Mother's Day 2013

I had a very nice Mother's Day this year.  My family spoiled me with attention and gifts.  

The boys were SO excited to give me gifts... especially Brian.  

Brian gave me a book of coupons that I can redeem at any time... 1 free set the table,

1 free hug, etc.  So cute.  And Katie made some cute yellow flowers in preschool that promptly got ruined as we arrived home.

Mother's Day gifts from Tyler

Pretty calla lilies from my man

We have church at 9AM.  I kind of wish that I could've had a lazy morning at home... 

but of course church was good.  I taught my last lesson in Relief Society.  

I didn't serve as long as I expected to in Relief Society, just four short months.  

I received a new calling... the secretary in the Young Women's!!!  

I'm super excited to get to know the Young Women and the leaders better.

I'll even be able to attend part of Girls Camp next month.  Woot!

One thing that I really wanted for Mother's Day was a nice family picture of us 
all in our church clothes.  But, my kids get changed out of their church clothes 
so quickly after church that these are the best I could capture.  
We'll for sure try again.  Maybe it would've helped if I fed them lunch first?!  
Oh well, at least I tried.

Sam and the kids made a nice dinner... BBQ chicken, mashed potatoes, blueberry muffins, etc.

I went and visited my Grandma Hallstrom and Uncle Calvin for a bit.

We had Family Home Evening. 

 I'm sure glad that we're getting back into the habit of having weekly Family Home Evening.

Brian loves to help with refreshments, Tyler loves to plan the game, and Katie likes us to all sing, " Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."  We're making memories folks... happy days!

Guilt free hot fudge sundae with banana and more... I totally earned this!

I feel really blessed to be mother.  

I'm so glad that my Heavenly Father has entrusted me and my husband 

with 3 (almost 4) of His precious children.  

My kids teach me so much and they make me want to be a better person.

Being a mom is way harder than I ever thought it would be but it's so worth it.

I mean, just check out these smiles!

The oldest obeys and stays in his church clothes, the middle kid rebels and puts on his new pjs, and the little princess copies whatever the middle kid does.  Love those little ragamuffins of mine!!!

Embrace the Camera/ Words of Wisdom - Mother's Day Edition

I had plans to write a big LONG post about motherhood and the new attitude I'm trying to adopt.  Here's the short version: So what, my house is usually A MESS... my kids NEED me.  I love spending quality time with my family.  I'm trying much harder to forget my to do list and concentrate more on making their childhoods ones filled with memories of me playing with them, exploring with them, teaching them, and LOVING them.  I want my kids to know that they are my favorite people (next to Sam, of course).  This summer is going to be a fun one, gosh darn it!  There's going to be more play dates at the park, more family pizza nights at the splash pad, backyard camping, more nature walks, etc.  

In case you were wondering, here's how my Mother's Day went.  Brian burst through our bedroom door at 6:57AM with his precious Mother's Day card and gift (a bookmark with a cute poem on it).  He was SO excited to give it to me.  The front of the card had a rainbow on it.  The inside said, "Dear Mom, I whant you to jomp on the tampoline with me.  Love, Brian."  Poor Sam is sick with a bad cold.  He hardly slept at all last night.  I had to take care of all the normal motherly duties today.  I made crepes for breakfast, put together a new Book of Mormon puzzle together with the boys, watched 17 chapters of the new Book of Mormon DVD that we got, and made tacos for dinner.  Sam stayed home from church with Katie.  My boys and I walked to church and back.  The boys behaved so good at church.  I was impressed.  Sam surprised me with a beautiful pot of pink, red, and purple flowers.  I think I'm going to divide them up into two pots and put them out on the front porch with our cute little wooden kid bench (that I plan on repainting).  Today was a good day.  It's nice to know that I'm loved and appreciated.

*  *  *

And just because I love quotes, I'll leave you with these fabulous thoughts:

Being a full-time MOTHER is one of the highest salaried jobs in my field since the payment is 

{PURE LOVE}

~Mildred B. Vermont

To see more EBC posts, click HERE.

Happy Mother's Day to ME!

Isn't this CUTE?! This is Brian's gift to me that he made in preschool. He was so proud of it and loved showing me his RED handprints. (Red is his favorite color.) Anyway, my favorite part about the card is how Brian is sticking his tounge out in the picture. That's MY BOY!