Mother's Day 2018

Mother's Day 2018

I love Mother's Day! I look forward to it all year long. Motherhood is often hard, thankless, and a lot of the time discouraging and frustrating. I hope that I am doing it well and that my children feel loved, supported, strengthened, and encouraged. But no one is throwing me a ticker tape parade. I also fail a lot of the time. So I especially appreciate a day set aside out of the year for my children (and Tyler) to show appreciation for all that I do. I don't know about you but my children aren't always over flowing with expressions of appreciation for me on a daily basis. They are good kids and they are appreciative BUT they hide it pretty well especially when I am reminding them to clean their rooms, do their homework, take a shower, not fight with each other, stop yelling, be respectful, brush their teeth, be kind, work hard, etc. I am sure that along with the eye rolls, muttering, annoyance, stomping, and screeching they are full of appreciation and gratitude for their dear sweet mother! Ha ha!

Most Mother's Days are pretty great! Tyler is always leading the way with thoughtful words, gifts, gestures, and acts of service. On Mother's Day the kids are extra loving and sweet. It's the best! Well... not every year is going to knock it out of the park. Some years are going to be a bust. This year was somewhat that way. It started out pretty rough...luckily it ended well. :)

This Mother's Day morn, instead of waking up to my joyful children and spouse wishing me a Happy Mother's Day with flowers, food, and cards. I woke up to nothing. I got up and started getting ready for church and imagined that when I emerged from the bathroom I would be greeted by hugs, kisses, food, and Mother's Day wishes. Again, nothing. They were all still snoozing away.

Now I was irritated. We have early church, no one was up, and no one was doing anything. The sounds of me slamming doors, cupboards, and stomping around soon roused them. But did they say anything? No. They were all tired and annoyed at having to get up early for church. By then I was slamming the box of donuts (part of my alleged Mother's Day breakfast on the table) and yelling. "Thanks a lot jerks!" Then Tyler hijacked the bathroom because HE had to get ready for church and I ended up being the last one ready and late for church. Not a delightful morning. While I listened to the talks about Mothers/Women (which were actually very good) I seethed. Adding to my anger was the fact that Reilly was supposed to come to church with us that morning. I love it when all of my family can attend together but she was a no show.

My anger simmered a bit as my family all headed to their various classes and callings and I didn't have to see them. After church my anger and disappointment returned. My family said that they were sorry for sleeping in and promised to make it up to me and to do all of the things that I wanted to do. (We had a special day planned.) I told them to forget it! Mother's Day was cancelled!! And...plan on me doing NOTHING for Father's Day and all of their birthdays and every other single thing I do around here! I slammed our bedroom door and I locked myself in the bedroom. Emotional breakdown ensued while my family hovered awkwardly outside the bedroom door. Tyler eventually lured me out and as we all sat in the living room where I ranted about how no one appreciates me and all that I sacrifice for them and that I am tired of being treated like crap (teenagers) and that not one of them could even wish me a Happy Mother's Day after ALL I DO FOR ALL OF THEM!! (You get the idea.)  During this hysteria Reilly arrived. After this impromptu family meeting where I unleashed all my feelings and emotions to my family who were indeed sorry and who did feel badly. I was still hurt and mad. Try as I might I couldn't reign it in... it took my 17 year old son to calmly walk over to me, put his arms around me, and say, "Mom, we love you" and my anger melted. Of course then I was sobbing about how much I loved all of them and how lucky I was to be their mother and...yeah... BUT... I was feeling understood, loved, and appreciated. Hello emotional wreck. We all have them once in awhile and that was my day. Guess what, being a mom is hard and thankless and sometimes you just want someone to notice what you do and to say thank you!

After all of that insanity, there were hugs, kisses, Mother's Day wishes, sweet cards, thoughtful gifts, and acts of service. We ate my donuts and I opened my gifts and we got ready to have a fun day together.

For Mother's Day I had two requests: I wanted to go on a bike ride and I didn't want to cook a meal. The weather was GORGEOUS on Mother's Day!! Sunny and 87 degrees!! Perfect for a family bike ride. So we loaded up our bikes and headed to one of our favorite trails.

I love these crazy kids mine and am so glad that they also love me!!

Tyler was there too! He was our photographer!

We love this biking trail because it goes past a lake, two creeks, beautiful fields, and there is a lot of wild life! We never fail to see something interesting. This bike ride we caught frogs and turtles. So fun!! It was also great to dust off our bikes, tune them up, and go on our first ride of the year. I love to go biking and this was the perfect Mother's Day activity for me.

After our approximately 12 mile bike ride we came home and I was sent outside to lie in the hammock and read a book while Mother's Day dinner preparations were underway. No problem!!

It was wonderful!!

When I was called into the house it was decorated with streamers and had cute plates, cups, and napkins. They did a great job! But they TRULY out did themselves with the most amazing dinner. One of my very favorites...if not my very favorite...meal. Street Tacos and Brazilian Limeade. It was amazing!!

Even better was the great company, good conversation, and lots of laughs. I love having older kids. We have such great dinner conversations. I don't miss the days of dinner struggles with toddlers and preschoolers. It was so fun to linger over dinner and to enjoy one another. So even though Mother's Day started out ROUGH it ended on a high note! I truly am blessed to be a mother and to be a mother to my amazing children! They are such fantastic individuals who are doing great things!! I love them very much and their father too!