Mother's Day Sunshine

  

Mother's Day pics! We had a lovely sunny weekend, which makes the picture-taking a little tricky. We found some shade. (Those are the neighbor's flowers in the background.)

  
  

Trying to get Andy to look at the camera, I asked him, "Where are Daddy's eyes?" so then he had to point out my eyes. Ack!

  

Kate made this for me at school. Laminated for longevity!

After church and pictures I called my own mom, and then I had a nice long Mother's Day nap!

Mother's Day gifts

Kate made this for me at school. Isn't it sweet? I love the way she wrote on the fingers, too.



The decorated envelope, Kate-style.



She also gave me this pot that she painted, along with a peat pellet and three cosmos seeds. (Yay! I love cosmos. Maybe I can get them to actually grow.)

Many years ago, one of my siblings made a card at church with a bunch of dots, and this verse:

I love you Mother
I love you lots
I love you more
Than all these dots

We decided to this with the Nursery kids. Becki Foutz wrote out Andy's card, and he enthusiastically added his own dots.



(This was fairly unusual, as normally when he gets ahold of a crayon or pencil, he just wants us to write letters for him.)

Last year, Kate didn't go up and sing with the Primary kids in Sacrament Meeting. I was kindof disappointed. So this year I mentioned to her (more than once) that I was looking forward to hearing her sing. She went up with everyone else and sang "I Often Go Walking," and when she got to "remind me of you," she pointed at me and grinned.

Life with these kids is never boring!

I know Mother's Day is difficult for some people. Not everyone has a great relationship with their own mother. (I have a friend whose mom died on Mother's Day--it's not a happy day for her.) For some it seems to bring up their own feelings of inadequacy. I imagine my own mom probably has some things that she wishes she had done differently, but I like to think I turned out okay. Doug and I both called our moms after church, as is customary. Thanks for everything, Moms! We wouldn't be here without you!

It's Mother's Day!

I always knew I wanted to be a mom, always wanted to have kids some day. I don't think I could have ever imagined myself here, at this time, with these kids. They are definitely their own people, irrespective of whatever I may have envisioned when I was growing up.

There are times when I don't feel like I'm a very good mom. I'm jealous of my time. I get involved in these big huge projects that take a lot of concentration. I get sarcastic. Kate and I have been having a lot of power struggles lately. She's very bright and imaginative, and also strong-willed and stubborn. Sometimes I think she's practicing being a surly teenager ten years early.

The Primary kids always sing to their moms for Mother's Day. I had taken extra-squirmy Andy out in the hall during the second half of the meeting, but was hanging out near the door so as not to miss the kids singing. Kids went up and sang, Kate didn't. When asked, later, she said it was boring.



She did make me this card in Primary. And we managed to get a picture after church. (It was very sunny!)

Our kids came to us late. For a while we weren't sure if we were going to be able to have any. I remember how sad I was when I contemplated never having anyone to read to, to love and to teach. I am thankful for these two little people who make life so interesting. We continue to learn from each other.

Mother's Day

The annual attempt at the Mother's Day photo (now with more kids!)




I asked Doug not to get any cars in the background. Apparently he didn't see that bright red one right by my head. And we would have had better lighting if we'd waited about five minutes. Ah well. You can't always plan these things.

Mother's Day, and a sweater

Happy Mother's Day!

Today was Kate's first time singing with the Primary kids in Sacrament Meeting. When I say "singing" I use the term loosely--singing in this case consisted of standing up there grinning, holding a yellow tulip and waving it up and down in time to the music. She didn't know either of the songs. (I told Doug we'll have to start teaching her "I'm so glad when Daddy comes home.") She was pretty cute, though.

Here's our traditional Mother's Day photo:



Kate has a bruise on her cheek. We went out to eat this last week, and she kept sliding down under the table, and then bonked her face on the table leg. Ouch! It's looking rather greenish now.

I just finished crocheting this little sweater for Kate. I did most of it during General Conference at the beginning of April, and just got all the ends worked in this week. I found a picture of the scalloped flower stitch online (I can't remember where, now. Edit: found it!), and then made up the rest of the pattern.




I wasn't sure if it was really going to fit, but it seems to work okay! Here it is on Kate.

Happy Mother's Day!

The quest for the Mother's Day photo continues.

All I want for Mother's Day...

Mom doesn't need breakfast in bed
a new car
a diamond tennis bracelet
a steak dinner
a dozen red roses

All Mom wants is a picture.

Now hold still!