Mother's Day 2012

Yesterday was Mother's Day, so we woke up two hours earlier than usual, skipped all our obligations here, and drove to my hometown to attend the early service with my mother at my parents' church.   Before we left, the kids showered me with attention.  They posted a handmade  "Happy Mother's Day!" banner on the wall and gave me cards and gifts.   For my gifts, they decorated mason jars with pretty fabric lids and filled them with warm sentiments (interestingly, my daughter complimented me on my hair and creativity when she should know that my hair and lack of creativity are perhaps the two main areas in which I am most self critical).  They also included Andes mints (dark chocolate is my primary love language) and coupons for various chores around the house or for cuddle time.  The following photo shows some of my Mother's Day loot.  The sofa in the background was also a Mother's Day gift from my husband.  I saw it wrapped in plastic hoisted on its side and leaning against a truck on a country street corner.  I phoned my husband with the serial number, and he researched it on-line.  It was exactly what we needed for that casual room, and the dimensions were perfect. The street vendor delivered it to our home an hour later.  Those who know how much I detest shopping of all kinds and my extreme reluctance to shop yard sales should find this sofa purchase to be most amusing and out of character for me.

After church, we took the obligatory mother/kid photo with my parents' little point-and-shoot camera, which still had photos on the card dating back to March 2009 giving evidence to how much more they prefer our Nikon, which we had unfortunately left at home.   The kids were much more interested in playing than in photo taking.  It was a bad hair day for several of us, and the sleep deprivation is written all over my face, but at least we documented that we were together on Mother's Day.

Last year's Mother's Day photo outtakes included one of me brushing the kids' hair and tucking in shirt tales.  Clearly, I gave up on such motherly tasks this year.

My little grumpy blessings

The camera perspective makes me look much larger than Mom.

Nana, kids, and the giant

After photos, we went to my brother's house for a Mother's Day brunch.  Some drove while others walked or biked. I try not to be envious of my brother's close proximity to my parents' house.  Our children are always thrilled to visit their cousins, so they played together with great enthusiasm.

I feel so blessed to have been placed into such a loving family.  My mom is the greatest!