Happy Day to all Mothers

As a Mom, I often have days where I feel overworked, unappreciated, stressed, incredibly tired, frustrated, out of patience...the list goes on and on.  Today isn't one of them.  On Mother's Day I always feel incredibly lucky.  Lucky to have such fantastic children that I love so much.  Lucky to have a wonderful husband that is pretty much a perfect fit for me.  Lucky to have such an incredible mother of my own along with all the other great mothers in my family and circle of friends.  And even luckier that not only are all these great people in my life, but on days like today so many go out of their way to show their love.

Let me tell you a little bit about my weekend so far.  My anniversary is coming up and my husband and I decided to grab a quick night away before being swamped by all the Extras that fill the calendar as the school year winds down and we ramp up for the summer.  A friend of mine was generous enough to take the kids and the dog overnight so we could go to Asheville.  We visited the Biltmore Estate (which is amazing - and something I've been wanting to see since it was first brought to my attention in a design class back in college) enjoying the sites and spending time with each other.  After the four hour drive back home and picking up the kids I was surprised when Sam and Kaitlyn headed right back out the door saying they had to go to the grocery store.  I started to protest, but after getting a look from the husband realized Kaitlyn must have pulled him aside for a quick "what are we doing for Mom tomorrow" chat.  While they were gone I opened up the mail to find a package from my mom that included a new shirt for me and an incredibly sweet letter.  When Kaitlyn got back the first thing she did was hand me an armful of flowers then we all sat down to tell each other about our respective weekends to that point.  Tyler also told me before going to bed that I needed to "sleep in tomorrow.  Even if you wake up early just tell yourself to go back to sleep."

 So this morning when I (of course) didn't sleep in, I stayed in bed until Kate woke up then had her find my book so I could read in bed until they were done with their breakfast prep.  Have to love those kiddos - Kaitlyn with the presentation and yet another card from Tyler, who had given me quite a few things earlier in the week that he had made at school (more on that in a sec).  And the muffins were yummy too - blueberry filling with cinnamon crumb topping.  We all enjoyed a lazy morning, except Sam who got dressed and headed to the garage to work on the always-present drying rack orders, but not before putting ribs on the smoker for dinner.

 When he came inside for a water break he found the kids at the counter getting a snack, looked at the table (that I had wiped down so I could take the above photo) and told them "you better have cleaned up that table."  LOL of course they hadn't even thought about it, but isn't it nice that he noticed?

I think it's the little gestures that tell us what type of person someone truly is, and how they feel about us.  And as I sit here, writing a much longer-winded post than I had intended when I sat down, I realize that I can think of a million more details that I could add to it and oh, isn't that just so fantastic?!
So for all of you Moms out there - no matter what you're doing or what stage of life your kiddos are in - I hope you are feeling loved in a million tiny ways too.  Happy Mother's Day!

Oh - and to give you a little laugh for the day (it made me laugh, at least), this is the booklet about me that Tyler brought home from school.

 Oh my - look how well he captured my fly-away curly hair! ;)

 Makes me wonder - do my kids know me at all?! haha.  I'm just as much a fan of pizza as the next gal, but I can't believe my chocoholic 7 year old didn't know that was my favorite, or at the least guess something with sugar, like ice cream.  And it's a well-know fact that I HATE running.

 These two say "my mother fusses (wow - such a southern word) at me when I be bad.  This is how she looks" and the illustration, as explained by Tyler, is me bending over to shake him (something I don't think I've ever done, though I may threaten it lol).
And "my mother looks pretty when she wears her dress"  I look lovely without any hair, don't I?  And raise of hands - who has seen me wear a dress (for anything other than as a cover-up on my way to the pool)?? (you can hear the crickets on that one, can't you?)

And for the big finish "my mom is the best mom because she takes care of me."  Awwwww...