m. Double score. Just after breakfast, my mom and sis-in-law Debbie arrived so the 4 of us could road-trip to The Grove in L.A. My mom had promised Lauren her first visit to the American Girl doll store for her birthday, and this was the first weekend we had available in the past month. A shopping excursion followed by a nice girls' lunch sounded like a pretty nice way to spend the day. [3 generations in our jean jackets] As is the custom in our family, of course we were the first to arrive at the store, practically banging on the door so they would let us in. There were so many doll choices, but Lauren really only had eyes for one. McKenna, the American Girl doll of the year for 2012. Plastered all over every surface of the 2-floor store, there really wasn't any competition. My mom also promised Lauren her choice of an outfit. This cute little ice-skating number easily took the prize. Deb added a very realistic looking violin and music stand to Lauren's bonanza, and I was somehow talked into getting her a photo session with her doll to be placed on a magazine cover. Shortly thereafter, she was handed McKenna to take home, and has been completely smitten ever since. [Ok, I admit, that magazine cover photo was the best purchase ever] A quick walk through the Farmer's Market (love that place!!), and then it was off to lunch right around the corner. [Ok, I'll say it - in addition to having an amazing mother, I also happen to have the hottest mama in the world] Back at home, Lauren, McKenna and I set up shop on our next door neighbor's lawn with a blanket and a snack of dried seaweed (regular for her, wasabi for me), and gazed at the sky, watching for birds and butterflies. We jointly prepared a new baked chicken dish for dinner (not too bad), soaked in a bubble bath, and then she was easily off to slumber right at 7:00 p.m. With her new best friend of course. A gorgeous day full of family, a new friend, and an abundance of love. Simply doesn't get much better than that.