Mother's Day

Exactly once a year I voluntarily step in front of a camera and agree - even ask - to have my picture taken.  Despite all my self-conscious insecurities, I cannot resist an annual visual record of my motherhood.

 I had a good Mother's Day, did you?  It was wardrobe karma I was able to kinda sorta coordinate outfits with the girls.  Ed and the kids made me a super nice breakfast - vegetable omelet and fruit.  We have morning church, so a leisurely breakfast in bed or brunch was not possible, but I still got to sit down to eat, which is a Sunday treat in itself. 

 The homemade gifts and crafts were in plenty this year.  They came from school, preschool, church, and our own arts & crafts room.

 I especially love this acrostic from Hazel - in case you can't make it out:

Marvelous mother
Odor impossible (she explained I never smell bad - good news)
Tells childhood stories
Her hugs are so fine
Elevates me upstairs
Really like a red ruby

There were also store bought gifts, which honestly are not as important, but still appreciated by my commercial side.  A generous Williams Sonoma gift card from Ed hit the spot, and he and the kids also got me one of those robotic floor sweepers, can you believe it?  Ginger saw it on an infomercial and has been giving Ed the hard sell for a few months, so he humored her.  But between you and me, I am wary.  It had to charge overnight so we haven't tried it yet. 

At church they gave out baggies of Dove chocolates to the moms, a decent choice.  In my sister-in-law's ward, they gave out small jars of strawberry jam the young men (age 12-18) MADE for one of their weekly activities - I was impressed.  Ed is our ward's young men president, so I'm going to plant that bug for next year.  Also, the primary (the organization that teaches children 3-11) made CD's of the children singing several Mother's Day songs, and in between the songs are recordings of each child saying why they love their mom.  What a treasure, we all love it!

In the evening, we hosted my brother's family and my parents for dinner, dessert, and gifts.  I figure if I'm taking pictures, I'm taking pictures, so I had Ed take a pic of each girl with me and my mom; I'm going to print them and put them in the girls' journals. 

It's funny about having your picture taken - I always think how old I look, but then I have to realize I'll never be, or probably look, this young again, so later, when I'm really old, I may appreciate it.  I'm long-term thinking like that.

Throughout the day I received extra hugs and unsolicited expressions of love from the girls - they were really into the day!  Also boxes of ribbons and other impromptu handmade treasures showed up here and there.  I love being a mom.  It is truly the best. 

Hope you all had a good one, too.