Another Sweet and Simple Mothers Day!

On this day, Kayli said to me:
“Mom, tell me what you always wished for when you were little and wanted to grow up and you thought about Mothers Day and what you really wished your little child would get for you. Whatever you always wanted, Mom, just tell me, and you can have it, because I will get it for you!”
I gave the best answer a mother could give: "Kayli, first, I always wished for a sweet child like you and here you are.

Second, I always wished my sweet child would draw me pictures...

Third...I always wished my sweet child would bring me tiny little flowers...

Now that I'm a Mom, here are some things that are precious to me: daily hugs and kisses, and spontaneous "I Love You's" from my sweet child, a never-ending supply of handmade gifts that are made with love, made from the heart, that become my precious keepsakes, providing snapshots of these moments in time, the ongoing chatter and questions, and comments that shift my focus from my busy work day to the simpler things in life, the daily challenges that turn into accomplishments (if I can hold myself back long enough to let it happen) then, "MOM, I did it!", the "newness" that comes with every day and every experience and keeps us learning together, the quiet of every night after my child says her prayers, and we both drift off, replaying our day in our heads, and wondering what tomorrow will bring...

My "gift wish list" has expanded to include something just as precious as all the above mentioned items. This is the gift of TIME. A Mom treasures the gift of time. Time to sleep in, just one morning, time to sip a cup of coffee til' you can actually see the bottom of the cup, time to stay in your pjs while you sip coffee and read the whole paper AND puruse the ads, time ahead of you that is just "there, for the taking" but not scheduled or planned or committed to any one place or activity that requires a specific length of time, to be used at your discretion, at your pace, on any activity that sounds enjoyable and is one that can last as long as you want or can be cut short to make room for something else that pops into your head and sounds like something that would add to the delight of this day.
On a special day like "Mothers Day", this time can be spent with your child, as long as they understand that this day is "about you", and can willingly agree to the following "rules" 1) Everybody must keep their happy face on today 2) Nobody is allowed to whine today 3)Everybody takes a nap today
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And for one day, we came close (remember our house is for sale and we have to be ready to show it at a moments notice, so it has to stay clean/picked up, and we can be asked to leave for a period of time, and of course people still look at houses on Mothers Day, so I had my morning to sleep in (that's about 8:00 to me), sip coffee til I saw the bottom of my coffee cup, and read the paper. Then we had to be out of our house by noon for a showing, so we packed for an impromptu picnic at the park, even though this was an unusually cold day for May.

We played, we laughed, we came home to the clean house that we left, and layed down on the couch for a wonderful late afternoon nap just as it began to rain. Heaven.

Here are a few of the special gifts home brought home from daycare:



AND, here is a special gift I had made for myself, a Mother's Bracelet ( WEll, I didn't say I was opposed to buying gifts, especially jewelry!)