Me Month

It's always interesting to see hints of my children's' views of me.  Like the page I found in someone's notebook a couple of days ago titled:  Secrets I'll never tell mom.  1.  Mom is really, really mean and bossy. 2.  and, she can be kind of nice sometimes too.

Mothers day and my birthday allotted a few opportunities to hear from my children about me.  Ryan asked them around Mother's Day dinner to think of one thing they really like about me.  Ella said she really appreciated that I cooked such wonderful meals for our family.  This in itself was interesting because from breakfast through dinner I hear rapid fire complaints from Ella about how she hates everything I cook, and she'll just have a white cheese Quesadilla or white bread with PBJ, thank you very much, and what are we having for dessert.  Madeline said she liked me because I was her mom.  I was a little confused about what exactly she liked about me, whether it was because I was privileged enough to parent her, or if there was something I was missing.  I asked what she meant by that, and she said she didn't know, she had just thought of it.  Max said he liked me because Madeline liked me. Hence it appears that none of my children recognize anything that they really appreciate about me.

 I did get a poem from Madeline with the header:  Don't Throw me away:

  Winter, Summer, Spring, Fall

              All the Seasons sing, sing, sing

  To my Mother high above

              Higher than me and the dove

 Madeline and Ella both bought Mother's day gifts at school.  Last year I gave Madeline $5.00 and she spend $1.00 on my present, so this year I told them to bring home whatever they didn't spend.  Madeline brought home the big bag that wrapped the present, so very excited.  The first thing she said was:  it has coffee in it, but don't worry, you can give that away to someone.  She had chosen a relax themed basket, mainly she thought I would really like the heart shaped basket it came in.  Ella choose a sewing kit, because she said she knew I loved sewing.  Perhaps this will prompt me to start sewing.

For my birthday, we went on a hike at a near-by state park.  The best part was that Ryan organized everything.  He got the kids ready and in the car on time, he planned the food and prepared it (and it was tasty), he planned where we were going and how long we would need.  I was able to enjoy the time without thinking about all coming steps.

Here are some pictures from the hike: