Mother's Day

The Best Thing to Ever Happen To Me...

these five kids.

I'm not one of those moms who hates Mother's Day.  So far, I haven't found anything to hate about it.

1. Breakfast in bed - this year I got crepes with Nutella, fresh strawberries, and topped with whipped cream. (Thank you, Abby!)  What's not to love about that?

2. Gifts and handwritten notes from my children telling me what a great cook I am.  (I hear at least one of them complain almost every other day of the year, but on Mother's Day, I might as well be Julia Childs.)

3. Springtime.  What could be more beautiful than a Sunday in May?

4. I get to hear my children sing, "I Often Go Walking in Meadows of Clover."  I love that song and the image it paints in my mind.  I especially love the second verse, which unfortunately, they don't sing very often.

5. My kids are forced willingly pose for a picture with me - and while it's usually a process to get even one decent one, I love these pictures with my babies.  

6. Although I've never been perfect, when I look at my children I can't help but think, "that somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good."  I am amazed at the blessing I have of being a mom to these delicious children.  I love each of them so dearly and I am so grateful for them (and for their dad.)  There is no one on earth, I would rather spend time with.

How could not adore a man who unintentionally wore a tie to match my skirt on Mother's Day?

My two girls, whom I hope, someday, will get to be mothers too.

My mom and Abby (when Abby was just two-years-old.)

And of course, my own amazing mom. (She is a wife, mom, oma, school teacher, seamstress extraordinaire, lover of books, lover of righteousness, terrible joke-teller.)

  I love having a day to celebrate what she means in my life.

"Everything I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother."

Abraham Lincoln

Amen.

To Celebrate...

Isaac and my mom's birthdays, we went to dinner at Bonsai, a Japanese steakhouse not far from where we live.  My mom picked it because she thought the kids would love watching the dinner-making show (you know, throwing knives, making volcanoes out of onions, starting fires on the cook top right in front of our eyes.) Well, as usual, Mom was right.  The kids LOVED it - and most importantly, Isaac loved it.

Nothing but smiles from this group.

At one point during the meal, Isaac turned to Oma and said (with all sincerity) "This is better than the circus!"  He loved the whole thing - and when the chef threw a shrimp and Isaac caught it in his mouth, he grinned from ear to ear.

Abby loved it, because she and my sister, Emily got to share their very own plate of sushi.  Abby loves sushi more than any other 8-year-old girl I know, and to share it with her aunt made for a great dinner.

As soon as our chef came to the table and started banging his knife and other utensils around, Peter immediately stuck his fingers in his ears and stayed that way for the rest of the dinner.  I could tell he was a little scared, but he was also so intrigued, that he didn't take his eyes off the chef even for a minute.  Unfortunately, I think the highlight of Peter's dinner was going around the table afterward and eating the pieces of shrimp that had fallen on the floor instead being caught in people's mouths.  (And yes, I realized he was doing it, but somehow didn't care enough to stop him.)

After we ate dinner, we came back to our house for cake and ice cream.  One of my favorite things is to watch my mom and Isaac sing Happy Birthday to each other.  They both sing and point to each other and it is darling.

And there's Peter dressed as a knight....

"Happy Birthday to YOU!"

Isaac loves sharing his birthday with Oma.  He always says that they are a birthday present to each other.   I love them both and love that they can share this day together.  It was a great birthday!

It's April

Apparently I have become complacent in my April Fool's Day celebrations.  I thought that making my kids eggs on toast for breakfast and then calling it a day, was good enough.  But this year, I was reminded that there is more to this holiday than canned peaches and whipped cream.

On Thursday, I was totally unsuspecting when my mom showed up at my door and told me she had brought me dinner.  I don't know why I didn't suspect something immediately; it's not like having my mom show up at my door with dinner is a common occurrence.  But truthfully, the only thing I thought when she  said she had brought me dinner, was "Hooray, I don't have to come up with something to eat tonight."

I went out to the car to get the food, and there it was, a delicious looking plate of spaghetti and meatballs.

So cute, so clever, and so yummy!

Well played Mom.  Well played.

(Needless to say, I still had to come up with dinner.)

Spring Break 2009

The Spring Break in our school district isn't nearly long enough, so this year we created our own. We just got back from a week-long vacation to Andrew's family's beach house in Ventura, and believe me - it was as close to perfect as you can get.

It's always amazing to go to the beach house, but this time we got to have my parents plus seven out of eight of my siblings there with us. It was a great week of hanging out at the beach, riding in the sea kayaks, surfing, playing in the sand and just spending time together. Given my current physical condition, I didn't do much more than sit on the deck and watch all the activities going on around me and catch some rays, but I was pretty content just to do that.

While we were there, we celebrated Easter with an easter egg hunt on the beach and new swimsuits for all the grandkids from Oma. Each of the kids also got an Easter snowglobe in their Easter buckets. Peter apparently thought it was a ball, and during church, hurled it across the chapel where it hit a bench and shattered right during a talk. Glass and glitter went flying everywhere, but the people sitting around us were very gracious and forgiving and helped clean it up. (Just a little Easter sidenote.)



We also celebrated Oma and Isaac's birthday. (Isaac loves sharing a birthday with his Oma and is convinced that the reason he has blue eyes, like Oma's, is because they were born on the same day.)

Oma and Isaac sing, "Happy Birthday to YOU!"

My kids missed four days of school, but received an amazing education in marine biology. Every morning they would head out to the tidepools to look for various acquatic creatures. Abby became a pro at finding octopus hiding under rocks. They also found sea slugs, fish, and a huge star fish. One morning we woke up and found a seal asleep on the beach in front of the beach house. We learned that it was an elephant seal pup who had swam from the Channel Islands and was worn out from that long journey and from molting. After a nice long nap on the beach, we watched as the pup pulled himself back out to the ocean and swam away. It was amazing!

Abby and the star fish (just one of our budding marine biologists.)

As is always the case when we go to the beach house, none of us was ready to leave. I honestly could have stayed two more weeks and been totally content. What an amazing place to be able to visit. We love it! Thanks to Grandpa and Grandma Fillmore for such a priceless gift!

Happy Birthday Laura!

Many, many years ago, I was just starting 7th grade - also known as: "the most painful year of my entire existence." I started the year with total confidence in myself and my social position in life, but it didn't take long for me to encounter the "Mean Girls" of Clayton Junior High. Nor did it take long for the social food chain of junior high to be created, and when it all came down, I was no where near the top.

Despite how it looks, not nearly cool enough.

The girls who ruled the school, made it clear that I did not have what it took to be among the social elite: a killer wardrobe. Now, my mom had taken me school shopping before school had started and had outfitted me with what I thought was a great wardrobe, but the queen bees of the school made sure I knew that it wasn't. I was lacking some key elements: Firenza parachute pants. A Firenza v-neck sweater to be worn backwards. And most unforgivable of all, I did not own a pair of Guess? jeans with zippers at the ankle.

I spent hours trying to convince my parents that I needed that pair of Guess jeans if I ever hoped to amount to anything in this life, but with the jeans costing $55 a pair (an outrageous amount of money back then) my parents assured me I would be fine without them.

Well, a little more than a month into this torturous school year, my mom gave birth to her sixth child. A baby girl. THE baby girl she had been waiting for ever since my own birth. She'd given birth to four boys in a row, and now at last this long-dreamed-of daughter had arrived. My parents named her Laura, and she was darling. She had the fattest cheeks and head of thick dark hair. She was my first sister and I thought she was perfect.

Meeting Laura for the first time.

So, as I was suffering through all sorts of pre-pubescent hell, my mom did what every mother of a new baby girl does - she went shopping. Oh boy, did she go shopping.

Well, after weeks of the "Guess jean debate" and discussing the ridiculous price of a pair of jeans, imagine my shock, when among the spoils of one of my mom's earliest shopping trips, I found a small white dress intended for Laura. It had a little white collar and had little red cherries embroidered along the waist. It was darling. It was tiny and dainty and it would only fit my sister for a matter of weeks. But the real shock came when I saw that the price tag read $58.00! Suddenly, I saw how it was now that I wasn't the only girl in the family and the guilt trip that ensued with my mom was powerful. Within a matter of days, I had my long coveted jeans. And though they did nothing to improve my social standing, I felt I had won an important battle. (Mom, I have long since forgiven you for this event.)

Well, all that to say, that today is my sister Laura's birthday - and I am glad to say that I have overcome those early days of sibling rivalry and envy. I have grown to accept the fact that Laura is and will always be more spoiled than I am, and that she is way more fashionable than I will ever be, but I am okay with that.

Laura is gorgeous and fun and smart and funny. She is always up for an adventure and she is always planning trips for my parents to take the whole family on. (Although, so far, she and my sister Emily are the only ones who have actually gone on any of those trips.) She is an amazing aunt to my kids. She entertains them for hours and they love her. She and Abby are kindred spirits as there is nothing too girly for either of them. Laura loves soaking her feet and has taught my children the joy of doing the same. She is my go-to babysitter and my stand-by helper when I need it most. I didn't get a sister until I was almost thirteen years old, but I am so grateful I got Laura. She is a sweet sister and a good friend. I couldn't ask for more.

Happy Birthday Laura!

Now, I wonder if I could still fit into those jeans? (Not really.)