Out of the Mouths of Babes

Yesterday, I gave my kids a little booklet to fill out for Mother's Day. It was a book that my son Ryan had started a couple of years ago and never finished. I asked them to fill out a page in it entitled "Things my Mother Does Well." I advise you never to do this sort of thing if you are not feeling confident or are not prepared for the answers you might get! Here are their responses:

Dallin (9)- cook, kiss, snuggle, and hug.
Ryan (11 3/4) - jokes, petting gentle goats (that is an inside joke) and loving me

When my son Ryan said "loving me," I felt that was one of the greatest gifts he had ever given me. And with Dallin, every night I go into my boys room and do "tucks and snuggles." It justs means that they get tucked in and hugged and kissed. It was nice for me to see that it meant something to Dallin. But lest you think I am some sort of perfect mother, let me tell you that a few years ago Ryan was asked to answer the same question. But that time he said "My mom is really good at saying 'do this, do that.'" That is probably a more realistic picture of my mothering.

My daughter Kathryn (4 1/2) said: shower and take naps.

Okay, that one is embarassing. I must admit, I love to take naps! But it isn't my fault that God gave me so many kids, without giving me the energy I need to take care of them. Actually, maybe it isn't really God's fault. But whatever the reason, I really do need a quick snooze just about each afternoon to get through the day. My mother in law used to tell me that someday I would get to a point as a mom where I could fall asleep anytime, anywhere. I used to think that would never be true for me. Turns out, she was actually a prophetess!

As far as the shower is concerned, I also have the bad habit of sleeping in (if you can call sleeping until 7:15 sleeping in). Every night before I go to bed I set my alarm for 6:00 a.m. I fully intend to and am actually excited about getting up early and getting a head start on my day. But by the time my alarm rings in the morning, I can't think of one good reason why I should. So I usually don't. I go back to bed and wake up just in time to get my children off to school, and then after the breakfast dishes are done, I will go shower. Apparently Kathryn has noticed. Her mother's life is one big shower in the morning and a nap in the afternoon. Nice!

Quote for the day: I went to the woods because I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life! And not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. (Walt Whitman)