Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day.  I love celebrating motherhood, both mine and other people's.  This year I tried to acknowledge others who mother in different ways, including the kids birth moms.  I know Mother's Day must be really hard for them.  In fact, the day before Mother's Day is officially Birth Mother's Day, and we took flowers to both Jamie and Keyaira.  We didn't see Jamie, but we did get to visit with Keyaira.  We went to have dinner at the Denny's where she works.  We love both of them and want good things for them.

I'm delighted to be with my own mother, with my sister and sisters-in-law, with women in my neighborhood and extended acquaintance, and to honor my grandmothers and the very best mother-in-law a girl could ask for.  I've had such great examples before me and current ones around me, and I'm extraordinarily blessed by the women I'm surrounded by.

I had a nice day.  The kids offered me presents.  Well, Blythe did, anyway.  She had prepared some things at school, including horrifically smelly bath salts I'm unlikely to ever use (I bathe infrequently), and a scrapbook with hand-drawn pictures and answers to questions/statements.  Blythe said I like to "garden, reading, ministering."  She drew a picture of me and the two of us together.  Under the people in my family she wrote, "Brian, Christopher, Eugene, Mikayla, Sue, Larry," and under "her friends" she wrote, "Her friends are everyone she knows."  A few of my favorites include: 

     Food       Stroganoff

     Drink      Water

     Snack      M&Ms

     Hobby    Gardening

     Music     Classical

     Store       Target

She then listed the Top 10 Things I Love about my Mom

1. kind
2. understanding
3. good cook
4. friday field trips
5. helpful
6. reads to me and family
7. letting me redoing my room the way I want
8. borrow her jewelry
9. Gets me stuff
10. Good example

The last page had funny answers and pictures to go with them.  The prompts and answers were:

During the day, my mom     reads

After school, my mom     lets me play

After I go to bed, my mom    dose the laundry (with a picture of the washer and dryer)

On the weekend, my mom    deals whith Brick, Cora, Mr Cow (with a picture of scribbling and the caption, "the house after the child tornado.")

Then, as if that wasn't enough wonderfulness, Blythe made me a card with flower coupons in a pot on the front.  The coupons are for a free talk, alone time, hand hold, bed making, hug, and kiss.  I'm totally cashing those in!  On the inside, Blythe wrote, "Dear Mom, I love you.  I am so sorry that we fight all the time.  I hope you can forgive me for that.  Love Blythe!"

From activity days, Blythe brought home an M&M game that we could play together. In the game, you pick a candy and then based on the color, answer a question.  We took turns, and I was glad that I could share this little game with the children.
Red: What is one of your favorite things to do with me?
Orange: If you could go anywhere with me, where would it be? Why?
Blue: Where do you see me in 10 years?
Green: Name 3 reasons why you love me.
Yellow: Ask me any question you would like.
Brown: Hum a tune and see if I can guess it!

My answers to my children
Red: Read aloud and go adventuring.
Orange: Italy; I want us to see the land of our ancestors, eat gelato, hike, see art, and soak in the beauty of that country.
Blue: In ten years, I hope both the children will be in college, that both will be return missionaries, and that they will be happy.
Green: 3 reasons I love Blythe--she is strong and determined, she is funny, she is my best girl.
3 reasons I love Brandt--he is kind, he wants to do good, he is my best boy.
Just as a side note to this rather long side note, whenever I say that Brandt is my favorite boy and Blythe is my favorite girl, they say, "Yeah, but who is your favorite child?" I answer the same way.  They will sometimes push it and say, "But what if we were both boys or both girls?"  Then I say, "Brandt would be my favorite oldest boy/girl and Blythe would be my favorite youngest boy/girl."  Brandt will follow that up with, "But what if we were born at the same time, on the exact same day at the exact same time?"  Silly.  Brandt is my favorite boy and Blythe is my favorite girl.
Yellow: I can't remember what questions we asked each other.  Maybe all of the above.
Brown: We were good at name that tune!

At church, both Brandt and Blythe made me a paper flower with a small chocolate center, stuck to card on the back of which they had written "5 Things I love About My Mom."  

Brandt wrote:

1. awesome
2. rool (I think this is roll, but maybe it's cool and the c looks like an r, because roll doesn't make any sense.)
3. makeing food
4. She loves me
5. She adopted me

Blythe wrote:

1. kind
2. makes people
3. feel comforable
4. friendly
5. makes the best rools (I think this is rolls, too.  I made orange rolls for dinner. So maybe Brandt did mean roll.)

Brandt also offered me a second short and sweet note, much like the one I posted earlier.  It said, "To Kate  I love you" in a pink heart.  

I, too, loves these kids of mine.  They make me crazy.  They make a mess of my space, are loud and fairly irresponsible, but here are 5 Things I Love About Being a Mom:

1. The children are funny and make me laugh every day.
2. I'm learning so many lessons I couldn't learn without the refining process of parenting.
3. I've got little (ish) people to snuggle with.
4. There is built-in company, so I'm hardly ever lonely.
5. I love watching growth of body, personality, maturity, and testimony is those I hold the very dearest to my heart.