Happy Mother's Day to...my kids

This year I decided to celebrate a holiday that I usually resentfully ignore as the card-companies' gimmic to make us buy more crap by actually being a good mom.  I took the advice of the old moms and let the dishes and house sit for the day and enjoyed the kids a bit.  I also took a nap (Henry was napping and the other two were quietly playing in their room).  It wasn't a magical day of fairies prancing around us and sprinkling their dust so that all else disappears and carries our laughter to the stars, but it was a nice day none-the-less.

Rex was really excited this year.  He made me a few things at school--a coupon book, a page about me (I'm 30, close enough, I like to take naps, I takes naps to relax, and I am good at taking naps, but I'm a good mom because I put cookies in his lunch).  

Here are a few of my favorite mom moments:

Rex really wanted to make me breakfast in bed so he made sure to wake up early to do so. I found a granola bar and fruit snack next to me when I woke up.  He was going to make me toast but thought that would be too loud.  By the time we got to church at 1, he looked like this:

Henry loves naptime. Probably because it's the 10 minutes a day where he gets one-on-one attention.  He loves reading stories and get super excited once he's picked one out.  I managed to get this adorable picture of his excitment the other day.

Alice and Rex also really love reading.  Today, for some reason, Alice decided that Rex should read to her.  So he did.  No fighing, bickering or whining.  He just read to her.

I haven't been super good at doing preschool with Alice lately.  But I decided to change that this week but doing a sewing project.  We worked on vocabulary (needle, presser foot, thread tension), fine motor skills, following directions, goal setting, life skills, and environmental science.  We upcycled an old dress of mine into this apron with an A on it--Alice had been using Rex's old apron with an R on it. She was a patient learner and I enjoyed having her sit on my lap and help guide the fabric around.  She also liked to put her hand on top of mine as we ironed--she really didn't want to get burnt.

Last week I told the kids the only thing I wanted for Mother's Day was a picture of all of them looking at the camera.  They tried.

So Happy Mother's Day children.  Thank you for letting me experiment on you day in and day out and for quickly forgiving and forgetting when I mess up.  I hope I don't screw you up too badly and you safely make it to adulthood.  I love you.