15 Things I Loved About Being A Mom This Year

No recipe today, ladies and gentlemen. I have for you instead a few thoughts about Mothers Day. Many of you know that I have 5 kids, ages 6 right up to 15. My main, first, most important job in life is to be their Mom. I love it. I truly do. I count myself blessed beyond measure to be able to raise a family. Bring on the gray hair and bags under my eyes. They are worth it, in more ways than one.

But, I’m going to give it to your strait.

Sometimes I get tired out. (Like every day!) I’m not a perfect Mom (is there such a thing!) and my family’s not perfect either. Sometimes my kids fight, sometimes I am frazzled, I drink too much Coke Zero, our kitchen floor is sticky more often than not, my toilets aren’t always clean, my kids’ rooms are a messy fright and I hardly ever get everything checked off my daily To-Do list. I worry about spreading myself out so that all of my kids get the love, attention, support and encouragement they need. I worry that I have given them enough opportunity to gain confidence in them selves, do they know how to work, will they be happy when they grow up…

A girl could make herself crazy enough to start wearing her underwear on top of her clothing, should she entertain these kind of thoughts for very long.

So I try (I really TRY…boy do I have to consciously try) not to spend too much time riding the worry train. Too much worry can rob a girl of her joy, you know. And so today, I made a list. It’s a list of the good things. A list of some of the beautiful, funny, silly and wonderful things I enjoyed about being a Mom this past year. A little Mothers Day Gift and reminder to myself, if you will.  I like to soak up a little bit of joy now and then, don’t you? 🙂

Here they are, in no particular order.

1. I love that MyLittleTwinBoys can still fit on my lap and hug me tight around the neck.

2. MyTeenSonMark played basketball on a rec league this year with a bunch of his buddies. They played in a tournament against a team who had the worst sportsmanship I have ever laid eyes on. I thought is was illegal to say the F-Bomb 5 times in as many  minutes. Apparently it’s not. They were a really rough bunch with big burly muscles and crappy attitudes strait from the toilet. Towards the end of the game I noticed one of the opposing players get knocked to the floor after attempting a rebound. He was pretty furious and undone by the fall. My boy Mark leaned down and gave him a hand up. “Good try, man.” I heard him say. And then my eyes started to sweat, as they often do when a simple little thing means a lot …but I didn’t let anyone see me get teary. Who needs a sissy Mom on the sidelines when F- Bombs are flying free, right.

2. I loved watching MyTeenDaughterAnna play Snoopy in her middle schools version of Your A Good Man Charlie Brown.

She was a dang hoot, if I say so myself.

When I asked her what the best part being in the play was she responded with “Just getting to know everybody Mom! And being able to work hard on something together.”  Made my day, it really did.

4. I loved watching Emily play outside with the little kids in our neighborhood. She’s always got a random toddler or baby on her hip. The girl is a baby whisperer, I tell you. Babies and little kids gather at her feet wherever she goes. She’s got a real knack, that she does.

5. I loved singing “Landslide” with Anna and Emily for our annual Family Christmas Eve party. We practiced and practiced it all throughout December. Best part of my Christmas season, hands down.

6. I love sitting down and eating lunch with MyLittleTwinBoys when they come home from Kindergarten. You ought to hear the great stories that come out of that Kindergarten classroom! It’s great to have these boys all to my self for just a bit before the Wild Hours Of Chaos Begin. Feeling a little bit sad about them going to 1st grade in the fall. If I remember right, 1st graders don’t come home to eat lunch with their Mom, right?

7. One day after school MyTeenDaughterAnna said…”Mom, I freaking love your guts.” What can a mother say to that but, “I love your freaking guts too, honey.”

8. One summer day I told MyHandsomeHusband that the kids and I were going to paint Anna’s room while he was at work, he simply said “If you find time to paint that room today, I will eat 25 hats.” Not that he didn’t think I COULD do it…he’s just well aware of our hectic schedule. 🙂

We painted the room.

My kids found 25 hats and left them on my bed for MyHandsomeHusbands fine dining experience. Little Aaron kept asking me “WHY would Dad want to eat hats for dinner. Seriously, Mom! They won’t taste good.” He was relieved to learn that it was all just a joke and I wasn’t planning on feeding Dad 25 hats for dinner. Cute. Fun and Cute, these kids of mine are.

9. I love laughing at Brian Regan on You Tube with my teenagers. He is one funny man. Fun. Nee.

10. I loved driving in our old-beater truck through Logan Canyon with MyTeenSonMark and MyHandsomeHusband singing at the tippy top of our lungs. Man, we were really good that day. Grammy worthy I tell you. Birds were killing over dead everywhere we looked, just from the sound of our lilting trio.

11. I loved sewing pajama pants with Emily, just the two of us.

12. I love staying up late and talking with my teenagers.

13. Little Aaron came to me and said “Mom, for my Animal Report I want to shape a 3-D sculpture of a bald eagle and I want to make it with Fin Toil”. Hmmmm. What is Fin Toil? Pretty sure he meant Tin Foil, you think?

14. I love laying in bed at night next to MyHandsomeHusband and talking about our kids. I love having his fresh perspective on my parenting issues and worries. I don’t know how you single moms do it. My hats are off to you.

15. I love that Heavenly Father has given me the amazing blessing of being a Mom. Motherly love is a magical, powerful thing. I am grateful every day for the opportunity I have to love another person with that kind of love. It really is the best part of being a Mom…being able to love someone else so completely.

To finish off todays post I want to share a great video with you. It’s by Calee Reed and is titled “A Mothers Day Tribute. She Put The Music In Me“. I think my girls and I have watched it 3 million times. If you belong the LDS Church (the Mormons) be sure to listen closely to the lyrics. I bet you will recognize a few from your Primary Singing Time days.  🙂 Love it.

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you wonderful ladies out there. Hope someone cooks something fabulous for you. (And cleans it up after!) See you back here next week. More recipes lay in wait…

PS…if you have the Mother Time Blues, make a list for yourself. Makes you feel a whole lot better!