The obligatory Mother's Day post....

Lets just preface this by saying I started out the week diminishing the inventory of the gravel pit that is my kidney - by two - I had twins (one of them died in an experiment to see how hard I'd have to punch it to get it to break down - it took a hammer...) Here's the other one:


Now for the mother's day post:

A lot of my friends always have TERRIBLE mothers days - if it's not one thing, it's always another. I used to be like that, until I decided that mother's day was not so much about ME being served, but rather, about me being a mom!

A lot of my friends don't see it my way - but until you do, your mothers day will always stink! There will always be someone NOT doing dishes - or kissing up to you the right amount! There will always be a sibling fight - there will always be an extra mess left especially for mother to clean.

So - I sort of do it backwards. In years past, I've gotten my children each a mother's day gift. To thank them for the opportunity to be a mother. I'm not a perfect mother 364 days a year - so this ONE day a year, I put forth every ounce of my mother energy to be PERFECT.

Obviously if you have a rotten mother's day because you're not "served" adequately - then you're a sucky little muthah to begin with because clearly you didn't teach your children the value of service! You'll always lose! Instead of hitting that angle on the mothering front - I get up first thing - and make the best favoritest breakfast imaginable - then I spend extra time with them - combing hair - playing cards - whatever, no Sunday nap for me.

It helps have a great day...no expectations - except from my own actions!

This was a great mother's day - having no expectations...I woke up to my kids bringing in a TV tray with WAFFLES & ICE CREAM! SWEET! I'm not a sugar-for-breakfast fan, but hey, it's hard to say NO to this - especially when they're so excited about it - plus, it was Blue Bell ice cream. I think there's a law against not eating all of it?

The day before MD, I was STUCK buying and organizing 25 corsages, 8 flower arrangements and putting together some 16 bags of hershey kisses. ALL for the other mothers in the ward to support my husband and the scouts in their annual fund raising for camp efforts.

As I'm putting these items into separate piles for delivery - counting them out - organizing the delivery routes & other such SERVICE from my husband - and son - to other 25 mothers in the ward - I couldn't help but get a little bitter. My husband didn't secretly order an extra set of flowery arrangements, corsages or even the coveted chocolate bag (the boys were at Father/Son campout - they weren't available to organize this event....)

Well, the husband called - and told me he was not far from home - so again - I'm in a race to make sure he's happy when he gets home by cleaning up the kitchen (something I avoid on weekends - since he's home - and the kids are home - I let them do it, but they were dispersed this weekend.)

So as I'm in a frantic fury of white-tornato-ing in the kitchen - my kids walk in - I'm borderline annoyed w/ all my "other mother" rewards - when my 8 year old walked in with a McDonalds cup full of fresh-cut wild flowers. The most vivid orange, bright red, light purple - and greenery!

This is particularly touching to me - since every time we're out on the freeway in the "wild" I always mention the flowers and how I want to stop just to take a picture. Something about these wild flowers - they're 10 times more vivid in color than any one you can purchase! And they're not your average "rose" or "daisy" or "sunflower" they're desert flowers! BEAUTIFUL!

SO right then I was forced to blink back emotion...I mean - after all, it was no corsage...but it was an extra 30 minutes added to their drive-home-time - after a camp-out...stopping at just the right spots, 3 different times - to gather these flowers! Then having to stop again to get them some water from the cooler in the back!

WOW! They totally shouldn't have set the expectations so high - I'm bound to have a disappointing mothers day, for sure!!!

Well, after I ate my waffles & ice cream, I got ready for church & did that whole thing - hopped up on a few hundred more grams of sugar from the bishopric with milk & cookies (every mother's dream, right?)

I got home from church - and hit the hay - had a nice long nap - and then woke up to offers of the annual MOM-SPA!

Kiersten got a foot bath and massage, Kali also got excited about massaging my feet - (like I'm going to turn any of it down) Coby jumped in on the action combing my hair - Brynn wanted to comb, then the kids did that whole "walk on my back" massage thing - it was great!


I got about 300 little notes from Kali & Brynn about how much they loved me - and some cute scribbly pictures of nothing short of whatever I imagined them to be....

I really do love being a mom...and regardless of the little messes left for me to clean up on Monday, without taking credit for how wonderful my children are, I find that I learn so much more from them, than I can ever hope to teach them.

Love my babies! (And no, I won't sneak into their homes when they're in their 30's to rock them in the rocking chair when they're sleeping - that's just SICK and TWISTED whoever came up with THAT idea!)