The day before Mother's Day, Brian told me I had to leave the house for a few hours without the kids. Well, if you twist my arm, Brian ;) It was awesome! I got to go shopping without my kids, and as a bonus, Taryn was in town, and I got to pick her up from her conference so she could go shopping with me. Woot woot! After a few hours, Brian texted me and told me I could come home. I was so curious as to what he was up to. Another bonus: he vacuumed the stairs while we were gone. I hate vacuuming, especially stairs. He's awesome. And, since our vacuum was basically useless, we'd been borrowing one from a neighbor. He kindly returned the vacuum after doing the stairs.
On Sunday morning (Mother's Day), I got up and showered, and when I came out into the kitchen, there was French Toast waiting for me. Yum! And a present. Inside the present was the most crafty thing I've ever seen Brian do:
Yes, he went to Michaels--all by himself--got these pots, some paint, and sealant. While I was banned from the house the day before, he helped the kids make these. Michael helped paint his pot. Brian got two kids' feet covered in paint to do the butterfly wings, painted the bodies of the butterflies onto the pots, and gave both kids baths while I was out the day before. He's awesome! I love these. And while I was thinking about the kinds of flowers I wanted to put in these pots, I couldn't help thinking about the lovely "flowers" I have in my "garden"--the ones that, despite my shortcomings, are thriving and growing into two of the most wonderful human beings I've had the privilege to associate with. They are the reason I get to be honored on Mother's Day, and I love them.
And I got a new vacuum for Mother's Day as well:
As I mentioned before, our old vacuum is joining the ranks of other cheap vacuums that have been around more than a year. We got our Bissell not long after we got married with gift cards that people kindly gave us for our wedding. We knew it wouldn't last long, but that was what we could afford at the time. So, with this one being basically useless, we knew it was almost time for us to bite the bullet and buy a nice one. While we were in Florida, we were visiting a family who owned a Roomba. The husband bought it for the wife for Christmas, and she still sings his praises--and the praises of the Roomba. So, we started to consider getting one ourselves. After all, we needed to get a new vacuum anyway, why not buy one that would actually get used frequently (recall that I really do not like vacuuming). I went through weeks of guilt at the thought of buying a robot vacuum. Am I lazy? Will it have a bad effect on my kids? I even talked to my mom about it, and she said, "Women are so good at feeling guilty about things. Why do we always have this need to justify buying things that will simplify our lives?" With the guilt worked through, I was ready for this nice package on Mother's Day. Really, Brian got me a cleaning assistant for Mother's Day. We named him Alfred.
While we're on the subject of Alfred, I have to say that he's a gate-way drug. Since my floors are actually getting vacuumed lately, it makes everything look better, which makes us want to make everything else look better. Which makes us want to put things away more. And I feel like for the first time in my life, I can multi-task. One day, I vacuumed while scrubbing my bathrooms. It was awesome! And I went to the park while my house got vacuumed. Awesome Mother's Day present. Thanks Brian! And thanks, Mom, for helping me not feel guilty about it.
After church, we headed to Mapleton for dinner. My amazing father-in-law insisted on making dinner for all his girls for Mother's Day. He made us steak and crab. It was fabulous!
After dinner, Julie opened her presents with Rachel on her lap.
Yummy!
Rachel loved passing out kisses and receiving kisses from her Nana and Papa.
Shayne's parents came for Cole's party, so at one point, I was watching Shayne's parents laughing and talking with Brian's parents, and I missed being with my mom. I'm so grateful for modern technology that makes it possible for me to call my mom any time I want. I was blessed with the best mom.
Congrats, Brian. This was my favorite Mother's Day so far.
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