It’s Mother’s Day weekend, and I didn’t send any cards, and I’m not sure it will be a special day in our house because my husband has worked a grueling schedule this week and has an early start to next week. On the days when I’m tired of being mom and really just want to sit down for 5 minutes without anyone asking for something, I have to try harder to be thankful. Here’s my thanks for the week in pictures. 
“Dear Jesus, thank you for our food. And I hope we can get my training wheels on my bike. Amen.” (She looks at me with hope in her eyes. And I have to disappoint her and defer to her father’s expertise.) 
He has his own scooter now. And this kid in shorts, a jacket and a helmet while riding a scooter cracks me up every time. 
And those “aw” moments which sometimes I’m smart enough to capture on the phone while we’re walking. On this day, we were headed to the library. Izzy insists on carrying her own bag now.
playing outside
Saturday smiles: back to our normal edition
Major theme of the week: We’re healthy! And by “we” I mostly mean “me.” I’m learning that the old adage, “If momma ain’t happy ain’t nobody happy” rings true and you can substitute other words for “happy” like “healthy,” “calm” and “peaceful.”
So, Momma’s healthy again, which is one reason to smile, and I can eat food again, which is another reason to smile because I like food to have more consistency than Jello and more flavor than crackers.
The hubby is in the midst of his final papers and projects for seminary, and he was home for supper on Thursday, so I said I’d make whatever he wanted for dinner. We had pork burgers, seasoned fries and a salad. I’ve never made a pork burger in my life, but it was good enough that Phil said we could make them again sometime. Hitting the spot for dinner is a big deal for me. I still feel like a novice in the kitchen sometimes.
Speaking of my husband, I love watching him react to the ridiculous awesome antics on Top Gear. He’s like a little kid, and I mean that in a good way.
A friend brought this pretty lilac bundle to our house for a playdate on Monday. Their springy fragrance permeated the house all week and reminded me of the lilac bushes that lined the property between the house where I grew up and the neighbor’s. My dream house would have at least one lilac bush in the yard.
And speaking of purple, a friend and I got pedicures this week. It’s one of our coping mechanisms while our husbands read, write papers and try to figure out life after seminary. A survey of the kids for what color I should get on my toes yielded these answers: “Red!” (from Izzy) and “Blue!” (from Corban). I wasn’t initially crazy about either color, so I went for purple, which I think is a combination of the two. At least, that’s what I told them. Maybe it’s vanity, but I always like looking at my feet after a pedicure.
Corban is taking good care of his monkey named Baby. These days, he wraps Baby’s arms around his waist and gallops through the house, or down the road, yelling “Piggyback, piggyback.” One day he did this all the way to the library and back, which is a 20- to 30-minute walk each way.
After cleaning the bookshelf and weeding the holiday related books, the kids have rediscovered the recordable stories their Nana and Aunt Charlotte and Uncle Zach have sent to them. One of my favorite things they do when they “read” these books is they talk back to the voices. “Can you hear me Nana?” “Are you there, Nana?” and “I LOVE YOU!” (in response to a “We love you!” in the story from their aunt and uncle). How I wish the family could hear them from here.
And Corban is offering to pray more often at mealtime. Mostly, he says, “Dear Jesus, goodbye.”
We’ve had some good outdoors time this week, too. The boy in his truck always cracks me up.
One of the biggest developments is training wheels for the little girl.
On subsequent rides she was wearing a helmet. Please don’t report us for child abuse.
I’m off to writers group this morning, which makes me smile before I even get there because I love being with other writers and learning more about the craft and encouraging each other in our ventures.
Happy Saturday!