Getting My Mother's Day Back

 I celebrate Mother's Day in May. I also celebrate it in August.  You read that right, I get two Mother's Days because I deserve. 

Technically all good moms deserve multiple days of recognition.  However,  since I live in Costa Rica where the day is celebrated in August, I take full advantage of that.

I grew up celebrating in May, as did my entire family, so that day holds special signigicance in my heart. But I'm not going to ignore the day that was made a holiday in Costa Rica, so I celebrate twice.

Truthfully,  the May celebration means more to me but because it's not recognized here, I've always just celebrated quietly with my kids and hubby.  And that was always enough for me.

But this year, I finally got to celebrate in a big way and felt the recognition I've been craving since moving to Costa Rica. Celebrating Mother's day in May this year meant so much more to me than anyone could even imagine. It just made my heart happy. 

It didn't even have to be a major event, just the effort alone was enough and I'll never forget it.

 

Celebrating International Book Day

 The first official event at the kids school in the new location was a big hit. There were presentations from famous book titles, like Snow White and The Seven Dwarves to Little Red Riding Hood to Alice in Wonderful. It was cute

My daughter's senior class won best overall play because their representation of their book was incredible. The acting,  the drama, even the script was on point. 

Both my boys won best actor, my 16 year old in Shrek as Donkey and my 10 year old as Doc, one of Snow White's 7 dwarves. 

The middle schoolers also won best scene/ decor 

Celebrating The Workers Of The World

 It's May 1st, which means it's Labor Day in Costa Rica.  It's a tricky holiday because, although schools are closed as well as a handful of businesses,  most stores remain open. 

The idea is there, however,  and to commemorate the day, the kids school hosted a special assembly the day prior, complete with the kids dressed in a variety of career costumes for the occasion.

This time, kids were asked to choose a career within their family unit to represent.  My 15 year old son decided to be an army cadet to represent my military uncle and cousin. My 10 year old was a pilot to represent my uncle, who flies for Southwest Airlines. And my daughter chose to be a flight attendant/ stewardess,  a career my sister in law was very much obsessed with at one point in her life.

Hats off to all the hard workers out there, who make this world go round.

A 17th Birthday Celebration Old Hollywood Style

 My daughter is 17 years old and for the life of me, I can't figure out where the time has gone. She has grown and blossomed into a beautiful young lady and I'd like to think I had something to do with that. 

For her 17th year of life, we decided to celebrate in a big way, going all out while still keeping it on the budget friendly side. 

Instead of a massive party, we decided on an elegant dinner at PF Changs. But we wanted to keep the celebration going after dinner, so we planned a fun girl's night sleepover with her best friends.  

After dinner it was cake and photos, face masks and then a camp style sleepover in our rancho, complete with a 6 person tent. 

The fun continued the next day with a fun filled over night beach trip to Jaco Beach, complete with beach volleyball, tennis, ping pong, karaoke and a movie night to close out the festivities.  Her 17th birthday was a blast, a truly memorable occasion for the books. 

It was truly one of the most amazing birthday celebrations and I cannot wait to plan another.