Mother's Day 2014

What a Mother's Day jam-packed with joyful family activities!

We enjoyed a special Sunday breakfast with flowers and a card from my chickadees.

Joseph gleeful

We attend a noon Mass, so we had some hang-around family time, and some giggles from this cutie. My my, is Joseph (15 months) growing up fast! He has learned how to open doors--with his huge mitts we call hands!--nearly a year earlier than a lot of tots: yikes for this Mama! He's running, wrestling, knocking down children, hitting for the sheer fun of it, and throwing toys all the way across rooms--all with a smile on his face. He's all boy.

This little scamp has stopped calling me Mama and now calls both parents Daddy ("da-eeee!"). He'll throw his arms up to me to be picked up and call "Da-eeee!" and I'll prompt "Mama!": we go back and forth with him insisting on calling me Daddy.

Joseph climbing desks

And this last week I've been finding him perched atop these darling school desks given to us by friends who no longer need them. He can climb up but not back down, so then he calls for help.

Sisters ready to sneak into the attic

This Mother's Day morning, upon emerging from laying down Joseph for his nap, I chanced upon three children whispering and solemnly plotting something. You know something is afoot when they're all cooperating instead of fighting. Turns out, I thwarted their plans to crawl through the side attics in our home, which run along the eaves on each side of the house for about forty feet. Like the mother in "Stuart Little" who is afraid of losing Stuart in a mouse hole, I've always had a fear of my children entering the side attics and getting stuck in the dark tunnel, where they will then be panicked and terrified and probably be scarred for life. Therefore, I've tried to strike a little fear into my children about just how hot, dark, and spider-filled those side attics are!

Well, the children had dressed up in costumes . . . a blanket and hats to protect them from spiders and webs, and spelunking headlamps to guide them in the dark. When I found them, the children were scurrying about to find slippers to protect their feet from splinters before entering the darkness.

I thought, yes, what a perfect scheme for Mother's Day . . .

During Mass, I got to hold my newborn goddaughter almost the whole time while watching a group of young girls and boys receiving their First Holy Communion. Afterward, I had the privilege of standing in as proxy in the baptism of a darling bruiser of a five-month-old baby at our parish. Then we went on to a great family party with approximately a zillion children . . . an enjoyable time was had by all!