Mother's Day

After spending an evening recently looking through old blog posts, I realized how many things get forgotten and how thankful I am to have written so much down.....at least when the kids were younger!  I'm going to make a better effort to blog more often so that the kids and I can go back and have our memories refreshed as the years go by!

Today was a great Mother's Day.  Since Brian is traveling for work, Jake and Mia were "in charge" and did an awesome job.  I woke up to their sweet voices wishing me a happy day, and then swiftly scurrying off to their iPads ;)  I'm thankful for those devices sometimes.....this morning, it was because of those pesky screens that I was able to sleep in!  Jake made me coffee and Mia made banana pancakes from her recipe book....both were so proud.  Julie and I took Mom out to a nice adult-only brunch at Nonni's while Ally stayed home with Jake and Mia.  Then, I took the kids to get their hair cut.....since it was Mother's Day, they agreed and didn't complain!  Mia even convinced me to do a temporary streak of color in her hair when we got home.  They both looked adorable.   Year after year, I have this silly thought that since it's MY day, the kids will be perfect every minute.....of course, they weren't.....and I've realized that it really doesn't matter.  I am so genuinely grateful for the special time that I get to spend with them.  Do I wish that they were ALWAYS kind to each other and to me....of course.  But who am I kidding.....we're all human.  Jake melted my heart, as usual.....he insisted on buying lunch for me and Mia with his own money.  He treated us to a lovely lunch to the tune of $7.11 at McD's.....he was beaming and couldn't wait to tell Daddy.  I enjoyed those 4 chicken nuggets and small fries more than you can imagine, with his smiling face next to me.  The kids granted my request of a "screen free" day and we sat outside in the sun, rode our bikes, went for a quick trip to the park, and then out to Chinese food for dinner.  Afterwards, Jake, Mia and Ally went to the grocery store with me where it took every ounce of patience I had to let Jake push the cart, which he so desperately wanted to do for me.  Of course, it took twice as long and I thought for sure the stacked bottles of salad dressing he bumped ever so gently were going to end up all over the floor.  But again, I was reminded how lucky I am to have these sweet kids driving me crazy and making my heart burst with joy all at the same time.  As Mia would say, my bucket is full.  And P.S., the cards/letters they gave me this year are quite possibly the most adorable things I've ever read.