Chalk is Love, and So Are Metal Dinos

I will admit that off and on in the past, Mother's Day has just not been my favorite. I listen to people listing the perfect attributes of their mothers and think, "That's just not me." And I feel badly that it's not. Sometimes I'm able to find a pair of Big Girl Pants and realize that everyone has different gifts and abilities. I told my daughter just a month or so ago....."you didn't get the hair mom, or the house decorator mom or the mom who can't start her day without 3 hours of cardio and can only stomach paleo foods. You got the hot breakfast, meal planner mom and the piano mom." And since my daughter does love a good breakfast, that works. We all have to play to our strengths.

This past Mother's Day was wonderful for me, though, because it was full of things showing that my family really gets me. My kids checked in which is really all I ever want for Mother's Day. My daughter also thanked me for her Mother's Day breakfast, since her husband heated up some apple pancakes I left as a freezer meal when I was at her house right after the twins were born. That made me chuckle. I also got a couple of really lovely cards from Bryce's family and Marc's family. Collin's family, you might remember is all Jurassic, all the time and sent me this Dino plant stake. When I opened it, I really just laughed right out loud. For a mom of 5 sons and Gramma Honey of 14 boys out of 16 grandkiddos, I totally get this and it's found a home in one of my pots on the patio. 

Then while we were at church, the in-town kids came and chalked the driveway, in very sweet and hysterical ways. It was an event organized by Evan's wife, Jan. We started with this drawing of a cat, right at the edge of the garage. This hearkens back to when I may have very accidentally....squished....not one, but 2 of our barn cats who were trying to get into the garage. Not together, but on 2 separate occasions. It's not that I tried to, mind you. But it did happen and it's found a home in family lore.

There was a rendering of Schrodinger's cat. There is a small, but non-zero chance that this may have been the subject of dinner time discussions at our house.

And math. There was math on my driveway. My children all know my feelings about math in general and cheesecake math in particular. Someone let me know that this is the quadratic equation formula, otherwise I would have been clueless. Just give me ALL the split infinitives and dangling participles, people. Do not subject me to math.

This little dig was made especially by Eric. It's a conic sections graph (or so my right-brained husband tells me). Eric maintains he uses conic sections on almost a daily basis. I say anything beyond basic math operations doesn't live at my house.

There was even a nicely drawn suggestion for possible future dead critter display. This particular iteration will happen only over my cold, dead body.

We moved on to Mom-isms....things I said to my children when they lived in my house and I had actual control over certain aspects of their lives.

These things were uttered mostly when they were teenagers. "But Moooooooooom! So-and-so's mom is letting them do such-and-such." "Yes, but I'm not THEIR mom. I'm yours, and you will not be participating."

This was a good memory for me. Every time my kids went out of the house I would say this to them....

"Be nice, be kind, use good judgement."

And every missionary letter I ever wrote ended with that same thing, with the addition of....

"Remember, you're mama's boy/girl." I hope they always remember that they are always my boys and girl, not matter how old they get.

There was all kinds of fun artwork from the grandkids.

Marc's church happened at the same time mine did, so they sent drawings to my daughter-in-law, Elisa, who duplicated them. 

Caroline produced this anatomical heart. She was just tickled to bring the medical aspect into it, along with the implication of love.

I think Ephraim had some help with this one.

There was an impressive number line contributed by Emmett.

And this pelican. They are not on the list of favorites right now, as they are making frequent trips to the ponds to eat our trout.

Edward's bee rendering. Bees made several appearances on the driveway because.....Gramma Honey.

Dragons made an appearance from Gwen.

I really appreciated the expressions of love that appeared in various places.

Honestly, I wished there was a way I could preserve all the drawings forever.

But the sprinklers have already come on and washed some of them away.

I was also really grateful that Evan took some pictures to document the event. He knows his mama.

Love all my family both near and farther away who made it a really great Mother's Day.

Comments

[AP Man]

Love you, Ma!

[Eye guy]

Happy Mother’s Day!

[SD Boy]

Love you Mom.

[Heidi]

This is one of my favorite blog posts ever! Oh my goodness, the drawings are hilarious. Especially the garage squished cats! Your example of motherhood is something I think about ALL the time. I read every post! And I think we both know how I feel about any/all threats to stop posting. I love ya!❤️

[Elisa Allan]

My favorite MIL!!!! Lol (“I love you as I love all my MILs”) but all humor aside, seriously, I love you immensely!