I had a lovely day. It was emotional and draining but lovely at the same time. I am thankful for all of my children, my Husband, my amazing friends who are equally amazing Mothers and the Mothers in my life. I am also thankful for naps, books and cheesy Lifetime movies. Yes, I spent an incredibly lazy afternoon (after church) doing next to nothing “vital” other than playing hard with my children. Diaper laundry sits next to me, unfolded, and I don’t give a rip.

But BigBrother put it best. He said, and I quote, “Happy ‘Nother’s Day.” Yes, it was just another day. One that makes me smile. I did have a photo shoot with the boys. This sums up BigBrother’s attitude by the end of it. Which makes me smile even more. I love these two. (Of note: We chose this location so Munchkin’s photo on the table next to us could be included.) (Also? Spot the Redbook!)

If you’re wondering what my loving Husband and awesome boys got me for Mother’s Day, well, it’s the necklace I’ve been longing for since before BigBrother was even conceived. It’s the Lenox Mother’s Little Gems Pendant. I couldn’t get it until we completed our family as you can’t add more gems later. And, in case you didn’t know, no, we’re not having any more children. (Maybe more on that someday. Not today.) And so, I was finally able to ask for it for Mother’s Day. My Husband is Awesome, of course, and got it for me. He, of course, added all of my living children and so it features my birthstone on top (April) and one December (Munchkin) and two November (Big and Little Brothers). They are the contemporary birthstones, not traditional, so it may look confusing at first. But I think it looks lovely.

Isn’t it lovely? Yes. Yes it is. I am SO blessed to three amazing children. I have spent the entire day, despite some emotional issues, thanking God for the blessings in my life. No, things aren’t perfect. Did I mention that this past Friday BigBrother peed on my leg? But I’m learning, albeit rather slowly, that no family is perfect.

But sometimes, in those still small moments when I’m rocking LittleBrother to sleep or when BigBrother tells me to have a “Happy ‘Nother Day” or when the Munchkin calls to tell me that she loves me, well, it feels pretty darn close to perfect.

Happy Mother’s Day. Or, if you’d rather, “Happy ‘Nother Day.”

Happy Mother’s Day! Let’s talk winners! We had about twenty great photo entries and it was hard for us to pick just one winner. But we did because we only had one more Cruzer Gator to give away! And so, let’s jump to the winner now!

The picture belongs to Ceece! We decided on this one because of the composition, the colors and, hey, those kids are flipping cute! Congratulations to Ceece. We’ll be mailing your pink Cruzer Gator tomorrow (with some Mother’s Day cards that I didn’t get sent off in time…).

The following pictures and stories are four (of each, so eight) of our favorites. We want to thank everyone for joining in the fun. I’ve decided to put a cut to save the entire length of my blog page. Please click below to read and view all of the Mother’s Day favorites that were entered into our contests!

Continue reading »

I said I’d write something about motherhood and Mother’s Day over here today. But it all came spilling out over at The Chronicles blog. And so, I direct your attention to a look down Memory Lane at the ways I have celebrated, or not, this weekend over the past six years. Yes, six.

I closed the contest post to new comments and just ran the number of comments (24, if you’re nosy) through the Random.org number generator. Want to know who the winner is? It’s Kisha! Here’s her winning comment.

My daughter takes my breath away every single day. We tried for two years to have her, and we were beginning to worry that it would never happen. With all we went through to get her, I would get frustrated sometimes and once, I grumbled that the baby we were trying for had better be the “best kid ever”. Now, when my husband and I watch her learning new things every day and when she clings to us and pats us on the shoulder because she’s so excited to see us… we know that indeed, she IS the best baby ever!

Kisha? I’ve so been there, so said it, so felt it. And my guess is that the rest of my readers (moms and dads alike) know exactly where you’re coming from! I hope you have a fabulous Mother’s Day. (And, from the looks of the ticker on your LJ, some precious little girl has a first birthday coming up, no? WOOHOO!) Enjoy that as well!

And for the rest of my readers, especially those that entered the photo contest, I need you to come back on Sunday. That’s right. I’m going to make you wait. Sweat it out. Bite your nails. Because I know you have nothing more important going on all weekend then to wait to find out if you won my contest. (Ha!) But really, I want FireDad to help me pick the winning photo, four other photos and the five stories to include in our SUPER FABULOUS MOTHER’S DAY POST EXTRAVAGANZA! (I just made the name up on the fly. Like it?) And FireDad is actually at work through tomorrow morning. So, I’ll be picking the other winner and making the post with all of my favorites on Sunday in celebration of all of our entrants and all of the mothers who read this blog and, really, mothers everywhere. See? EXTRAVAGANZA!

Kisha, I’ll drop your red Cruzer Gator in the mail tomorrow. (Today is impossible as FireDad is at work and I’m home alone with both boys and will be for a total of 36 hours by the time he gets home tomorrow morning… oh, goodness.) For the photo winner, yet to be announced, yours will be dropped in the mail on Monday morning!

Oh, and, well, maybe tomorrow I might write a post about how this weekend makes me feel. But I really wouldn’t bet your home on it. This is just a hard time for me in general and the ability to focus on others via this contest and giveaway has helped me deal with (and/or avoid) my own emotions in a much calmer fashion. So, thank you, dear Blog Friends and Readers, for helping me get through this difficult time.

I could bust out a bunch of cheesy hero lyrics. I could give you some quotes about what separates the hero from the rest of us. I could embarrass the heck out of FireDad. But I’ll try not to be uber-cheesy. Try being the key word of the previous sentence.

FireDad was recently honored by the city for the actions he performed on March 1, 2008. Long story short, in our state, if you have a concealed weapon license, you can carry a gun. Well, a gentleman was carrying a gun, it fell out of his holster, discharged and shot said gentleman in the leg. My Husband and two of his fellow firefighters were first on scene as they were nearby attending to a minor car fire. They performed the necessary types of treatment to keep the guy alive until the ambulance arrived. He was eventually trasnferred to a big hospital in a big city so you know that this wasn’t just a minor grazing.

I’m proud. His Mom is proud. His grandparents are proud. I think even one of his best friends who called to make fun of the fact that FireDad’s eyes are half-shut in the newspaper article is kind of proud. And who wouldn’t be?

FireDad got a paper certificate, a medal and a pin(bar) for his dress blue shirt. I snapped a picture of the certificate and medal atop the newspaper article because, well, that’s what I do. He saves lives. I document our lives. It’s a nice flow.

FireDad’s birthday arrives next Tuesday. He’s accomplished a lot in his young life. I’m proud of this guy for all that he does for our family, for our city and for our country. Plus? Even with his eyes half-shut, he’s really kind of hot. As the mild-mannered firefighter on the left-hand side of the article photograph alluded to, winning awards such as this one really, well, make a wife kind of… well, this is a family blog. But winning an award never hurt a firefighter at home, let me tell you that much!