Happy Mother's Day!

To all the moms out there - Happy Mother's Day! To all the kid's out there, don't forget to do something special for your mom!!

Our weekend has been relaxing. The girls went to T's parent's house Friday night while T and I went away, did a little shopping, went out to eat. Today, we went to church and now we are doing work in the yard - and blogging! LOL

My girls have had a fun time making things for me this year. I received Em's gift on Thursday - she couldn't stand me not seeing it! It was an adorable key chain that she made, a little cup of tea and all in a decorated bag. She kept warning me it was "breakable" and to be very, very careful. That was the plastic key chain! Kt made me a rag doll all on her own. Well, with a little help from her teacher!! It's adorable and I'll post some pictures later. T got me an oil fragrance candle thingy, plants and a few cards. It's been fun! Oh, and he's cooking dinner - Yippee!

Last week, the girls came home from church with invitations to invite a friend to church. Kt immediately had someone in mind, not one of her usual friends. I was a little skeptical, but she went ahead an asked. This girl's mom is an aide at our school and to my surprise (I don't give my daughter enough credit!) they came today. I have to admit, I'm completely impressed with my daughter - and they all had a wonderful time.

In the beginning of the school year, it became apparent to me that my daughter, as usual, was being chosen to do all the fun stuff at school. If something needed to be taken to the office, they asked her. If papers needed to be filed, Kt got to do it. And whenever given the chance to choose a friend, she would always choose the same friend.

One day, she told me about this girl in her class who was not nice, who disobeyed a lot and who was on a behavior chart. She said this girl had no friends. We talked a little about it, and I suggested that maybe this girl needed a friend, that maybe Kt could choose her sometime to help with filing papers or taking a trip to the office. The very next day, Kt did that. She changed the way she treated someone and was surprised by the result - a friendly girl, an improvement in behavior and no more chart. In fact, being a friend to someone can have a positive effect on them. It was this girl who came today, and she is sweet as pie!! Really, it was rewarding as a mom to know that I have the kind of influence on my own child that reaches beyond our home.

Em's little letter she wrote me, which she had to translate!, said as her number one thing she loves about me is that I "put her to bed". I totally laughed at this one. That child has a few funny quirks that she is consistent about. One, that she ALWAYS has to run up and group hug if she sees T and I together. She MUST be in the hug. Two, she will not go anywhere dark in the house alone, like upstairs or downstairs or even in the next room. Finally, she must have one of us "put her to bed" or she just won't fall asleep! This mean we have to actually lay down with her, pray and chit chat for about a minute. Once that is done, she's off to lala land. She once told me how she was the luckiest girl in the world because her mommy lays in bed with her. For such a seemingly insecure child, she is so strongly and willfully independent! I do see a lot of myself in her!

Now none of this would be possible if it weren't for my own mom, my experience from which I have drawn upon for guidance these past almost ten years. In honor of her, I had to tell Em today that if she kept eating all that candy her teeth would fall out!! I mean, you have to use at least some of your mother's lines on your children on Mother's Day, right?? I then told Kt that if I found even one shred of the tin foil she claims to be using on her bugzone on the grass outside I would throw that thing away - kudos mom, for giving me just the right words to say when I need them! I'm sure I'll be honoring her more later, when I ask them both to clean up! And as I'm screaming at them to cooperate, those little words will be ringing inside my head, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all!" Ooops!