Chocolate Truffles and Hermit Crabs

And made-with-love, colorful necklaces carefully strung by excited little fingers. A plastic fish bead that looks like it took the bait and was left on the hook. A heart-shaped bead that says "lover." Letters spelling out I LOVE YOU MOM.  Butterflies and hearts and a yellow letter M that looks like the golden arches of a particular burger joint. I wore all four necklaces to church, two over my neck and one wrapped around each wrist. And I led worship that way. The pride in my kids' eyes: priceless.

These are the moments that I will treasure in my heart always, keeping them close by so that I can pull them out like a favorite photo, edges worn and lovingly fingered.

I knew Rob and the kids were also cooking up some culinary surprises for me, so after church, while certain ingredients were chilling, we headed for the movie theater to enjoy some 3D Thor action. (He's not THAT hot. I'm not convinced those pecs and abs were not real. Ahem.) Anyway, I was told I could pick the movie, but for the sake of family fun, I chose Thor over Jane Eyre. That's what Mother's Day is all about, I think.

And I knew what delicacies awaited me at home.

Caramel. Macchiato. Ice Cream. Baby. Forget what's-his name's pec.  This is something to drool over. We found the recipe here. So good. This one's goin' in the keeper box. While the ice cream was a-chillin', Rob and the kids continued to woo me with hand-rolled dark chocolate truffles.


Not a job for the squeamish.



But the results were worth every single chocolate fingerprint on the front of Gabe's shirt.



I felt totally and luxuriously spoiled.

Truffles? And ice cream? We may never buy store bought ice cream again.


We ended this most wonderful Mother's Day with a stroll on our little beach here on the base, where we discovered nary an empty shell.



Every single whelk we found was inhabited. This one, by an actual whelk.


And the rest by hermit crabs of every size you can imagine:

Teeny Tiny


Mid-Sized Medium

And Lily discovered a humongous red crab living in a huge, barnacle-encrusted whelk shell.


Isn't he magnificent?

I'm sure he thought he was a goner, but lucky for him, we're not the fresh-crab-catching-and-eating type.

I wonder if this guy was looking for a crabby dinner.

I couldn't have asked for a more wonderful day, surrounded by and doted on by my very favorite people in the world.

I love that Seth's eyes are the exact color of the evening ocean water.


I am the luckiest most blessed momma and wife ever!

Comments

alphabet momma said…
You are blessed indeed!! Those crabs creeped me out! That huge one....oh my!! But how awesome was that to see so many at once?! Your family was so sweet to spoiled you like that! Chocolate truffles and homemade ice cream? And you are so sweet to pick a movie that was not so mommy-ish. Can't wait to see you and your sweet crew in a few weeks! Love you!
May 9, 2011 at 7:50 PM
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