Mother's Day - with a son AND a daughter!

Mother's Day, Father's Day, Valentine's Day, etc. are all usually low-key around our household because Brock & I are cheap cynical old fogeys lame. However, 2011 brought me an extraordinarily special Mother's Day. Shaling came home from school early in the week and asked me about Mother's Day. I told her it was Sunday. She furiously began drawing a picture and protected it with her arms if I happened to walk in the room. She asked me how to spell several words (including my name, but as you'll see in the picture to follow, she apparently heard me say "N" instead of "M", so I'm "Mom Any"). She reminded me firmly (several times) that I could not have it until Sunday.

She even went looking and found an empty envelope to use -- an envelope with a return address of a radio station group from which we'd bought some auction items. She's got the recycling thing down pat, I guess! She also told me she was giving me money. She thinks any plastic card the size of a credit card is money, so I was curious to see just what sort of "money" I was going to receive.

By the time Sunday came around, I received the following lovely cards:

From Preston & Shaling together:




Preston also made me a card on the computer and a gift at school. Make sure you check out the words on the card (you can click on any image to make it bigger). I like how he says that I say yes to everything he asks. I'm trying to figure out if that's short term memory, an attempt to work me over, or amnesia. On the gift, he painted the letters "ILUMP". This is a pet phrase of his that he developed over time.

Several years ago, he would tell us "I love you" as he went to bed or one of us left, etc.

Brock would say "I love you more".

Preston would say "I love you most."

Brock would say "No, I love you most."

Preston would get perturbed because he'd already said most, so he started saying "I love you most, PERIOD." It was his end all phrase. He eventually shortened it to just the first letters, "ILUMP".




Here is Shaling's card. As you can see, the money she gave me was not a plastic card. She actually gave me $5 cold hard cash (or as she calls it, "five money"). She received several Valentine's Day & Easter cards from family members that included money. So I'm guessing she thinks you should include money when you give someone a card.


Finally, Shaling created a booklet for me at school. I am quite certain that no other mother has a booklet quite like mine.

The Cover


Her choice for "H" is pretty special to me, despite the fact that I believe she had quite a bit of help with this project.


So apparently, I'm quite attractive behind the wheel of a car.


And that's just what she gave me.


Ah yes, for Mother's Day, she wants to thank me because she likes Grandma & Grandpa. I don't feel jilted in the least. All kidding aside, I think it's awesome.


The funniest thing about me is that I'm funny. I can live with that.


Interchange the word "say" for the word "safe" throughout her paragraph. Of course, the pictures, the hugs, the flowers all touch my heart.


I also received artificial floral arrangements that the kids each made out of tissue paper in Sunday school. They are beautiful. And, following church, all moms were given flowers to plant at home. We ate at a Chinese restaurant (Tai Pan) for lunch, then I met my own mom at the mall and treated her to a manicure & pedicure as her Mother's Day gift. We enjoyed the time together. Brock took the kids grocery shopping. I also got to sneak in about a 1-hour nap before Brock & I tackled a bit of yard work (didn't get everything done that I wanted, but the nap was so worth it). We ended the day by eating at a new favorite Italian restaurant (Shepardo's).