I love Mother's Day!

Isn't Mother's Day great? Its the one time of year us moms can get away with lazing about all day, ignoring the hampers of dirty laundry, having the children wait on you hand and foot... its so lovely! But the best thing about Mother's Day is getting the hand-made cards and mementos made by the kids. I told my kids in advance that I absolutely do not want any presents like perfume or jewelry or whatnot, I only want some pretty flowers and hand-made cards. Don't get me wrong, that other stuff is nice, too. But nothing tops that heartwarming feeling you get when you see the precious cards made with their own little hands. Words misspelled, smudgy fingerprints, poems that don't rhyme, stick-men drawings of the family holding hands. Those are the gifts we'll find ourselves digging out in 20 years time, crying and holding the cards to our hearts, remembering....

My three oldest made me beautiful, loving cards, but little Ardan took it one step further and made me a book. I was laying in bed the night before Mother's Day, just being lazy and reading a book while the kids and Hubs watched tv in the livingroom (Ryder was already in bed). Ardan came in and laid down beside me and asked if he could give me my Mother's Day gift from him early. He shyly passed me his book, made with brown construction paper and titled, "I love yoy, Mom" (his spelling) with a big heart above the words. As I read his words on each page and looked at his wonderful drawings, I started to sniffle. Then outright bawl, tears running down my face, as it became clear to me just how much he does love me. You know, as a parent there's many moments of self-doubt, wondering if your kids think you are a good mom. I mean, obviously they love you, they have to, but do they really LOVE you? Do they think you're pretty? Do they think you're cool? In their secret heart, are they kind of embarrassed of you? Do they consider you to be the heart of the family? Reading his book that he made especially for me, I realized that this little boy, my beautiful second child that I often worry about, hoping he doesn't ever feel that "second child syndrome", has a deep and unconditional love for me that surpasses anything I ever expected from him. On the very last page, he had traced his hand and wrote, "Put your hand on this hand." and when I did he said to me, "Now we are holding hands." All I could do was hold him tightly to me, lay my head on his shoulder, and just cry, whispering in between sobs, "I love you, I love you, I love you." He hugged me back just as tightly as I held him and we laid there until I stopped crying. Eventually, that 7-year-old mentality of "hugs are yucky" reasserted itself and he gently detached himself from my arms, and with a huge, satisfied grin on his face he murmured, "Happy Mother's Day, Mom. I love you." and he was out the door. I collapsed back on the bed, holding the card to my heart, remembering all the days of his babyhood and thinking about all the ways this child has brought joy and love to my life, and I started crying again.

I had a truly wonderful Mother's Day. Woke up to the sounds of the household already up and going. Well, actually, the sound of Tyler's loud dry heaves as he changed Ryder's nasty diaper were what dragged me out of my peaceful slumber. "What the....? Oh my god! That's just not right...!" I could have been a nice wife and got up and taken over for him, but the way I figure it, these are character-building moments for him. Right? Haha. I laid in bed just long enough to be sure that the diaper-changing was over, then I got up and went into the kitchen. On the table were my beautiful bouquet of flowers in a red vase and the children's hand-made cards lay beside it. My eyes scanned the room in disbelief, noting the clean counters, the empty sink, the dishwasher running through a load, the swept floor. I couldn't believe it! When I went to bed the night before, the kitchen was a total disaster and I had resigned myself to the fact that I had a huge cleaning job ahead of me in the morning. It was wonderful! Awesome! I looked at Tyler with my eyes wide and jaw hanging to the floor and he just shrugged and blushed a bit. "Happy Mother's Day, babe." Oh, you wonderful man! No wonder I fall more in love with him every day.

Then that gorgeous man of mine cooked us all breakfast, ham and eggs. He did make one little misstep in asking me to make the toast, to which I gently reminded him, "Well, it IS Mother's Day, you should ask one of the kids to make it." Okay, that's a lie. I'm a bitch and this is what I really said, "What?! Its Mother's Day! Forget it buster, I'm going to watch tv. Get Gunnar to do it!" Haha. Hey, this day is supposed to be all about me, ain't no way I'm doing anything resembling work. That's how I see it. And, like I said, I'm a bitch. And proud of it!

Anyway, after breakfast, Hubs and the kids cleaned up and then I got the kids ready to go outside. It was a beautiful warm sunny day and they were itching to get on the tramp. I broke my own "no work" rule and ended up weeding all the dandelion heads. There were so many on the one side of the lawn, I could pick an area, get down on my knees and spend 10 minutes there. It felt so good, breaking a sweat, enjoying the hot sun beating down on my back, listening to the happy squeals and laughs of the kids as they played. Hubs came out and went to work stacking the wood they'd cut a couple days before. After about 45 minutes of eradicating the dandelions, I stopped for a break and set up the slip-and-slide for the kids. They were absolutely hilarious! Ryder made the mistake of accidentally walking through the spray of cold water and ran back to me so fast, he was almost a blur. So funny. We ended up staying outside for almost four hours, only coming back in when Hubs called down that lunch was ready. The kids changed out of their sopping clothes and we went upstairs for a delicious meal of bbq'd smokies and Kraft Dinner.

I must have got a bit too much sun because I could feel a headache coming on, so I went and laid down for a nap. And that wonderful, thoughtful man of mine got all the kids dressed for the colder weather (the sun had disappeared behind clouds and a wind was kicking up) and he loaded the three oldest into the trailer, and with Ryder held tight in front of him, he pulled them behind the quad to the field opposite our house to go hunting for frogs in the slough. I was able to have a peaceful nap for a couple of hours, it was pure bliss.

They got home just as I was waking up and we all hung out in the livingroom, watching a movie while Hubs got supper going. Bbq'd chicken breasts, basmati rice and salad, it was delicious. Afterwards, I got Ryder ready for bed, phoned Gramma Dea so the kids could sing "Happy Mother's Day to you!", then I loaded up No.2 & 3 in the vehicle, and we went to Gramma Hag's for a quick visit. We'd already given her her Mother's Day gift the day before (a pinata stuffed with little gifts) and Lena had asked if she could have a sleepover the next night. At the last minute, Ardan decided he also wanted to sleep over. So the kids watched tv while mom and I talked and talked. Around 9:30 I left and came home to a clean house, the two kids in bed, and a loving hubby very happy and excited to see me.

It was the best Mother's Day I've ever had!