Happy Mother's Day!

I love Mother's Day! Other than the obvious reason that I have three terrific kids who I adore, I love this day very much because the Primary kids get up and sing to their mom's in sacrament meeting and the kids all go around trying to be extra good to mom on this day! But there also a lot of other great perks to this day as well!

Today was no exception. I loved it! It started off this morning with my kids bringing me a matching necklace and bracelet set they and their daddy had bought for me. (This was a huge thing - I never get jewelry!) Teagan and Garrett had both pitched in some money to help buy them for me, and although they weren't really my style of jewelry, knowing that Scottie had gone out and picked it out for me and the kids had gone also and had helped pay for it, I love them for those reasons. They didn't match the navy blue dress I already had on, so I went and changed into a burgundy dress so I could wear my new jewelry to church. Then, while we were in church, the kids made sure to sit still and weren't wiggly or chatty, but were very good. My kids had been practicing their Primary songs all week and were ready to sing their little hearts out to me when the time came. I asked them to make sure they were on the side where I could see them and they all stood together right up in front. The Primary gave each child a pink or purple tulip to hold while they sang and then they could take it back to their moms when they were done. So there they were, up on stand finally. Tig had a purple flower of course (purple is her favorite color) and the boys each had a pink one (because Garrett is convinced pink is my favorite color). The tulips were beautiful, long-stemmed tulips and the whole Primary looked adorable as they sang a medley that began with "I Often Go Walking" to the mothers in the congregation.


I'm still not quite sure what Owen was doing with his, whether he was using it like a baton to direct the music or just flailing it around like a glowing light stick, but either way, his flower broke. This was enough to make him stop singing and lose all Mother's Day joy he had. He looked at me, in the middle of the song, and told me (nice and loud) that his flower broke. I continued to smile at him and tried to reassure him that it was okay, but the poor little guy wasn't going for it. He again told me, that his flower was broken. I kept trying to calm him down, while trying to keep eye contact with Tig and Garrett who were looking straight at me and singing the song directly to me with such love in their eyes. Between the love I felt from and for them, and the humorous situation Owen was presenting, I sat in my row with tears in my eyes, laughing and smiling and wishing I could just scoop my three wonderful children up and hug them and kiss them all over!
After the kids sang their medley, they all came back to their families and gave the flowers to their beaming mothers. Teagan and Garrett proudly gave me their tulips and Owen sullenly brought me his flower and put it in my hands. He sat next to me, crossed his arms and told me that his flower was broken and he couldn't fix it for me. I tried to reassure him that it was wonderful just the way it was, and then I put it (strategically) between the other two tulips and it stayed straight up. I told him that we could tape it before he went to class and that made him feel better and he cheered up!
After sacrament we went to the library and got a piece of tape to tape the flower back together. Once he saw that it was fixed, all was right in his world again! Now, our ward wasn't super full today or anything, but we weren't sitting super close to the front where he was either, so I really don't know how many people in the congregation had the chance to hear him talking to me, but I did have quite a few people come up to after church and tell me how cute they thought Owen was during the whole thing! When we got home Daddy declared today a pajama day and we all went and changed into pj's! Then he had Owen bring me a book Owen had picked out at Deseret Books for me. Apparently when he and Daddy went shopping last week Owen saw a picture of Pres. Hinckley and told his daddy that "that is Pwesdidnt Hinckwey. He's in heaven now. Mommy wikes him." (as you can tell, he can't say his L's yet!) So Scott let him pick out a book for me by "Pwesdidnt Hinckwey." He chose the book. "My Dear Sisters". It is a great book ~ I read it while the kids were eating lunch today. In the front cover they each wrote something (or had Scott transcribe it for them)and signed their names. Scottie wrote a sweet little dedication, Teagan wrote "Thanks for just being yourself", Owen wrote "I love you mom and I want to give you a kiss!", and Garrett wrote " I love you very much. And thank you very much for being very nice to me for all these years."
It was wonderful! I laughed at each of their notes - as I read them I heard the voice of each child in my head and heard their inflections and tones - each note was a perfect match with their personalities! How fun it will be to look back when they are older and stil be able to hear these words in their own voices! What a wonderful Mother's Day full of wonderful memory making experiences!

I love my family!