Mother's Day

It might not seem incredibly timely for me to be writing about Mother's Day over a week after the holiday, but it is because I just found some papers in Rachel's backpack that she was supposed to give me on Mother's Day but didn't. So it's like celebrating twice!

The girls always make a big picture for Mother's Day in art class at school. Typically, each grade does the same project year after year so we're seeing repeat projects now that Miriam's following along behind Rachel. Sometimes I think it's great—like, we have two misshapen pumpkins made out of clay that I'll probably keep forever and bring out each fall to set on the mantle because what's better than one adorably misshapen pumpkin? Two adorably misshapen pumpkins. That's what!

Other times I'm like, "Oh, yeah. This project. Why? Why are we repeating this?"

That would be the case of the picture on the left. The one featuring an old CD.

It's beautiful. And I love it because Miriam made it. (But also...why?)

Rachel's picture is the one on the right. They drew the lines with glue dyed black and used pastels to colour it in. I think it's lovely and wouldn't mind it as a repeat project...but chances are we won't get there. That's fine because the project for grade two is also a lovely repeat project, so I'm looking forward to next year's Mother's Day already!

(Side note: I really need to get the information for Miriam's Artsonia account. She has one, but I think we fell through the cracks with the switch from K to 1. I'll have to ask the art teacher about it).

In class Miriam made me this lovely jar of fireflies (I can't wait for firefly season, which is just around the corner):

She also made a little booklet. I love that my name is Nancy or Mom. I answer to either one, it's true.



I didn't want to put a picture of every page here so I'll just transcribe her answers.

My mom likes to: play with my baby sister Zoë. Take us on trips. Play ukulele!!!

My mom's favourite food is: PIZZA!!! Baked beans. Cake.

My mom and I love to: Take care of Zoë together. Go to the park with Benji.

My mom makes me laugh when she: goofs around.

The best thing my mom cooks is: German pancakes with pudding and whipped cream and strawberries.

I love her because: she sings to me every night and is nice.

Here's the sheet I just found in Rachel's backpack. It's one page (rather than in booklet form) so I will include a picture of it:



"Wow," I said. "You guys don't know the answer to any of these questions!"

"That's because you never tell me anything about yourself," Rachel said.

"Sure, I do," I said. "I tell you lots of things."

"Not about your favourites," Rachel said.

"That's true," I said. "But these answers are pretty accurate. I don't know what my favourite thing to do is. I don't know where my favourite place to go is. I don't know what my favourite food is."

"Everyone knows what their favourite food is," Rachel said.

"Not me," I said. "It depends on my mood."

"Your favourite food depends on your mood?" Rachel asked.

"I like to keep things interesting," I said.

So, I have very few favourite things. But at least everyone agrees that I like to play the ukulele. That part is true. Is it my favourite thing? I don't know. But it's a thing that I enjoy doing.

And this year I'm as beautiful as a sunset! I think I'm moving up in the world. Last year I was only as pretty as a picture (and everyone knows that pictures never do sunsets any justice).

Here's a lovely picture Rachel coloured for me in class (which I also just got today):

And here's a card Miriam made for me during primary:

She's been teaching herself cursive and is actually pretty good. Her card says "I love you because you always wash my clothes and you are nice. I love you. Love, Miriam" on one side and "Mom I'm sorry I sometimes complain about the dinner food. I'm really, really sorry. Thank you Mom for everything you do" on the other side.

To her credit, she's been better about not complaining about dinner lately. I'm not sure if that's because we're making things she enjoys more often or if it's because she's making a concerted effort not to complain. Whatever the cause, I'm happy to have a little less complaining in my life.

And here's a card Miriam made for me at home soon after her classroom chicks hatched when she was very excited about Mother's Day approaching.

It says "Valentine's Day is sweet but not as sweet as you" and "Chickens can't fly but you can peck me with love." The chicken's belly says, "Flying is nice but not as nice as you."

Inside she wrote two little poems. One said, "Gold is Rich, Rich, But not as Rich, Rich as the love you give me." The other says, "Tis the year to share the love with our mothers. Tis the day to share love with our mothers."

At Activity Days Rachel made a tissue paper corsage, which I explained that I probably wasn't going to wear to church, if that was okay with her. She said it was and listed the reasons why for me—it's made of tissue paper so Zoë would probably eat it and it's held on with a big ol' pin, which wouldn't be safe for Zoë. She's such an understanding child. So, the corsage is safely tucked away in its box. Perhaps I will wear it next year.

"I didn't get you anything at all," Andrew said.

And that's totally fine with me because gifts aren't really my "love language."

He did take the two little ones on a drive after church so that I could get a nice long, quiet nap in. And that, was glorious. So, all in all, it was a fabulous Mother's Day!