A Little Trip Down Memory Lane For Mother's Day

I was fortunate to attend a Mother's Tea in Gracie's 1st grade class (in Jen's absence while she was in Hawaii) on Friday. It was a very nice occasion and the "busy bees" in room 22 were all "a buzz" (sorry, I couldn't resist). I sat there trying my best to choke back the tears during the slide show where every student shared why their Mother was their "cup of tea". I miss those days as a Mom, when your kids thought you were the greatest thing, loved spending time with you, and thought you knew EVERYTHING (rather than absolutely nothing)! The 1st grade students especially loved their Mothers for: 1) comforting them during thunder and lightning storms 2) comforting them after bad dreams, being good cooks, making "steaming hot dinners", snuggling with them, having movie nights, and just plain loving them. their thoughts were such simple expressions of love and admiration - it was touching. After each child's thoughts were shared there was a slide of that student with his/her Mom.

So I've decided to share a few thoughts myself both for MY Mom and AS a Mom, myself.

My Mom is my cup of tea because . . .

Sometimes she would play the piano or organ when I was going to sleep as a child - it helped me get to sleep so much better/faster and gave me such comfort. That was truly a treat for me, and still is - I LOVE music.

I also loved it when we could coax her into doing some of our drill team and cheer leading routines :) - those are fun memories.

I love that she taught me to sew and made me "pick it out" over and over again; "you'll ALWAYS know that mistake is there and it will ALWAYS bother you, so just pick it out and do it right".

I still love sharing things with my Mom - she's always been a good "listener/counselor"

I love that she taught me the value of work - how to work hard, and have joy in a job well done

I love her fun personality - and the fact that she pretty much always laughs at my jokes and etc.

I love that she "thoroughly embarrasses herself", or looses her teeth some times when we laugh too much ;).

I love that she LOVES my kids . . . no matter what.

I love that she's proud of me and always tells me that I'm doing a good job - even when I feel like giving up.

I love her "spunkiness" . . . I think I inherited that from her ").

I'm constantly amazed at the great job she did, and still does, as a Mom - even though she's had to do some very hard things at times.

I love that she taught me the value of family and how that's more important than material things.

I love that she was home with us kids growing up and put value/importance on that.

I love her "can do" attitude however I must admit, I started to wonder a few times when she would start tearing out walls before my Dad knew about it.

I loved coming home to homemade cookies - gee, I STILL do!!

I'm grateful she taught us to be respectful - it was a difficult lesson for some of us, more than others :)

And last but not least, I love what a good Grandma she is to her Grandchildren & great grandchildren.

AS a Mom, I treasure certain things about each one of my babies:

Jennifer: How sweet she was to her siblings - doing things like saving her candies so if someone was having a hard time in the grocery store or whatever, she would pull out her candy and share it with them - always a peacemaker . . . Mom's LOVE peacemakers!! I also have always loved her musical abilities as well.

Emilee: She also inherited the "spunky genes" :). I mostly love the memories of Emilee as a toddler in her yellow Bugs Bunny swimsuit (it had fruit on the bottom) with her cute round buns that would dance about when she walked . . . AND when she and Jen would do the "Solid Gold Dancers".

Tyson: singing "I just called - to say - I yove you . . . ", the biggest ever hugs and kisses, and his taking pride, to this day, in holding the biggest baby record for our family.

Kaisa: Whenever I would say "I'm tired" she would pipe up with "I tired too - I hung-ey too!". She never missed a beat and still doesn't :). She would also spank herself, followed by a stern "no no", when she would climb up on the end tables.

Scott: explaining to his Dad " This - is a Tuttlesau-us", and singing as a toddler (with an upside down hymnbook in front of the fireplace as if he were performing) : "Doo way, doo way, doo way, doo way, doo WAAYY!!"

Chad: Again, singing (I TOLD you I loved music - especially when little kids sing) "Arabian NIGHTS" at the top of his lungs.

Nellie: singing "You are so beautiful to me - can't you see - you're - ebrysing I HOPED for - you're - ebrysing I ne- ee-ed - you are so beautiful to MEE-EEEE!!!

So even though I may not be my children's "cup of tea" anymore, they are still mine :)