For Mother's Day, I slept in - sort of - I took Esther downstairs after feeding her and put her on the floor at the corner where my couches meet and then I laid down to form a triangle, aka, "safe place while Mommy snoozes".

Eric and Autumn made me pancakes, eggs, bacon, toast, and my favorite orange juice (Simply Orange). AND, we all ate at the table together. I always feel strange eating breakfast in bed. It's lonely if no-one stays and awkward if they do because I'm the only one eating. So...kudos to Eric for knowing what I like.

Autumn even provided the centerpiece for the table. She made this in preschool.
She also made me a card that said on the inside, "I love you because you feed me breakfast." She was SO excited about her contributions that she almost showed them to me early. As it was, she gave me my card before breakfast (which was acceptable) but would've given it to me at 6am (which was NOT acceptable...).

At church, the Moms were given Symphony chocolate bars. So wonderful to have someone that understands my need for chocolate and my lack of green thumb. (Although truthfully, I think there's some green somewhere on that thumb...just no time or desire to develop it right now...)

We had dinner with our good friends Chris & Trishelle and their kids Chrissy & Holly. (See Eric's photo-blog for some fun pictures of that) It was an Anniversary/Mother's Day dinner. Eric and I celebrated our SEVENTH anniversary Saturday and Chris & Trishelle celebrated their eighth anniversary on Thursday.

Then I was told that my Mother's Day present was on it's way but would be a bit late. Well, today my Mother's Day gift came and let me tell you -- I have the most wonderful husband! He put this together with a little help from the girls and I have never received a Mother's Day gift like this! It's the best yet! They made a book, an honest-to-goodness, real book - hard cover and all. Shutterfly offers a service where you can use your own photos to make a photo book! Here's my Mother's Day book from my sweeties.

A Day with Mom
to Mommy
for Mother's Day

On the back:
prepared with Love
by your Husband
with advice from your little girls


Binding: A Day with Mom


WE LOVE YOU!
A little story book about the things we love about you in our day


In the morning we wake up
Nice bed head
Good morning!


Then breakfast and cartoons


Sometimes we help with chores
like laundry
or cleaning up
or getting ready


Sundays we get ready for church


We love to read...
sometimes to each other
sometimes alone
and sometimes at the same time


We love to go on walks
sometimes in the stroller
and sometimes we run off


The playground is fun!
peek-a-boo
the backyard is fun too


We love family trips
and Holidays too



We love you Mommy!

for my profile that I'm putting here to have a url link.

On Sunday Esther missed her morning nap before church. As she slept in my arms in the mother's lounge at church, I realized I couldn't move an inch or she would wake up. Not a problem then, but my mind zoomed forward to our upcoming trip to Japan and realized that really wouldn't fly (no pun intended...really) if Autumn or Heidi needed my help on the plane. If she could just sleep at my feet...

Then I remembered something called a "Moses basket" -- essentially a bassinet for the floor.

That would've worked perfectly....except for the fact that it was too big to stuff in a carry-on and too bulky to carry AS a carry-on. So in true Boatright fashion, or more specifically "Miriam Boatright fashion" -- I started thinking about how I could make one that would fold up. Mom has always found ways to adapt things to our needs. She tailored them to fit our needs perfectly. (A special table for our tiny TV; a trundle bed to fit a crib mattress; a kitchen table made out of a HUGE piece of wood with normal table legs from an older, smaller table (for our family of 9); making curtains out of sheets...the list goes on and on.)

Using some fabric I had on-hand, I sewed a crude basket with panels for some type of hard plastic -- panels so that it could be folded up & hard plastic so that the sides would stay upright when it was open. I wasn't really sure what to use for the panels and considered buckram (the stiff stuff used to make hats) and mylar (even stiffer stuff used to make signs).

Today I went to Lowe's and a very kind sales associate walked around with me showing me all the different "plasticky" sheets they had that could be cut into the sizes I would need. I decided to use light covers -- you know, the clear sheets that cover florescent lights in businesses & schools? I wonder what that'll look like on the x-ray at the airport....

I used a pillow -- a very FLAT pillow for someone's head, but perfect as a mini-mattress for a baby -- for the mattress. I have to squish it a little to fit it in, but it works. Here's how it turned out. (I know, the picture quality is awful...I don't know where the cables are to unload pictures from Eric's camera and he's at work...so these are from our webcam...)

We found an apartment! WHAT a relief.

It's more expensive than we'd hoped for....but it IS more expensive in Florida than it is here -- AND more importantly (and thankfully), ALL of our requirements are met! Who knew these things would be so hard to come by:

• a SAFE area
• a good elementary school for Autumn
• a playground close-by
  

• Washer/Dryer Hook-Ups
• Dishwasher
• CATS are allowed (although we don't have one....now we can...and most likely will in the near future)

What makes a public school a good school?

As I've been researching elementary schools in Tallahassee, I've looked at so many numbers, grades, and percentages that it makes my head spin. What is it that really makes a school a good school? Some schools may not score well on State mandated tests but may turn out students who later become doctors, lawyers, or engineers -- so in choosing a school for next year, what should I really look at?

Autumn is smart and I am dedicated to making her school experience a good one and supplementing the education she gets in school - so what do you think? Does it matter where she goes?

This is open-ended and I would love to hear your thoughts! I haven't made a decision and am still collecting information at this stage.

By the way...I am not ruling out homeschooling as an option either.