Mother's Day 2012

We had a difficult Mother's Day this year as we learned that morning that Brian's Mema Shelton had passed away. This news was shocking to all of us as we were all expecting to see her at brunch that very morning. We spent the rest of the day just being together as a family. The memorial service was held the next weekend, and although we were all sad, we had such a nice time being together and remembering Mema. The way that, when she gave you a gift, you had to give her back the gift bag; if you didn't, you got your gift in a paper bag the next year! The way that she had the shortest phone conversations in history...she would say what she needed to say then pretty much hang up on you. Brian and his cousin Sarah have lots of funny memories of trips with Mema and Papa Shelton in the RV, heading down to see some kind of swimming pig in Aquarena Springs? (I thought Brian made this up, but it turns out there really was such an attraction.) Mema taught school for 40 years and even had a master's degree! Pretty rare for an almost 87-year-old woman. She drove herself to Denton every night after teaching (while also raising two kids) until she completed her degree. She was sharp as a tack and also a huge sports fan who could talk UT football with Brian. Anyways, I have known Brian's grandparents for far longer than I ever knew my own, so they are like grandparents to me as well. Here are a few of my favorite pics of Mema:

This pic of Mema and Brian's cousins Sarah and Kate was taken at C&J's first birthday party. Sarah and Kate are such wonderful people and I love spending time with them. They were also such wonderful granddaughters to Mema.

This one is Jensen and Mema at our nephew Laird's 5th birthday party. I love how she is smiling at him.

For some reason I can't find any pictures of Charlotte and Mema. I know I have some, because Charlotte always was fond of Mema...she was very content to hang out in her lap. At any rate, she was very special to us all and family gatherings will not be the same without her.

As you can imagine, we were not in a very celebratory mood on Mother's Day...but Brian and the kids were very sweet to me and showered me with gifts and even a homemade card. And of course we had to spent some time with my mom...the very best mom in the world. Here's what I made for her...it's a set of planters that I painted and stacked.

It's hard to tell in my artsy Instagram pic but the colors are raspberry and Tiffany blue, which is one of my favorite color combinations.

I hope all you moms had a wonderful day!