What a weekend and Monday

Saturday, we woke up and had a bit of a lazy morning but not too much because Christopher had a birthday party to go to. Now, because of his allergies we always have to take snacks and treats he can have to send with him. We got that all together and off we went. Took Christopher to his party, ran some errands then had a church wide "pig roast" (good eatin) and a person's home, then had to pick up Christopher and finally home again. All this while Mike coughed and such. He caughts the kids colds. Saturday evening we watched movies, hung out and got ready for Sunday. Sunday we woke up a bit later than planned because Jennifer did not sleep well. I got the kids fed and dressed. Grabbed the diaper bag and off we went. I went to the church Mike is filing in for because I didnt have to keep nursery at our regular church. We were late! Not so good when hubby is the pastor but it happens. We were only late for Sunday school and only by a couple of minutes. So I take the kids to the back room for Mommy led Sunday school. Jennifer who has been doing really well with potty, had an accident....thank the Lord for pull ups. BUT wouldn't you know it......Mike had taken himself and the girls to my inlaws on Friday for dinner and I had stayed home with Christopher who was recovering from a 24 hour bug. They had used the pullups that were in the bag, although I swear there were 6 in the bag and NO ONE TOLD ME! Usually, I check the bag before we leave but Sunday morning I did not. Yep, you guessed it. NO PULLUPS and NO regular panties in the bag. I did have a pair of long pants so I put those on her cold, naked bottom and took her and Hannah on a quick trip in the car back home to get the pull ups. Grabbed a few pull ups out of the house, took the pants off Jennifer in the car, replaced them with pull ups, strapped her back in her seat and off to church we went. I having a moment of wisdom had already put chicken in the crock pot. So on the way home from church after having had a discussion about how my mother in law feels we "never" ask them to dinner (not true it has been a while but we have) decided to call them and ask them over for lunch. Race home to make sure the house is inlaw ready and finished preparing lunch. It was a nutty day. Father in law took Christopher to Junior Bible Quiz because I had to stay home wiht not feeling well Jennifer and Mike was sick too. His church does not have service on Sunday nights so we go to our other church as a general rule, where we are just members. (hopefully you are not to confused but I am writing this while sleep deprived). Anyway, this morning after another sleepless night, I get up, get out the door to take the kids to school late all while having words with Mike. Not a major arguement, but one of those irritated with each other disagreements and had to explain to my 4 year old, daddy did not kiss mommy because he has a cold. NOt because mommy and daddy had a disagreement. Jennifer is still under the weather but seems fine during the day. It is night time she has trouble. So now I need to do laundry, clean house, pick up Hannah from school, go order her birthday cake for Sunday celebration (her birthday if Friday), go back and pick up Christopher........and the list goes on. Sometimes I don't feel like I can spread myself thin enough. But it has been a crazy weekend, and here I sit in my big sloppy shirt and sweat pants......looking all the part of a stay at home mom who is overworked and underslept. Regardless, when my sweet baby told me a while ago "I uvs you mommy" it makes it all worthwhile. Now, I really should get up from here and go put on some laundry, clean up the crumbs off the kitchen floor, start the dishwasher, make the beds.....clean the bathrooms........oh why oh why can't the EASY BUTTON work.........especially for homes.....well a Mommy can dream, can't she?

Dear Children

I am your mother. I am not your slave, although you seem to think so. And no my dear 8 year old son, I did not suddenly lose brain cells recently and you do not need to explan to me how to fix dinner. I have been cooking for quite some time. My dearest Hannah you do not need to whine in order to get your way. Fact of the matter is, whining has the opposite effect on Mommies. It makes us move slower just to protect our ears and brain from the whining noise. Sweet Jennifer, yes you are working hard to learn to go potty, but could you please go without the bowl insert and just sit on the potty so mommy doesnt have to be sick.

While I am at it. Crayons, go in the crayon bucket, not under the couch cushions or in my shoes where I find them in the mornings while getting ready to take you to school. And on the subject, please brush your teeth when I ask and dont attempt to do it 2 seconds before we go out the door. Also, your prayers are very cute but they are not a way to communicate to Mommy through God that you want a particular toy. No fair using God over Mommy. God can say NO too. I love you all dearly. You have great, bright imaginative minds, please use them to do creative things instead of using them to fight creatively. Calling your brother or sister a donkey head is not cute or becoming and it is still calling names. Oh and beds do not make themselves and laundry does not get in the hamper by itself. They need your hands and your legs to help them. Free the clothes from the floor and the grime and put them in the laundry so I can wash them. One more thing......I am not a short order cook. Eat what you are given. I do not make strange unknown foods from the planet garbedly gook. I make food you know and love. So eat it or go without.

Love you.
Mommy

Mother's Day

Why is it we only get ONE day? LOL. I love mother's day don't get me wrong. The one day my husband does the cooking and most of the child care with lots of help.......LOL. But I often wonder why it is as a world we only celebrate mother's day 1 day a year. Just thinking about the sacrifices my mother made, astounds me. There are times when we had no money and the cupboards were bare, she would make a meal with what meager staples she had and she would say "No baby you eat the 2nd piece, Mommy is not hungry". Was she hungry......of course she was but she new I was still hungry and did not want me to go to bed without having my hunger satisfied. I remember her pretending to discipline me in the back room when my father had ordered her to go back their and give me a "whipping" or he would, with the yard stick. She hit the bed and I hollered like I was being killed. Perhaps this was dishonest, but the punishment most definitely did not fit the crime I had "committed" as a 10 year old child. So I a great drama queen put on an oscar winning performance and my mother saved me from being beaten by my father. She put up with so much from my father THINKING because of the way she was raised that it was best for us to be a family then to break up. She suffered things at the hands of my father we never witnessed or understood until we were adults. So why is it......why do we celebrate motherhood, 1 day a year.

When I became a mother, suddenly the sacrifices made....were all too clear. As I looked into my newborn son's face, the earth moved. My world changed forever. I was now a mother with more responsibility than I had ever known. I was now responsible for the beautiful little being who looked at me with such clear eyes of trust and love that my heart felt it. My heart leapt within me and it has never been the same. Oh I had felt him move with in me, but when I beheld that tiny face for the first time......there are no words to describe it. Then as each of my daughters were born it happened again. Each time I looked into a newborn face.....something changed.......the earth moved and I was different. My girls opened open another part of my heart. As I think about mothers throughout the world and the sacrifices they make; I am awed. Moms who have to go to work by choice or by neccesity, and leave the care and responsiblity of their children in someone else hands for a while. That is a sacrifice. Moms who stay at home and sometimes see the same 4 walls for days on end, drowning in chores, crying, tantrums and so much more. The mother in Africa who has no food to feed her child but will walk miles and miles to find it. The mother in Iraq who holds her bleeding, wounded child dying in her arms and refuses to leave the child though she is still in danger. The mother who sends her child to war to fight in a battle that he or she may not come home from. The mother that leaves her child to fight that same war....that is sacrifice. The mother who gives her child to a couple who can not have one of their own. The mother who loses child after child from her womb and aches to hold a living breathing child in her arms. ALL of them are mothers, from different walks of life, different roads traveled yet all effected by the role of motherhood. Motherhood is the greatest gift to me but with that awesome gift comes great responsibility, sacrifice and a love undescribable

Happy Mother's Day......today and everyday.