Preface: I got to work this morning, plugged in my camera, and started downloading all the pictures I took over the weekend.

It got about five pictures in, hiccuped, and stopped, and now the memory card on my camera is completely empty. All the pictures I'd downloaded last week and not gotten around to erasing? Gone. The half-dozen or so pictures and movies from Penny's infancy that I'd marked as "protected" because they were my favorites? Gone.

The half-dozen or so picture that I took on Mother's Day? Gone. As if they'd never been there.

I suppose I should be grateful that one of the five it actually downloaded was the one of Penny and I together that turned out so well.

Last night, I went to look at a picture on my camera, and it told me that the card was bad, but I popped it out and then put it back in, and it was fine. All the pictures were still there and everything. This morning, they were all there when I started downloading. I have no idea what horked it.

So now I have no idea whether it's the memory card or the camera that's gone a bit wonky on me. And no way to tell, short of simply waiting to see if it happens again. Anyone know what the average life of a camera memory card is? This one is about two and a half years old.

Argh.

But I had a pretty good weekend. I was just about to leave work Friday at 11 when FedEx arrived and I was given a box of flowers -- roses and tulips mixed. Matt's so sweet. I detoured home to dump all the flowers in water, and then went up to Penny's daycare for a picnic luncheon.

I was panicking slightly about being late, because I'd kept Penny's lunch with me. So she was extra-happy to see me. I sat down, and immediately found myself de facto in charge of about four small persons. I helped them open bags and mediated sharing and agreed that Myrick's apple was red on the outside and white on the inside, and that Penny's juice was orange, and mopped up spills and collected trash and somewhere in there I managed to chat a little bit with the teachers and one or two of the other moms. It was actually quite fun.

Resa, who is the mom of Penny's friend Savannah, is largely pregnant, so I asked when she was due. Early August, she said. "The new medical center is opening the week I'm due. So they're not sure where I'm going to go to have the baby."

Erg.

After we'd peeled the weeping, pleading toddlers off our legs and fled, I ran errands (including picking up Matt to deposit our income tax check) and did some shopping, and then I went back over to the daycare for the center's afternoon strawberry social in honor of Mother's Day. I even got one of the other moms to take a picture of us.

I took Penny straight home with me after that, and we had a fun evening, even if we didn't do anything else special.

Saturday, I got up with Penny in the morning, and then after Matt had showered and dressed, I packed up my gear and left for an all-day scrapbook event. I got there about 9:30, and worked until about 8:30, and in those eleven hours, I put together 13 pages and journalled 4 more that I'd left blank back in April. Considering that I only did 15 pages over the whole weekend in Nags Head, I'm feeling pretty good about this weekend's trip.

Among other things, I finished the William and Mary portion of my college scrapbook; now I need to fish out all the pictures from my VA Tech years and get ready to add those.

And I got our household album for this year almost caught up -- I got about two pages into the April pictures, so now it's only maybe a month behind, which isn't bad at all.

Sunday morning, Matt got up with Penny, and I went back to sleep. When I woke up around 7:15 or so, the house was quiet... Too quiet. I came out to find a note taped to the inside of the front door. (I took a picture of it, actually, but... see above. It was amongst the eaten pictures. I lost all the pictures actually taken on Mother's Day.)

The note said, "You're supposed to still be sleeping! Penny and I have gone to get you a special Mother's Day breakfast! We'll be back around 7:45 or 8."

So I went back to bed, but after fifteen minutes, I realized I wasn't going back to sleep, so I got up and took a nice, long, liesurely, hot shower.

Matt and Penny got back just as I was getting dressed. When I was finished, I went downstairs, and Matt was putting Sleeping Beauty in the DVD player for Penny. "Special trip!" she told me cheerfully. I leaned down to kiss her, and her mouth was... sticky.

Matt steered me into the dining room, where my special Mother's Day breakfast waited: A dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts. They'd driven all the way down to Hampton, where the nearest actual Krispy Kreme shop is, just to make sure they'd get them fresh. The glazed doughnuts were still warm.

ooo.

And in an act of astounding bravery, Matt had let Penny have a chocolate doughnut. In the car.

True to form, she'd picked all the chocolate icing off the doughnut, and then announced, "I needa nodda donut!" (Matt told her she had to finish the one she had, first.)

She was still clutching little bits of it in her fists as she watched her movie; I hadn't noticed when I'd kissed her.

So while she watched the movie, I opened presents -- Jill's was some lotion and bath gel (can I call it?) and Matt gave me a gorgeous black pearl necklace.

Totally. Awesome. Husband.

(And hey, if he's stumped for ideas when my birthday rolls around, he can find matching earrings!)

After Penny's nap, we went down to John and Sam's to have dinner with them and my folks. That was a little rougher than it could have been, mostly because Penny only napped for about an hour, and was still tired, cranky, and generally out-of-sorts, which made her act sort of attitudinous and bratly, and earned her a few time-outs.

But dinner was divine, and it was nice to see everyone, and Mom liked her "What happens at Grandma's, stays at Grandma's" shirt.

So, all in all, a really good weekend, and a very nice Mother's Day.

--Liz