My Mom was here for Mother's Day and I wanted to plan something really special for her. There is a neighborhood nearby that we all love and we usually drive through once while she is here. Well, I have some friends that live there and asked if we could gain permission to take a picnic out there. Permission was graciously granted and here is what I planned:
A picnic! Instructions for the garland are here and instructions for the bench cushions are here. The tablecloth was a thrifted bed skirt with a vintage embroidered topper angled in the middle. I used milk glass brunch plates from my friend's yard sale (thanks, Kelly!) and serving pieces from my everyday stash!
At my Mom's place, I printed out this greeting and made a special little booklet (program of sorts) using this artwork and the same shape template as this banner. The booklet included a note from my sister and I, a mothering quote, Scripture, etc...
MenuStrawberry Bread Salad (my revisions below)
Cheese and Crackers (oops, I forgot to bring the cheese!)
Fruit Salad
Almond Cornmeal Shortcakes with strawberries and whipped cream
Sweet Tea
Lemonade
Cheese and Crackers (oops, I forgot to bring the cheese!)
Fruit Salad
Almond Cornmeal Shortcakes with strawberries and whipped cream
Sweet Tea
Lemonade
My Mom and I!
Rachel and Grammie
Emily and Grammie
Happy Rachel!
Happy Emily!
Mama, Emily, Rachel and Samuel
Rachel and Grammie
Emily and Grammie
Happy Rachel!
Happy Emily!
Mama, Emily, Rachel and SamuelThere was a playground just across the lawn and the girls had fun playing! We made lots of new and fun memories and it was extremely relaxing and refreshing!
I hope you all had a Happy Mother's Day. It was a special day for us to be together!
Strawberry Bread Salad - I'll just make a couple of notes here on changes I made to this recipe.
* I could not find Challah bread, so used Texas toast bread instead. It worked great!
* I substituted sugared pecans for this spiced pecan recipe.
* I substituted plain white vinegar for the balsamic white vinegar in the dressing - it was very tasty!
* I also omitted the orange peel from the dressing simply because I didn't have any.
This recipe is from the May 2008 issue of Country Home.
20 comments:
How precious time together is!!! I am so glad ya'll had such a good day and your Mom got to be with you too :*)!! The neighborhood look great and so does you meal!!!! tammyp
Monica,
What a wonderful and creative Mother's Day celebration. I know Mom felt very honored that you planned all of that for her!
How did you get that banner to stay up?!
Dearest Monica, THANK YOU for this delightful surprise picnic -- what a gift of love from your heart! I so enjoyed the surroundings, the food, the company, and will treasure the memories of this special day! Love you, Mom
Monica -
How was the weather for ya'll? It was pretty windy and rainy for the first half of the day. We had lots of thunderstorms and of course were under a tornado watch. It finally cleared up in the afternoon and we went for a swim.
I'm glad you had a lovely time with your mom!
chrissy
Beautiful family! If you saw one of my recent post...the names we have chosen are Samuel and Sarah.
What a sweet time! I love all the details - Last year I put together a mother's day picnic for my mom and MIL and I still look at those pictures and smile. It's really such a fun and creative way to celebrate.
This was such a great idea! I bet your mom loved it-simple, elegant, and meaningful. Thanks for sharing.
BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!
Thank you for keeping the art of gracious hosting alive and inspiring us to give it a try! I love having other's over... I'm just more the chili in the crock pot or hamburgers on the grill kind of host! I enjoy seeing the nice dishes (instead of my paper plates)! You give me IDEAS!
Thank you!
Heather
what a lovely picnic! I just want to jump through the screen and sit right down! :-) lovely blog, too!!!
Beautiful tribute to your mother! I think this was the first picture of you and all of your children together on your blog. What a wonderful gift that could be for your mother!
Angie
Carrie - the banner was attached to two sticks that were stuck in jars of sand - holding it up - but, it was windy and we had to take it down shortly after starting lunch!
Chrissy - well, the weather was not exactly cooperating in the morning! It POURED when we went to church, but by the time we got to our picnic, it did not rain a drop and turned out to be very pleasant!
Angie - I think you are right about the photo - it is hard to get a picture of all of us together!
too cute! looks like you had a lovely time!
Everything looked great and what a fun way to celebrate the day!
What a beautiful table setting. It looks like you all had a great time!
Monica, I just want to tell you how much I admire you and all the things you do. I just want to come and live with you and maybe I can learn how to do all the cute things. Keep up the good work. I'm in North Carolina, maybe we can "meet in the middle" and have a picnic.
Nancy
Monica,
You have a special gift for celebrating life! You're so frequently celebrating in special ways. I love your ideas! Your Mom is blessed to have such a thoughtful daughter who went to such effort to bless her!
What a special time!! It looks wonderful and how nice to have your Mom with you on Mother's Day. Oh, Happy Late, Late Birthday!
Elise
You always have a way of making every occasion so special Monica!!! That is so wonderful!!! What a fantastic day you all seemed to have! I bet your mom loved it!!!
I honored YOUR thoughts today!
Thank you for a great sharing!
How sweet & special that was~ I know your Mom will always remember the special day.
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