Mother's Day

 A good picture with all my kids looking at the camera, smiling and hair done is so hard to come by but I will take what I can get. I love mother's day now! For the longest time it was Paul putting stuff together and saying it was from the girls. Don't get me wrong I loved the effort he did try to put into it but it just never felt "real" to me. It is hard to explain. Natalie and Katelyn are now old enough that the things I do get come from them and mean so much more to me.

 Plants.....ugh I don't know what to say.....we have a love hate relationship. I love having them but I just can't seem to keep them alive. My girls have such faith in me that they wanted me to try them again this year. They did however not go for any flower plants this year. I think even they are getting discouraged due to the years when the flowers just die and mom throws out the pots because I don't want to be reminded of how black my thumb is. So the girls picked out the pots and the vegetable plants and Paul planted them.....a perfect gift!

 I think Paul is enjoying the girls being able to take the lead on this holiday. He had to plant the plants in the pots (which he knows I hate doing) and then he got to get me something he enjoyed picking out. I have been wanting a TV for our bedroom so I don't have to watch cartoons all the time. I wanted to be able to watch the news in the morning while I was getting ready so I loved this gift. The only thing I hated was that when I get something I want it setup in the next five mins because I know us and we can put the simplest things off for weeks. Unfortunately when didn't have the right screws to mount the TV on the wall so it had to sit there on a bench for a few days. (it did however get hung 2 days later)

This last photo doesn't seem like much but it special to me. I planted a couple bushes for our front landscape.....simple but anything more I would have hated. The special part is the rocks! Our neighbors got me those rocks and left them there that morning with a note saying how we rock. We have been really building a great friendship with them and they know how I kill everything and we have joked about how I will just be landscaping our front with bigger rocks to go with the smaller rocks. haha So this is what we got and I love them!
I think I had a skewed vision of how mother's day was suppose to go in years past. I had this image of sleeping in, not lifting a finger all day, and being showered with gifts. When in fact that is not what a mother life is like on any other day so why would I think it would be that way on that day. I don't get to sleep in with three kids even if Paul gets up with them. The noise they make doesn't allow anyone in the house to sleep in so up and at 'em. As far as not lifting a finger, what would be the point in that. I want to spend the day with my kids doing fun things which means there will be clean up and it will be a long day. Gifts....while I love them the ones that mean the most are the hand made ones from my kids. I get coupon books and I have yet to use a coupon because I don't want to give away any part of that gift because it means so much to me. I have come to the conclusion that Mother's day isn't for me....it is for my kids. It is a day where my kids get to tell me that they appreciate the things I do and tell me how much they love me and I wouldn't change it for the world!