Mother's Day

I had the mistaken idea in my head that Mother's Day was supposed to be a day off. I woke up, to a nice clean kitchen and supervised my Mother's Day breakfast (Thanks Zane!). After a yummy pancake and bacon meal, I cleaned up the grease and batter, then opened all the sweet homemade cards from my children, a book, (that I am determined to make time to read) and a new microwave that grandpa took the children to pick out (thanks Dad!). Then began the Sunday morning preparations. While preparing the Sunday clothes I found a hole in hubby's suit, a stain on two of the white shirts (identical stains in color and placement - how weird), a hem coming out of my dress and only one black size 12 boy shoe. I guess I need to sing "Saturday is a Special Day" more often. Well hubby wore his old suit- the one he hates because it's wool and it's hot, no time for a load of wash, so did the best I could with a wash cloth and some Tide, re-thought my outfit, then dug through my box of hand-me-down church shoes and found a pair of size 1 boy shoes. A primary child "remembered" he had a talk in church, there were little girl tears because her dress felt "funny" and the hair brush got caught in her curls. We left for church five minutes late, but not before spilling an entire pitcher of koolaid on the kitchen floor. We got to church sat down and the fight for who got to sit by mom began. After some tears and harsh whispers, we listened to wonderful talks on some amazing women. I struggled not to compare myself and tried to remember that we all have our own strengths and talents, and that we just need to do the best we can, and Heavenly Father will pick up the slack. Easier said than done! After church I herded eight children out to the hot car and headed home to feed them frozen pizzas and mop the kitchen floor (koolaid mess remember). We changed into play clothes and prepared to visit family members at our Mother's Day gathering. We had lots of fun visiting with parents, siblings and cousins and ate lots of great food (Thanks Mike and Donna!) I missed my mom (it's the first Mother's Day in 38 years we haven't been together) We rounded up the crew and headed home for baths and bedtime stories. After the last one was tucked in, I collapsed on the couch and nursed the baby while watching some TV with hubby. Before crawling into bed, I knelt and thanked my Heavenly Father for all of my beautiful children and for my amazing husband who teaches them to love and respect the women in their lives. I snuggled with my baby and thought back over the day's events. What a GREAT Mother's Day!