Mother's Day

I usually only have one request for Mother's Day and that is to get a photo with my boys. This year they did not disappoint. A photo with everyone looking and smiling? Best gift ever.

My brother and his family and my parents were in town which made it a really fun day. The boys' cousin Ollie could fit right in as a brother.

One of the best moments of the weekend was when my mom, sister-in-law and I went to a special women's conference and lunch, followed by a walk on the beach. When we pulled back into our driveway, we discovered that my dad had taken on a project to make the handle bars higher on our men's bike. Nothing could prepare us for the height of those handle bars and we about died laughing when we saw him tinkering in the driveway.

My dad also taught Crew how to ride a bike in about ten minutes. Crew had already learned how to balance on his balance bike and I couldn't believe what an easy transition it was to pedals.

It was so much fun for him to have a big crowd cheering him on.

We capped off Mother's Day at the park with a little baseball.

And of course, more bike riding. Crew couldn't get enough and rode around and around well past dark.

This Mother's Day was a good one.

Mother's Day 2017

Mother's Day: An opportunity for me to convince my boys to take some pictures with no whining or complaining. It was short lived but I'll take what I can get!

Mother's Day

My mind is drawing a blank on what to write. There's so much I could say about mothering and the mothers that influence me. But I'm having a hard time focusing amidst the bickering siblings in the background, the slew of uncompleted homework spread out on the kitchen table, the pleas for it to be dinnertime, the fear that the baby will wake up any second and the rush that will come as soon as the dinner hour, cub scout pack night and bedtime begin.

Yes, I'm in the thick of mothering and even though I often feel like I'm losing my mind because everything is swirling around me faster than I can keep up, these boys make my world go round.

Troy and the boys made sure I felt loved and appreciated on Mother's Day, starting with breakfast in bed and lots of homemade gifts.

Troy covered every meal of the day. He knows that the way to my heart is bread and cheese so he tried out a new bread blossom recipe after church. What made all of his preparations even more impressive is he didn't eat anything he made because he's been eating really healthy. He even timed the grilling of the chicken for dinner to be completed at the same time as the corn on the cob, biscuits and roasted potatoes. That is no easy feat and his labor of love was not unnoticed.

My only requests were some time alone (I was able to escape for a few hours over the weekend and it was dreamy) and some photos with my boys. Let's just say some boys were more cooperative than others. 

It sounds and looks like any sort of down time I might have had is now officially over, so there you have it. Mother's Day 2016.

Mother's Day

As a mother, I experience the rawest of emotions.

I struggle and ache and worry and hurt. 

I am frustrated and exasperated and exhausted and harrowed.

I have a tattered body and frazzled mind and tired spirit.

But because I am a mother, I also experience moments deep, deep love that make it all worth it.

I gathered up the boys a week before Mother's Day to attempt a shot of all four of them to send to the grandmas. I was grateful for one decent shot since most of them looked like this:

Could they be any less enthused?

The boys sure make me work for those smiles.

Mother's Day weekend started out like many weekends do; taking a trip to the beach.

It was cool and overcast and I forgot the sand toys, but the boys had no problem finding entertainment with logs and sticks. 

Mother's Day was filled with handmade cards and meals from my boys and church messages expressing appreciation for mothers. We topped off the evening with a walk around the neighborhood and stopped at our favorite lemon grove where the lemons are free for the taking.

I only got one (blurry) shot with only one of my little ones. 

If I'm being honest, Mother's Day is a bittersweet holiday for me. I always expect to have only joy as I appreciate the great gift it is to be a mother and recognize all of the mothers who influence my life and the lives of my children. It should be a relief to have a break from cleaning up messes I didn't make and cooking for little people who don't appreciate the effort. And who doesn't love sweet hugs and phone calls and presentations of homemade gifts? Especially when my seven year old proclaims, "She is the best mom I had in my whole life!"

I feel guilty that all of those things aren't enough to make this day a welcomed celebration. Although Mother's Day is always filled with feelings of love and recognition and gratitude, it comes as a surprise to me each year that feelings of mourning also creep up. I can't help but look around at other mothers and children and feel the unwelcome intrusion of jealousy that comes with comparison. It seems as if all of my inadequacies as a mother are brought to the surface as I am reminded of all of the areas where I am falling short.

My mom happened to be in town over the weekend and we ran out to a few stores late on Friday night after getting the boys to bed. We were laughing deliriously about the scavenger hunt we were on to find a few items. I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard while trying to keep my composure in the checkout lane. The guy in line behind us overheard our conversations throughout the store and asked us if we located everything on our scavenger hunt. That made us laugh even harder. The evening was hilarious and memorable, but it was also a stark reminder of the mother/daughter relationship that I will never pass on.

And so, Mother's Day for me means joy, but it also means tears. Just keeping it real.