Once again I am using Rachel over at "Finding Joy"'s words in my blog post.  I have cut and pasted most of her words here but if you want to read the whole post go over and check it out.  Here is the "jist" of what she said and what really spoke to me...

"Motherhood is so often this stretched thin like butter scraped over too much to do type of living. So much to do, so little of us, and we're trying to spread and spread and spread ourselves over everything and get it all accomplished.

Mom, where are my socks? Mom, I'm hungry. No, no, no, I don't want to wear that coat (and insert crumpling to the floor). Mom, I'm going to ask you another question. Why? How come? Why not? I don't want to do that. I'm not going! That's not fair. They got more. Negotiating. Baking. Cleaning. Cooking. Budgeting. No sleeping. Worrying. Praying. Trying.  Busy, stretched thin, over butter moments in life... 

We rise up. We make that breakfast while sipping our luke warm coffee (does anyone ever get it hot?). We pull out clothes and offer choices and negotiate with the three year old who only wants to wear the same shirt again and again. We pull the clothes from the washer and throw them in the dryer and we fold and fold and fold. We strap little ones into car seats with sticky straps and kiss the top of that forehead as we race to the next spot. We stay up late and rise early...

It's this resolve, this tenacity, tucked deep that sometimes we forget to recognize. But not today, not today, dear mother. Not today. Today, today I am recognizing you...

I am recognizing the fact that you stayed up late and slept on the floor in the toddler's room. I am recognizing the fact that even though you were late you stopped for just a moment and smiled goodbye to your children. I am recognizing the fact that even though you were hungry you gave the remaining cereal to the kids. I am recognizing the moments where you found resolve from somewhere and stood up and kept on going.

That is strength. Real life giving life embracing life honoring strength.
Motherhood is strength. It is determination. Resolve. Laughter. Love. Beauty. Moments of joy. Moments of intense frustration. Hope. Optimism. Giving of self. Giving of life. Endless vacuuming. Motherhood is being stretched thin beyond what one could ever imagine and going to bed with a heart that is full and remembering the laughter tucked in the day...

Somehow the stretching thin is easier knowing that one is not alone, to know that others are journeying with us, and when we remember the value and beauty of our journey. You are not alone. We are rising up, pulling up our boot straps, slapping on the super hero cape of motherhood, and we're continuing on. Motherhood is a powerful testimony of the determination of women who even though they are stretched thin continue on."

This is so beautiful and powerful.  You may or may not remember my last post I quoted her in but just the other day I was feeling so "unappreciated" and that my life with kids was so much of the mundane tasks that nobody sees when I remembered her words about how what I did mattered and how being a good mother was doing those little things over and over and I smiled.  So today I share the above words with you because again, they hit home with me.  Rachel writes so well and honestly as I have said, I feel like she speaks right to me.  

Bubbles!

These kids love bubbles.  What kid doesn't right?  They were so excited when we got them a bubble machine.  Handsome 2 kept getting right up in front of it so he was covered in bubble mess...lol.  Handsome 1 couldn't stand still (he is a busy boy any way) he was busy dancing and clapping and stomping on bubbles.  Something so simple brings such joy, laughter and squeals of delight.  I love it. 

Being a Mom

I clipped these words from Rachel's blog at "Finding Joy".   I just love her blog.  I honestly feel she is speaking to me.  She does such a great job.  Anyway, these are the words that spoke to me.  She wrote this about the "secret" to being a "good Mom":

"The secret? It's being the mom. Doing the little things. Making the dinner. Hugging and kissing the owie. Smiling when the tears are right there. Admitting you're having a bad day. Pulling up your bootstraps and plowing through the day. Calling a friend on those days when you feel overwhelmed. Singing silly songs. Blowing bubbles in the yard. Working long hours to put food on the table. Taking care of them. Helping with homework. Rocking them to sleep. Folding laundry at midnight. Praying over them at night. And again - really, just simply loving them."

I just love this.  What a great reminder that "just" being a Mom is what makes a great Mom.  I sometimes feel so unappreciated with all these "little things" that I do day in and day out that go "unrecognized".  Picking up the sock left on the floor, wiping up the mud tracked in, putting all the shoes on the shoe rack, changing the toilet paper on the roll.  All that stuff I do and it feels like nobody notices.  But, as Rachel says, those are the things that make me a great Mom.  I do those things.  I stay up to fold the laundry.  I rock my child to sleep when he wakes from a bad dream.  I come in over and over again throughout the night when my child is coughing so bad he can't sleep.  I do all of those things every day.  That is what makes me a great Mom.  Those are the things I remember my Mom doing.  Those are the things I talk about when I say how great she is as a Mom.  Rachel is right, BEING a mom is what makes you a great one.  

Thanks for the reminder Rachel, as always, well said.

You Know You're A Mom When...

I had one of those moments today.  You know the ones where you say, "Yep, I am a Mom."  I was cleaning my car out.  It hadn't been cleaned inside for a while since where I am the weather has been super cold for a few months.  So I took advantage of the warm weather and did that.  I wiped, vacuumed, etc.  I was feeling pretty good driving it around.  It was clean.  I was happy. Then, I looked to the passenger seat and saw it.  Dust.  A perfect line on my dash.  I had apparently forgotten to clean that side of my car.  LOL.  That is where Handsome 2 was playing (aka pulling all of the tissues out of the package) while I cleaned for a good part of the time so I guess I forgot it.  And here I was feeling so proud.  Instead, I have a car that is 3/4 clean and a pile of tissues cluttering my front seat (I couldn't bear to throw them out...they are clean after all!)  LOL.  Oh, and did I mention the car I was cleaning out is a minivan :) Yep, I am a Mom :)

Happy Easter!

Here is what Easter looked like at our house.  We also had Easter at church, my parents' house and my in-laws.  All of which also had egg hunts so let me just say we have A LOT of candy.  Ugh.  My husband and I think we have more than Halloween!  It is hard to find something other than candy that fits in those tiny little eggs!  The Easter Bunny at least fills their baskets with things other than candy and he fills many of our eggs with money thankfully.  Wish he would do that for all the other egg hunts and baskets the kids got!

I was up until the wee hours of the morning getting read for the Bunny and then slept for about an hour and a half before getting up to "help" the Bunny.  Sigh...the things we do as parents.  The joy on the kids faces was all worth it though.  I really need to get better at planning ahead.  I am such a last minute person.

Handsome 1 was sooooo excited for the Easter bunny this year.  He had a hard time really believing the whole Santa thing (he is only four!) but the Easter bunny?  He is all about that!  :)  He said he just loves Easter because he loves his basket in the morning and the egg hunt.  We also talked about what Easter was about and what the eggs represented, etc.  I think he got some of it. 

I hope your Easter was as wonderful as ours!