This Happy Mother's Day

Today is Happy Mother's Day*.

It's the one day of the year I'm supposed to be allowed to sleep in and be showered with gifts. Right? 

While I knew I probably wasn't going to get to sleep in, I didn't think my 9-year-old would be the one to cut my rest short. Nathan who is usually my latest-riser, was way too excited about the gift he made for me, and woke up around 6am. I could hear him moving around his room, then shortly after, he came into my room to check the weather forecast so he could get dressed for the day. That's when I knew he wasn't going back to sleep. A few minutes later, he was back in my room, standing in front of me with bright eyes and a big grin on his face. He handed me his hand-drawn card and asked me to watch his Keynote presentation about how I was the "Best mom ever". It included animated flames engulfing a picture of monkeys. My mind was a little foggy at that point; I wasn't really sure how it all connected.

Next up was Caleb. He came home from school with a Mother's Day card and gift on Friday. I asked if he could give it to me on Sunday, he told me "but today is Happy Mother's Day!" and proceeded to open my gift for me. It was a beaded keychain he made in class but I can't show you what it looks like because he's taken it to be his own key to unlock things around the house. This morning, he insisted on celebrating by opening his own market stall, which must have been a last minute addition to the plans because Andrew immediately disappeared downstairs, scrambling to make wares for Caleb to sell. Yes, we had to buy my Mother's Day breakfast from Caleb's stall. I had yellow jelly and chocolate chip cookies to go along with my tea.

Mia quietly and contentedly observed as her big brothers gave me their gifts and waited until I sat down at church to give me a gift of her own - a big, loud cry letting me know that she's not going to sleep quietly in Andrew's arms this week. So we sat in the cry room instead. She was nice and quiet there.

*according to Caleb, today is not "Mother's Day", it's "Happy Mother's Day".