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Carson and Shayna Hines with daughter Stella Jade on one of their many outings over the last year. The Hines family\/submitted photo<\/p>\n
For one Cranberry Township mother, last year\u2019s Mother\u2019s Day was spent bringing her newborn home from the hospital. On her second Mother\u2019s Day, May 10, she will celebrate her daughter\u2019s first birthday with a \u201ctrip around the sun\u201d party for family and friends.<\/p>\n
Shayna Hines and her husband, Carson, have experienced a whirlwind of firsts in the past year \u2014 from smiles and first words and loving books to trips and outings \u2014 all leading up to Stella Jade\u2019s first birthday. Now on the verge of walking and full of energy, Stella will be the focus of her family\u2019s celebration.<\/p>\n
The Hines family have packed the year with shared experiences, including trips to the U.S. Open in Oakmont; Pittsburgh Pirates spring training in Bradenton, Fla.; and Florida beaches. Last weekend, Stella attended the NFL draft in Pittsburgh, alternating between smiling for photos and dozing in her stroller.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis first year has been such a whirlwind, but it\u2019s been so special,\u201d Shayna Hines said. \u201cWe\u2019ve tried to make the most of every moment together as a family.\u201d<\/p>\n
For other local moms, farther along in motherhood, Mother\u2019s Day may look different \u2014 from weekend getaways and major milestones to time-honored traditions.<\/p>\n
A getaway with friends<\/p>\n
For Brandy Donze, Mother\u2019s Day this year looks less like breakfast in bed and more like a weekend getaway with friends.<\/p>\n
Donze, the mother of 11-year-old Zoey, is heading to Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia, for what she jokingly calls a \u201cHot Moms Road Trip.\u201d<\/p>\n
After years of traditional celebrations with her husband, daughter and parents, Donze said she began feeling wanderlust during the winter, prompting her to book an overnight trip with two close friends.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to enjoy shopping, sightseeing, good food, a walking ghost tour and a stay in the premium suite at a bed-and-breakfast,\u201d she said. \u201cAll three of us moms are very much looking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although Zoey is a little \u201cput out\u201d that her mother is traveling without her, the other middle and high schoolers in the group don\u2019t mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to celebrate on May 9 before we leave,\u201d Donze said.<\/p>\n
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Kara McDivitt and her son Ray with silly Pikachu costumes on a trip to Japan. Photo courtesy of the McDivitt family.<\/p>\n
A tradition of travel<\/p>\n
One local mother is marking Mother\u2019s Day by continuing a long-standing tradition of traveling with her son \u2014 a shared passion that will take them to Japan.<\/p>\n
Kara McDivitt, a retired Navy veteran, spent years balancing military service and family life, including time stationed overseas in Japan when her son, Ray, was 10. A Seneca Valley graduate, Ray developed an early interest in motorsports that the two later turned into a shared experience.<\/p>\n
Drawn by his interest in drift racing, the pair traveled to a track north of Tokyo and have returned multiple times, combining his love of racing with their shared enjoyment of travel, food and exploring new places.<\/p>\n
Now 34 and living in Michigan, Ray continues to make time to travel with his mother \u2014 something both say has become increasingly meaningful. In addition to multiple trips to Japan, they have vacationed in Europe, including visits to the Alps in Switzerland and Venice.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe once told me that by the time you\u2019re 30, you\u2019ve already spent most of the time you\u2019ll ever have with your parents,\u201d McDivitt said. \u201cSo we make the effort to keep doing things together.\u201d<\/p>\n
After missing a trip last year while recovering from hip surgery, McDivitt said they plan to continue their travel tradition this Mother\u2019s Day \u2014 one that has become central to their relationship.<\/p>\n
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Christmas photos with Santa last Christmas with the Proctor family. Stephanie Procter was finishing her term in the Ph.D Program at Carlow University. The Procter family\/Submitted photo<\/p>\n
Earning her Ph.D.<\/p>\n
This Mother\u2019s Day weekend will mark the culmination of a five-year goal for Cranberry Township resident Stephanie Procter.<\/p>\n
Procter will earn her Ph.D. in psychology from Carlow University, crossing the stage at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center on Saturday \u2014 a milestone she reached while being pregnant with all three of her children.<\/p>\n
She was pregnant with her first son when she began the program and went on to have all three \u2014 Easton, 4, Hudson, 2, and Baeron, 7 months \u2014 while completing her degree. She wanted to do both and found a way to make motherhood and college work.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t willing to put my family on hold for a degree,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Procter remembers attending virtual classes while caring for her children and, on one occasion, bringing her baby to class, where a professor carried him while teaching.<\/p>\n
\u201cI kept thinking I have to do this, not only for me, but to better their lives and show them what hard work looks like,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She credits her husband, Zachary, along with friends and family \u2014 especially her mother, Diane Carney \u2014 for helping her reach the finish line.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe reminded me that I could do it every step of the way,\u201d Procter said.<\/p>\n
Procter plans to spend Mother\u2019s Day with her family, hoping to capture photos to remember what she called \u201ca wild ride.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so thankful for the process,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Simple traditions<\/p>\n
While some moms are opting for travel and celebrating accomplishments, many families are sticking with familiar, quieter traditions. Tickets to Pirates games, golfing, gardening and restaurant outings were frequently mentioned.<\/p>\n
Lisa Kunkel of Cranberry said she and her mother visit Musig\u2019s Plant Nursery in Zelienople every Mother\u2019s Day to buy flowers for their planter boxes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a tradition that we look forward to,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Remembering moms<\/p>\n
Mother\u2019s Day is also a time for some mothers to remember their own moms who are no longer with them or who live far away.<\/p>\n
Maria Diehl of Beaver Falls, originally from Brazil, said she will miss her mother, who recently lost her own mother. The two are now a continent apart.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we were together, we would be having lunch for sure,\u201d Diehl said. \u201cBut she is there and I am here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whether marked by travel, milestones or quiet time together, the day reflects the many ways motherhood is honored, celebrated and remembered.<\/p>\n
Still, across those experiences, mothers share a common sentiment, captured by first-time mom Shayna Hines.<\/p>\n
\u201cMotherhood is a privilege and a profound responsibility. It is without question the greatest blessing of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Mother and Son Kara McDivitt and her son Ray enjoying Venice together. The McDivitt family\/Submitted photo<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Carson and Shayna Hines with daughter Stella Jade on one of their many outings over the last year.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18655,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[14797,14788,14781,14804,14810,14812,14786,14792,14790,3456,14791,14796,14785,14809,14803,14784,14807,14795,14782,8,14798,2164,7205,14801,173,14787,14789,14802,14783,14793,14806,14805,14794,14811,14800,14799,14808],"class_list":{"0":"post-18654","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-japan","8":"tag-bruin","9":"tag-butler","10":"tag-butler-eagle","11":"tag-cabot","12":"tag-callery","13":"tag-cherry-valley","14":"tag-community-news","15":"tag-connoquenessing","16":"tag-cranberry","17":"tag-crime","18":"tag-east-butler","19":"tag-eau-claire","20":"tag-education-news","21":"tag-evans-city","22":"tag-fairview","23":"tag-government-news","24":"tag-harmony","25":"tag-harrisville","26":"tag-high-school-sports-news","27":"tag-japan","28":"tag-karns-city","29":"tag-local-news","30":"tag-mars","31":"tag-mount-chesnut","32":"tag-news","33":"tag-obituaries","34":"tag-pennsylvania","35":"tag-petrolia","36":"tag-political-news","37":"tag-portersville","38":"tag-sarver","39":"tag-saxonburg","40":"tag-slippery-rock","41":"tag-valencia","42":"tag-west-liberty","43":"tag-west-sunbury","44":"tag-zelienople"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18654\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}