Mother's Day 2014

I had a great Mother's Day 2014.

I got up, read my Bible, and drank my coffee. Then I headed off to church early because I was volunteering in the nursery during the first service.  We didn't have any groceries, so I went through the Dunkin Doughnuts drive through for a sandwich. 

Dwayne was supposed to get the kids ready and meet me at church for the second service. Well, he went above and beyond that.  He got the kids ready right after I left, took them through the drive through at Dunkin, and they all went together and got my van detailed and my oil changed while they ate.  I was totally surprised and I have to say, it was just about the nicest present not to have to clean up all those broken goldfish crackers myself! 

After church, we drove both cars over to Panera Bread for lunch. We still hadn't gone to the grocery store.  From there, Dwayne took the little girls home and I took our oldest daughter to the garden and grocery stores.  My nine year old wants to tend the vegetable garden this year, so I gave her a lot of input as we chose plants.  She is maturing so much lately.  We had a very pleasant afternoon together.
  
When we got home from the stores, she took the plants right to the garden and laid them out and finished clearing the ground of weeds while I handled the groceries inside.

After that, I got some old clothes on and worked in the flower beds that line the front and side of our home and helped my daughters plant the vegetables.  In addition to the strawberries that come back year after year, we now have carrots, onions, chives, cilantro, mint, heirloom, big boy, and plum tomatoes, yellow and red peppers, squash, zucchini, cucumber, pumpkins of all sizes, and some flowers like marigolds because my four year old really wants flowers in the garden, too.

While we worked in the gardens, my husband cut the grass, started a fire in the fire pit, and heated the grill.  He cooked burgers and dogs for dinner and sliced a cold watermelon.  Then we made Smores on the fire pit.

After that, we all bathed and hung out for a very little while before bed.  In all, it was a terrific Mother's Day.  I felt blessed all day to be a mom of three girls. As I was driving around town listening to Norah talk away, while I was helping Avril plant her flower seeds, and while I was holding Adele in my lap as she ate her Smore (and covered my legs and arms with melted marshmallow), I was very aware of how blessed I am and I was thankful to be a mom on Mother's Day.  And today I woke up with fresh eyes and a renewed perspective on my job as a mom.

My husband asked the girls at lunch what they liked best about me as a mom and in one way or another, they all answered the same way- they like the food I cook, they like that I feed them consistently, etc.  But my husband really blessed me with his answer to his own question. He said, "We all enjoy a lot of peace in our lives because you work hard keeping things in order." Funny he would say that on a day when we had to eat out twice because I hadn't gotten any groceries yet and when the van had gotten so messy that he actually noticed and took care of it for me. But I was really blessed.  What I do doesn't go unnoticed and that will definitely make it easier to load and unload the laundry machine again today.