Mom Lessons - Mothers Day Gifts

Yesterday was Mothers Day.  So many years this has ended up as just another day.  Another Sunday where hubby wakes up before me but leaves me the baby monitor.  Where no activities are planned and where I am 'entitled' to make a special breakfast.  There were a few times where I scored just by living with my mom.  My brother came to make us waffles for breakfast. Easy out for my crew... and they appreciated it!

This year was different.  This year was ... I hate to call it a success since that would be like calling other years a failure.  But it really was.  I FELT like mom-of-the-year.  They let me sleep late (though I did kind of feel ripped off since I woke up before Angel Baby, haha).  They didn't make me breakfast, BUT... I didn't have to make THEM breakfast!  There were gifts and even a full hour of kid free time.... while we were ALL still in the same house!

I even got to have...

....a whole shower....

.....without a little head popping through the bathroom door!

It was DIVINE!

One of the most important things I got from this Mothers Day was that I have it all wrong.The things I did through the year trying to be a good mom, are not anywhere near the things that my kids remember.  So I'm going to focus more on the things they are teaching me and less on what I want to teach them. I'm not going to stop being a mother as I am now, I just needed a shift in perspective.

I took some time to think about my childhood and things I remember about my parents.  They divorced when I was just 5, so I have very few memories of them together.  I don't think that matters much.  I just realized that the memorable things were not always the 'important' things.  The unexpected road trips.  The nights of playing cards. Snuggling in a blanket with a good movie.  I remember my favorite foods that were made. I remember that no matter how much of a pain it was to make some of those dishes, Mom still made them.  Now that I'm older, she'd gladly give me the recipe for many of them rather than making it herself, but I still LOVE those things. 

Once, when we had one of those dishes here with my kids, they asked me what was so special about it.  That night was just a simple dish but one that takes a lot time and effort to prepare. I didn't really have a good answer. It was just a special dish.  A family recipe. Even great-grandma makes it.  What made it special?  That my mom made it an no one else's mom did.

Page one of my Mothers Day Story from Art says
My mom is the greatest because....

...she makes the best cookies.

Does he care that I spend hours washing clothes? Does he love the way I fold them with the pictures facing up?  Does he wait for me wash the dishes just so?  No, No and not likely ever!

He doesn't care about any of the pain in the butt parts of the day.  He likes to open the cookie jar and find home made mom's special cookies.  He likes to feel that little bit of leftover warmth escaping from the cookie jar when he opens it.  The heat that tells you "mom just made these today."  He likes the chewy cookie and the partly melted chocolate chips when they are fresh from the oven. He likes them so much that I make cookies for his class instead of cupcakes on his birthday.  Sure, it's nice to find Oreo's or Dad's Oatmeal cookies... But the faces are lit up and the grins are ear to ear when they find home baked cookies.  And even more fun is when he gets to help make them.

This Made Today's Mom Lesson Simple.

A home made gift trumps a store bought one EVERYDAY.

I think it's time to bake!