Moms

I'm trusting you all had a lovely Mother's Day weekend. I was spoiled. Jon and the boys made me sweet fruit crepes for breakfast (SO perfect and yummy!) and then savory ham, mushroom and cheddar cheese crepes for lunch (to die for). The littles showered me with home made cards which are a mother's dream. A made me two of them and said the most lovely things, like "Mom, you are beydoful" (i.e. beautiful). Little O drew me an excellent picture of us saving Mario Universe together. So him, and so perfect.

And of course I couldn't forget my own lovely mother (pictured above with her first child, my older sister Daryllyn) on this most perfect weekend. My mom is a legend. She's mothered 9 (and is actually still mothering...2 are still under her wing at home) creative, strong, spirited, and dare I say somewhat challenging (OK, I'm owning up to that one) children and she did it with creativity, humor and fun. My mother is all about fun. And I swear, it's a big thing that has kept my family close. We just LOVE to be together so much because we have SO MUCH FUN and love to LAUGH! My mom's a California girl all the way too. She grew up in South Pasadena (where we recently moved from) and even though she's been in Colorado for many many years, she just can't shake her laid back California ways and she NEVER wears anything but sandals. I think there was a short period in the 80's when she would wear boots in the winter, but that didn't last and to this day she still wears sandal wedges in the winter. After living in gorgeous Cali for three years, I can relate to how hard it is to put socks back on when you've been going without them for long.

My mother is also the queen of creativity and I have to credit her for laying the foundation of a richly creative life for me. In fact, my mother is actually quite the artist. She can whip out a pretty wonderfully stylized caricature of any one of us siblings, and it is dead on. She also is an amazing seamstress and I grew up with her at the sewing machine, like pretty much non stop. She made us ALL of our Halloween costumes, and remember when I said she has 9 children? Well I'm not kidding you when I say that she made all nine of us costumes, year after year (OK we did re-wear costumes from Halloweens in the past at times, but you can bet at least 3 new ones were made every year. In fact we knew we had to put in our order early if we wanted ours to be priority. And even still, she usually whipped them all out one or two nights before the big day).

Well needless to say, I think my mom's pretty great and hope to incorporate all of her wonders into my own parenting. Oh and she's a FUN grandmother! Just last night she told my Little O a bedtime story over the phone so he would go to sleep and both my boys insist on me pushing their "dream button" (the tips of their fingers) every night so that their dreams will start and that they will have good ones (something grandma introduced to them). I love my mom.
 And I can't forget my most lovely Mother-in-law, Jon's mom (pictured above with her first child, Karen). She is a beautiful mother who carries out her life with style and grace. And Oh the things she can cook! If I had just one ounce of culinary talent that she has, I'd consider myself a success in the kitchen. And don't get me started with her gardening skills. Let's just say, she's a wonder. And she has always been so loving and welcoming of me and is a dream of a grandmother. If A had his way, he would be going on walks and hikes with her, pretty much every day. And picking peas with grandma from her garden? Well, I'm pretty sure there are few things more magical than that for my boys.

So yeah, I'm super thankful for mom's and the wonderful examples of them that I have in my life. I consider myself blessed to be a mom, and although far from a perfect one...I'm grateful for the chance to go on this crazy (and sometimes magical) ride called life, as a mom to my wonderful littles...all three of them...er um...did I just spill the beans there?...