mother's day brunch: the outcome

Ah my immediate family. What can I say? I love them, I just wish they would be better at understanding things like hey, a lot of work is going into this, maybe I should get there on time so the food is hot and good by the time I get there. I assumed they would be about an hour late. Mary my sister came early to help me out and keep me company so she was here. My brother and Gaudy came at 2 right when they said they would since they had a rehearsal and my family showed up closer to 3. Two hours for the watermelon and arugula salad to sit there and wilt. Matt had to leave at 2:30 for work so he missed seeing everyone. My sister's fiancee couldn't make it due to work and my sister's boyfriend couldn't either and neither could Esther who at this point is M.I.A. on all accounts. I was just happy that whoever showed up actually showed up. And when we sat to eat I just said ignore the place settings and move in together. Not to sound like I was completely disappointed it was actually really nice to just put a lot of work into something and everyone really did appreciate it. My sisters took so many pictures of the place and Gaudy said my mom would be talking about it to everyone.

I set mom, Liz, and Esther's places with a photo of them and their kid or grandkid. They thought it was cute.

I gifted the moms and aunts and put their gifts on their chairs. I just love this picture my sister took, all the colors popping out behind the white tablecloth and the pitcher of orange juice and the wall art and big beautiful cabinet in the background...

 

Look at that pretty table. 

I gifted the moms with these cheesy mugs that have different words for mom or grandma and as a bonus used them as decor and filled them with flowers they took home.

Fresh flowers just make everything better. And then I get to keep these around the house to make me smile. I don't ever go to flower shops, I just buy whatever the grocery store has, never sorry.

Mary got a shot of me working before I changed to another shirt and jeans.

And here's the crazy amazing spread.

I printed the menu and put it in the purple frame.

Fresh N' Easy had purple and white tulips. How cute are they together?

The cucumber spread was a recipe of Ina's from "Barefoot Contessa Parties". It was a hit.

This as a hit really surprised me. It was an arugula and watermelon salad and it was gone in a hot sec.

I made Matt some vegan chocolate chip muffins.

Beverages.

'Cause it ain't brunch without mimosas.

I put pictures of the girls up for the family to enjoy and gave them a few pics of them.

This little trouble maker wanted to get in on the tea cart action.

It was very cute looking the tea cart thing.

Hardly anyone in my family had ever had tea much less with milk and sugar. Poor family.

This critter is such a good baby.

Sat there and ate her food her mommy fed her.

And Angie is just into everything and pulling everything down.

I printed out Tina Fey's prayer for a daughter for Liz.

I ran out of time to print the pictures so I just printed a few and burned them a DVD with pictures of the girls and a few videos. I think they enjoyed the DVD better, then they get all the pics.

I actually own cutesy CD labels because I knew the time would come for that to be needed and it did.

The aunts got the Style book and they were excited about it.

And we spent the rest of the time watching videos of the girls oohing and awwing and laughing.

It was a special day for our family.

Whew. Now that it's Tuesday I guess we better finish washing the dishes.