Friday, May 14, 2010

Being a Mom

Sunday was Mother’s Day, and I have to say that this was one of the best yet! I realize I haven’t had that many to compare to, and maybe I feel this way every year, but this Mother’s Day was just really wonderful!

It was really more like Mother’s Weekend because the festivities kicked off on Friday when the kids came home from preschool with armloads of treasures for mom! They had grown some morning glories, baked heart-shaped cakes, made cards, and also made these cute crafts:

DSC_0553 Jonathan shows his loving arms

Saturday, the kids went ahead and gave me their presents: wind chimes, a precious Willow Tree figurine of a mom and little boy that literally made me tear up, the book Bringing Up Girls (James Dobson’s companion book to Bringing Up Boys which I’ve been reading for awhile now), and a make-your-own stepping stone craft which I look forward to doing with the kids this summer.

And as if this wasn’t enough, Sunday was really special, too! Jim volunteered to get the kids ready for church so I got to sleep a little later than normal and take a nice leisurely shower. Then I was treated to a delicious big breakfast, so much better than the waffles we usually have on Sunday morning!

At church the kids made the most adorable presents! (Thank you so much Heidi and everyone else involved!) From each child I received a ceramic plate and collection of holiday themed handprint pictures (and one footprint). There’s a close-up of the flag. DSC_0550

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Each picture velcros to the plate so you can change them out with the seasons! Aren’t they great! What an investment of time and money these must have been! You’d be even more impressed if you saw the size of their Sunday School class! (You can start off with enough singleton kids to make a normal class size, then throw in my quads and two sets of twins! It’s a humongous class! That’s a WHOLE LOT OF HANDPRINTS!!!)

After church we went to lunch at Gondolier. This was a special treat since we almost never go to restaurants with the kids! They did really good though, so maybe we can start doing this more! Then it was time to go home and make pictures!

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DSC_0483 Me and my *sniff* almost-four-year-olds!

There was also some gardening fun this day, but I’m saving those pics for another post!

Being a mom is amazing, and I love it, but it is so much harder than I expected! The wonderful moments are really hard to hold onto sometimes when you’re surrounded by whining and crying and screaming. I feel so much pressure on behalf of my kids. Their behavior, intelligence, and development all sit heavily on my shoulders. But I know that I’m not alone! I know that every mom feels the same way! It makes me appreciate my own mom so much more because I know she felt this same way about me and my sister. And I know my sister and I drove her nuts with our petty fighting and whining just like my kids do to me (She’s touching me! I had it first! But she did it too! She’s copying me!)

So even though we shouldn’t judge a mom by her children, we do it anyway! And although I’m NOT perfect, not even close, God certainly thought highly enough of me to entrust His precious JonZReaTom to my mothering skills, which means, Mom, you must have done a pretty awesome job raising me! And Jodie too! Thanks for everything! I love you!

Happy Mother’s Day to every mom!

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