Mother's Day 2009

I think that this has been my best Mother's Day ever! Beyond the nice family dinner here at our house with all my family, the cute presents, and "I love you's" from the kids, and all that Bruce always does for me, there was just the quiet underlying PEACE, of knowing that my children are all here, and our family is complete. If I could of picked the perfect family for me, I would of picked exactly what I have now, 4 kids, 2 boys, 2 girls. And to now have that, leaves me very content, and feeling very blessed.

My loves, eating their Meatball subs on Mother's Day

For Mother's Day this year I decided that I wanted to set some goals for myself, in hopes of becoming an even better mother for my kids. So here they are:

1) Hold and love each child every day, for as long as they will let me. The younger kids this happens automatically with, but as they get older I'm noticing that they climb on me a little less, so I'm going to encourage it a little more.

2) Be better at dating each child. I realized that this past year I made more time to date friends than I did my kids one on one. We had lots of dates, but need even more. I love to spend time with each child without the others. That's when you really get to know your kids, and their individual personalities blossom, when they are the only ones around.

This a picture of me that Hannah drew for Mother's Day. She always draws me with an afro, and I think that is just BEAUTIFUL! I love it!

3) Stop yelling!! We printed out signs for family home evening, had the kids color them, and taped one on the wall in each room. They have only been up since Monday, and have already made a huge difference.


4) Try to bring the Gospel into our home even more, by making it a happy, clean, and loving place to be. We do a pretty good job of this already (as is evidenced by the million kids hanging out here everyday), but there is always room for improvement.


Bruce, Alex, Hannah, Joshua, & Bear.........I love you to Infinity and Beyond! Thanks for teaching me how to be a mom, and for loving me through all my crazy moments!