The Mother's Day Surprise

One of the challenges for Anna these days is keeping a secret. In fact, any gifts in which Anna is included in the purchase are usually revealed to the recipent as soon as she returns from the store. This was the first holiday in which she managed to keep a secret (well, mostly) until she handed the present to Mom.

Now that Anna is a little older, she has become an invaluable asset to her father in the gift arena. She remembers birth dates (especially Mom's) and holidays. She also remembers what Mom tells her she wants. This year, Mom suggested a big mixing bowl would be a nice gift. Anna dutifully reported the information to her Dad. In fact, two days before Mother's Day Anna mentioned that Dad still needed to shop for the mixing bowl. "It will be a surprise."

Dad did a very good job in coaching Anna on keeping a secret. When Mother's Day arrived, Anna spent a good part of the day telling her Mom, "we have a surprise for you but it is a secret, " or "shhhh......we have a surprise." Finally at the end of day Anna delivered the surprise: a mixing bowl. Dad also had a separate surpise - tickets to the Lyle Lovett concert this summer. Theresa was very excited about that.

As for Mother's Day, it was a quiet one spent enjoying the lovely weather and planting flowers. Now Theresa needs to make sure Joe orders the Lyle Lovett tickets.......