You would think that on Mothering Sunday of all days Hayley would have had a nice long lie-in. In fact when I got up, she got up too for a while, watching TV in bed with Lucy until Oliver woke, and then helping me dress them. Then when I took them downstairs she read the paper and watched TV. Only then did she finally decide to have a nap.
Meanwhile Lucy, Oliver and I wrote her Mother's Day cards and drew pictures to put in with them.
I then set to work cooking her breakfast. I confess this was a somewhat wasteful enterprise, mostly because several times I had to leave the cooker to resolve disputes over toys. The loud shouting of Lucy usually indicated that despite her best efforts to take something from Oliver he was not letting go without a fight. At one point I entered to see her repeatedly hitting him over the head as he hung on to a toy car. I quickly intervened and reprimanded her, even getting her to say sorry to him. But by the time peace had broken out and I returned to the cooker to find there were some very burned tomatoes awaiting me.
Eventually the meal was assembled and the three of us hiked eagerly up the stairs to deliver breakfast-in-bed complete with cards and flowers. Hayley was delighted. She tucked in eagerly (once I had gone back for the ketchup) but pretty soon found that her offspring were ready for a second breakfast. Lucy in particular would happily have eaten all her quorn sausages if I hadn't distracted her with our final task of the morning.
Unable to find the right wrapping paper, I happily wrapped Hayley's presents with pink Happy Birthday paper, eagerly assisted by Lucy. She then started to unwrap them again but I managed to stop her before all our good work was undone. I won't tell you what her presents were, but if you see Hayley out and about, feel free to tell her she smells nice and to comment on how she is carrying something more stylish than her usual giant changing bag.
After all this we drove up to my Mum's house for a fun afternoon before heading back home in time to bath the kids and put them to bed on time.
As the day closed, Hayley told me several times how much she had enjoyed her special day. And from the glint in her eye, I reckon she's already looking forward to next year's breakfast-in-bed!
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