Mother's Day 2012

I love being a mom. I love that I get to stay home with my kids each day, that we can play, read, learn, relax, and do everything together. In all honesty, I get sad when I can't be "the mom." I am figuring out little by little that as difficult as they are, I still love to do bedtime routines with my kids. I miss sitting with them at church when I have to play piano up front, and I really miss doing fun things with them when I have piano lessons, or some other commitment. (Yes, I know, Dan needs that time too... Although, he rarely takes pictures for me so I really miss out!) If I have the choice, most times I choose to take at least 1 kid with me wherever I go.

Dan has been a great help letting me be the mom lately too! He is taking on some of the "maid" chores so that I have a little more time and energy to do what I like to do! He is wonderful!

Each of my kids try my patience, daily, but here are the great things they do to show me they love me each day.
Jack: Loves to read books together, tell me stories about tv he watches or what he sees outside. He also loves to re-live our past adventures, reminding me of when we went to the zoo, or at the grocery store with the nice lady, or the glasses store. He comes up with some RANDOM things. At the end of the day, he loves to snuggle.

Nora: She loves to give hugs and kisses. Open mouth kisses, and she wraps her hands around my neck and pats my back as we hug. She likes to share my treats, and just recently has decided that after she eats majority of her meal, she wants to sit on my lap to finish it up. I am trying to spend more time with her on my lap and playing with her one on one.

I have been pretty lucky to spend some extra time with just the kids- we went to Washington D.C. with my parents in May, and they are a handful but a lot of fun!
This is a picture in front of the Washington D.C. Temple!



You can't see it, but Dan bought me a beautiful emerald necklace from him & the kids. We never really celebrate these holidays with gifts so it was a wonderful surprise! Jack was so excited to give it to me all wrapped up in a fancy box.

Jack also brought me home a yellow flower from Nursery. He was so excited, and still asks to see it. He asks me now... "did I give you a yellow or pink flower?" He must have been given the choice. :)