Mother's Day '15

Mother's Day was already nearly 3 weeks ago, and I am just getting a chance to write about it! Ah! What a great weekend it was! It started out at Banner's school with his class Shabbat performance. Here he is with his teachers, giving them the flowers from his class, looking like such a gentleman!

After their little presentation, the parents were invited back to the classroom to receive cute gifts from the kids. All the kids handed their Mommies their masterpieces. Weeks earlier, we had been asked to send in an old shoe our kids no longer wore. I had no idea what they'd be doing with it, but I figured it would be something I'd want to keep. SO... I sent a shoe from the pair Banner ended the 2's in, started the 3's in, and wore often during the time he had a cast on this year. It made me feel a bit nostalgic, and I'm glad I picked the one I did! Here's his creation:

Then, on Saturday night, I was really excited to spend a special evening with my mom, Brock, and Kira - just the four of us. Before I left the house, Sam asked me when was the last time the four of us had gone to dinner (or spent any time together) just the four of us. I said, "Never." At least not since we lived in the Alto Caro house have we all been out "just us," just Mom and her 3 babies. So, it was very special to be able to spend that time together, and we decided we need to do that more often! We decided to go to Ruggeri's, an Italian restaurant that my Grandma liked - so in some small way, she was there in spirit, too! We talked and talked about a lot of stuff. It was therapeutic, meaningful, and long. . . we closed the place down! :)

On Sunday morning, we headed over to my mom's house to celebrate Mother's Day with everyone. It's always fun when these 5 little boys get to play together and make a chaotic ruckus. Right when nap time started for Quinn, Caden & Mara made a surprise appearance to say Happy Mother's Day to Grandma. It was such a nice surprise, and I'm grateful to their mama for letting them pop over to spend some time with Grandma (and everyone else, too!).

I'm so grateful, every day, to be a mother to my precious boys and to have a precious mother to still mother me! Motherhood is the biggest challenge I've ever experienced, and it enriches, teaches, fulfills, pushes, perplexes, and inspires me daily. And, I know I'm blessed to walk along side so many other amazing mothers through this journey. This day is always hard without my mother-in-law - we're always thinking of her and wishing she could be here. That void is huge, and it goes without saying that we feel her presence fiercely on Mother's Day. As in years past, I always take a few (okay, many) moments to "talk" to her - thanking her for her son, for raising him well and to be the father he is, for being his mommy forever, for being a "mom" to me for so many (but too few) years. We definitely take her along with us every day!

Here's to yet another amazing Mother's Day - and to making every day Mother's Day!

Accurately capturing the reality of motherhood

Poor Quinn - nap time could NOT wait any longer!

My cards and gifts (love the journal from Brock & Mischelle)! As you may have guessed, I've already written a response to many prompts in there! :)