My mother's day

I wasn't going to write about mother's day, but it seems everyone else is, so I'll give in to peer pressure.

My day started off very early, with the girls arriving before 7:00, desperate to serve me breakfast in bed. The brought a bowl full of cheerios, which I hate, and a piece of toast covered in enough jam to send me into a sugar coma. I could barely open my eyes to say, "Thank you babies, but I'm not ready to get up yet. Can you let me sleep a little longer?" They were great and left the room without a word of protest.

Except that they came back two more times in the next half hour with their breakfast offering. By the time I actually dragged myself out of bed, the cheerios were a soggy, disgusting mess, and the toast was rock hard, jelly notwithstanding. They were so disappointed that they didn't get serve me in bed that I asked them to make me a piece of peanut butter toast. They skipped merrily off to the kitchen and popped bread in the toaster. And then forgot about it completely when they went to play in the back yard.

Oh well.

They did clean up their room, which was my one request from them. Unfortunately, B had to pretty much sit on them and threaten dire consequences to get them to focus.

Ella made me a gift at school. It's a free form poem that says:

Heather:
Loving, caring, fun, nice.
Mother of Elizabeth, Ella,
Campbell and Lily.
Lover of knitting. Who feels
confused. Who wants the best
for all of us. Who gives us
love. Who fears cockroaches.
Whose hope for the world
is to be a safe place.
Resident of austin.

I laughed out loud at the cockroach part.

The kids' aunt and uncle - who are visiting from out of town - took the big three out to B's grandmother's house for a mother's day lunch that we opted out of. There was no way I was going to spend my mother's day cramming kids into nice clothes and hanging out making small talk with the in-laws. And since I'm the only one in the group who is actively mothering, I figured I was allowed to decide what I wanted to do for the day.

While the big kids were gone, Elizabeth and I watched a marathon of Dominick Dunne true crime shows, and then we all took a long nap. It was a good way to end the day.

Happy mother's day to all mothers reading this.