Like most moms, I think I often struggle to find the time for “me”. I already feel guilty enough letting the boys watch TV and have the run of the house while I try to sneak in work-outs a few mornings a week. Since I was able to quit my “real job,” which I did at night after the boys were in bed, I’ve had SO much more time to do things that I really love: like watch episodes of Vampire Diaries and read (ok…Brian also has to be out of town for these things to happen, but still…lots more me time). Before the boys came along, I was quite an avid reader. My ideal Saturday went something like this: breakfast out with Brian, lay in bed and read, nap, read, nap, eat again, read…you get the picture. I guess I still try to sneak in a little reading during daylight hours. Sometimes I’ll carry my nook around all day thinking that maybe, just maybe, I’ll be able to get a few pages in while the boys play. But…that plan doesn’t usually work since they can see me…and seeing me means requesting things like drinks, snacks, and creative weaponry (this is when Logan asks me to duct tape stuff together to make more interesting guns and such…not a phase I’m particularly loving, but I was never a school-aged boy and Brian assures me it’s normal). I guess I’ve complained about my lack of reading time…but I got a very clear message that at least someone is listening!

Here are some pictures of the mother’s day gift Logan made for me at school:

My mom by “Logan”:

 

Here’s me: Cute picture, right? I even got a flower in my hair…and I’m either holding a vase of flowers or a drink with flowers in it (works for me either way). She has “brown” hair. She has “hasil (hazel)” eyes, She is “5” feet tall (I thought that was a good guess for someone who is still measured in inches…almost accurate!)

Okay…so see if you can read this:

Translation:

My mom is very special! She can do so many things.

• My mom can “play” (sure can!)
• My mom can “chat” (um…you got that right, kid! mom practically never shuts up – just ask dad!)
• My mom can “bai a toy” (that would be “buy a toy”…and only if you’re on my good side that day I guess).

HERE’S THE KICKER:

• But my mom cannot: “hav 10 minits to read hr book” <—In case you didn’t catch that, he said I can’t have 10 minutes to read my book! Really?! I almost peed my pants laughing! Clearly, I’ve uttered just that complaint to them many times. I ran down the street immediately to show Anne who was, coincidentally, sitting on her porch reading while her children played in the yard…or at my house if I remember correctly. HYSTERICAL! Brian thought it was brilliant.

All I can say is classic! This will obviously be a story repeated for like…forever! He also scored major points when he climbed into bed Sunday morning and said, “happy mother’s day” with a kiss. While the three of us were laying there, Brian said, “let’s name things about mommy that we love,” Logan hugged me, thought for a minute and said, “she never lets us down”. Wow – big words that I guess I need to live up to…tall order, but I’ll try!

So…Logan’s lovely mother’s day gift came the same day along with Aiden’s SUPER cool gift from his school: a scrapbook of all this year’s memories. His teacher is quite amazing. She made a book for every child with pictures of them doing all sorts of things throughout the year (including pages for graduation and a few other things we can fill in). When I say “pictures of them,” I mean that each child’s book had pictures of THAT child…so mine all have just Aiden or Aiden and friends on each page. Pretty cool! I also got a card and hand-made wrapping paper.

The front of the book:

Here are just a couple of the pages: Aiden working on a project, his name on a leaf which they had to find and put on a tree during the fall and a picture of Aiden and daddy at the Holiday party making a ginger bread house (which, I reiterate…could have used more M-n-M’s and was OH so delicious!)

This is the wrapping paper they made the week before mother’s day. I may be biased, but I’m quite impressed with his lemon, lime and orange stamping!

My card by Aiden: It has a mommy song inside set to the tune of “my bologna has a first name…it’s o-s-c-a-r”. It’s like “oh, my mommy has a special name it’s m-o-m-m-y. my mother has a special name it’s m-o-m-m-y. Oh, I love to hug her every day and when I kiss her I will say, ‘mommy, mommy, I love you! I L-O-V-E Y-O-U!’” Ya…now try to get THAT out of your head for the rest of the day!

Overall, an amazing and thoroughly amusing mother’s day. Brian’s family came over for Sunday brunch and we had a FEAST…prepared mostly by Brian and his brother David. Brian gave me lots of reading time that day and a nice long nap too. Perfection!