Happy Mom's Day!!

Now I'm not usually a fan of FWs (just ask my husband, half of his get deleted) but I LOVE this one so thought I would post it.

MOTHERS and MOMS

This is for the mothers who have sat up all night with sick toddlers in their arms, wiping up barf laced with Oscar Mayer wieners and cherry Kool-Aid saying, 'It's okay honey, Mommy's here.'

Who have sat in rocking chairs for hours on end soothing crying babies who can't be comforted.

This is for all the mothers who show up at work with spit-up in their hair and milk stains on their blouses and diapers in their purse.

For all the mothers who run carpools and make cookies and sew Halloween costumes. And all the mothers who DON'T.

This is for the mothers who gave birth to babies they'll never see. And the mothers who took those babies and gave them homes.

This is for the mothers whose priceless art collections are hanging on their refrigerator doors.

And for all the mothers who froze their buns on metal bleachers at football or soccer games instead of watching from the warmth of their cars. And that when their kids asked, 'Did you see me, Mom?' they could say, 'Of course, I wouldn'thave missed it for the world,' and mean it.

This is for all the mothers who yell at their kids in the grocery store and swat them in despair when they stomp their feet and scream for ice cream before dinner. And for all the mothers who count to ten instead, but realize how child abuse happens.

This is for all the mothers who sat down withtheir children and explained all about making babies. And for all the (grand)mothers who wanted to, but just couldn't find the words.

This is for all the mothers who go hungry, so their children can eat.

For all the mothers who read 'Goodnight,Moon' twice a night for a year. And then read it again, 'Just one more time.'

This is for all the mothers who taught their children to tie their shoelaces before they started school. And for all the mothers who opted for Velcro instead.

This is for all the mothers who teach their sons to cook and their daughters to sink a jump shot.

This is for every mother whose head turns automatically when a little voice calls 'Mom?' in a crowd, even though they know their own offspring are at home -- or even away at college -- or have their own families.

This is for all the mothers who sent their kids to school with stomachaches, assuring them they'd be just FINE once they got there, only to get calls from the school nurse an hour later asking them to please pick them up. Right away.

This is for mothers whose children have gone astray, who can't find the words to reach them.

For all the mothers who bite their lips until they bleed when their 14 year olds dye their hair green.

For all the mothers of the victims of recent school shootings, and the mothers of those who did the shooting.

For the mothers of the survivors, and the mothers who sat in front of their TVs in horror, hugging their child who just came home from school, safely.

This is for all the mothers who taught their children to be peaceful, and now pray they come home safely from a war.

What makes a good mother anyway? Is it patience? Compassion? Broad hips?The ability to nurse a baby, cook dinner, and sew a button on a shirt, all at the same time?

Or is it in her heart? Is it the ache she feels when she watches her son or daughter disappear down the street, walking to school alone for the very first time?

The jolt that takes her from sleep to dread, from bed to crib at 2 A.M. to put her hand on the back of a sleeping baby?

The panic, years later, that comes againat 2 A.M. when she just wants to hear their key in the door and know they are safe again in her home?

Or the need to flee from wherever she is and hug her child when she hears news of a fire, a car accident, a child dying?

The emotions of motherhood are universal and so our thoughts are for young mothers stumbling through diaper changes and sleep deprivation....And for mature mothers learning to let go.

For working mothers and stay-at-home mothers.

Single mothers and married mothers.

Mothers with money, mothers without.

This is for you all. For all of us...

Hang in there. In the end we can only do the best we can. Tell them every day that we love them. And prayand never stop being a mother....

Please pass along to all the mothers in your life.

'Home is what catches you when you fall - and we all fall.'

Hanging out at the park

While other kids are inside school sitting at desks being told to sit still and be quiet we decided to take our learning outside. We walked the nature trail which leads to a park in our neighborhood. Liam's latest passion is picking flowers which he does in abundance. Noah even got in on the action and picked a flower for identifying later. He was sure it was a bluebonnet but I told him it was too purple, bluebonnets were more blue. And not to be outdone, Maddox just decided to eat a couple of them. While we were on the playscape we found the coolest little spiders and just studied them for quite a while. The first one was fuzzy black with white spots and the other was tiny and looked like it could glow in the dark. The kids were fighting over who got to get closer. My husband would have died. My kids are more like me in that aspect, we love to study insects. I've showed Liam how to turn over big rocks and find all kinds of bugs.

Noah, being the boy that he is, brings a cigarette butt over to me and asks me why it has foam in it. I told him to go wash his hands and then ask me again. I figured that no matter how gross that was it could be turned into a learning experience. So we talked about cigarettes for a while which led to cigars which I HOPE led to Noah NEVER wanting to stick one of those things in his mouth!

While I was sitting with Maddox playing in the wood chips, Noah and Liam ran over to the sand and started playing. Noah made a really cool volcano complete with a little opening for the lava to come out. Which just yesterday he had decided he wanted to google "what is hotter than lava". So maybe he made his own little connection there.

We even got into a talk about how sound travels while Liam and Noah were talking to each other through the talkie tunnel thingie. Yes, that is the technical term. I said, "I wonder how the sound travels from you to Liam". And he told me it was by vibrations and we need to google that, mommy. :) I'm realizing that my goal as a sort of unschooling mommy is to get him to ask the questions and want to find the answers. So I try to think aloud and say a lot of "i wonder whys".

I really wish I would have brought my camera today because a short walk to the park ended up with sooo many learning experiences. But I'm sure there will be lots of next times. :) We could hear the kids at the school playing outside at recess and Liam says "what's that noise?". I said, "those are the kids at school having fun on the playground". And then I thought how sad that their fun is limited to 15 minutes (really 15 minutes of recess the whole day) while we are free outside with the only limit being our stomachs telling us it was lunch time!