Mother's Day ...

Well, I'd love to say that my Mother's Day was nothing but sunshine and roses - and it was mostly (literally and figuratively) - but there were also some trying moments. However, even in the midst of the crazy times, I am still ever so thankful that I have been blessed with the gift of being a mother. My boys bring me more joy than I ever thought I had a right to have in this life. Through them I see the world with eagerness, curiosity and fresh eyes. I delight in the simplicities of youth all over again. It is amazing and I love every minute of it. The good times definitely more than make up for the stress that comes along with this motherhood terriorty. Today I have been reminded of that time and time again.

After church my boys took me out for dinner at Chilis.

It was delicious and there were no dishes to clean up. Fantastic!

At home I was presented (and re-presented) my gifts ...

here is Gage giving me his jarred, crushed sidewalk chalk creation he made at pre-school. Very cool!

At church today, they presented each mom with a carnation. It was so thoughtful! Gage really took a liking to the carnation and we ended up with a silly photo shoot of him with it. This first picture was his "sad smile."

He called this on his "angry, growly smile." 

This is his "silly smile."

And finally, here's his "happy smile" = )

Then, in Riley's Sunday School class they made these awesome little flower pots. Riley was not in a picture taking mood, so this is just of the pots. The kiddos cut out tissue paper then glued it on in the shape of flowers, then helped plant the marigolds inside. Written on the brim is this, "If moms were flowers ... I'd pick you!" Isn't that so sweet! Such a great project. I seriously love this so much!!!

Goodness. One of things I really wanted for Mother's Day was a nice family picture of all four of us together. This was one of the trying times. First, Riley decided he didn't want to smile and was being a bit of a pill. Then, we were having some user error issues with the self timer. I finally accepted that the perfect photo wasn't meant to be at the moment and decided to be happy with what we got. Here's the best of the bunch. Yikes!

Later on, my sweet, sweet hubby proved once again how much he really loves me. I have wanted to plant a rose bush for a while now, but he's always vetoed it because he has some literally painful memories from his younger days of taking care of rose bushes at his grandma's house. Let's just say it's a thorny issue for him = ) Anyhow, for my special day Corey and the boys planted this climbing rose bush for me. I was so surprised and excited! Now I just need to figure out what kind of trellis I want for it to climb! I love this picture in front of it - aside from the "thumbs down" Riley is sporting. Once again, he didn't want to take pictures. Oh, that boy!

This photo was taken by Gage. He was supposed to be taking a picture of Corey and I by the rose bush. I think his aim was a little off = ) But, I think it is a really cool picture anyway. It's the surprise ones that I think usually turn out the best!

This was Riley's attempt to catch us with the rose bush. Once again, not quite what I had in mind, but I still really like how it turned out. Again, it's the simple things = )

Well, that's it for the photos. I just want to give a quick shout out to all of the mothers out there - biological, step, pseudo, adopted, etc - thank you for who you are and what you do every day. And an especiallly big thank you to my mom who is always there to listen, ground me when I'm losing my footing, give me advice when I need it, calm me down when I'm freaking out, and who is the absolute best grandma to my boys. Thank you and Happy Mother's Day to you all!