Wordless Wednesday

This Rainbow was over our house a couple of weeks ago,

was just too beautiful not to share!

(I wonder if there was a pot of gold? I probably

shoulda went and checked that out!)

Mother's Day= My Yearly Evaluation

How in the heck is it already MAY???

Well it being May and all, it means here comes Mother's Day.

Mother's Day kinda is a mixed up ball of emotions for me.

First it's kinda hard because I don't have the greatest relationship with my own mother. In the last 5 years or so I have developed a rather strong backbone and have finally be able to express things that have bothered me for YEARS about my mother, her life, and many of the things that happened in our home when I was little. This has left our relationship, well....... I really don't know how to describe our relationship but lately I have decided to let go of a lot of things because the only person all my anger was hurting was myself. So I did that for me.

Mother's day also makes me really miss my Grandma, she was my best friend. Especially the last 6 years of her life. It was like once I became a mother, we understood each other. It's like before that she was just my cranky and stern Grandma who was always giving me unwanted advice. Only once I became a mom, her advice made SO much sense. Now I get what she had been telling me my whole life. I'm sure she's somewhere up in heaven laughing right now that I just said that! I used to talk to her two times a day and can still hear her laugh when I would tell her all the crazy stuff my kids were up to. She'd tell me they were just like me when i was little, always up to something. God I miss her......

I have two very strong and very different emotions when I think about these two women in my life. I think that's what has lead me to think about how my kids might think about me. Now every year, I always try to take a quiet moment, when/if I find one, and I reflect on the past year and on the job I have done as a Mother. I know that no Mom is perfect, but this is just my way of looking back and seeing where I went right, and where I can stand to make some little/or big adjustments.

Well, here's how this year went:

First I think I've done pretty good in that I have three really happy kids!

~They are well behaved (well at least in public which to me is most important, nothing looks worse than when some one's kids are just plain out naughty in public)

~They have wonderful manners. (I love it when people tell me that!)

~They are doing great in school, and Midget did great at her Kindergarten eval FTW!

( Mama home schooled all three for pre-school, I was just to greedy to send them off to pre-school)

~My kids love me and know that they are loved with all that I am. (this one I think is most important)

~My kids laugh about a million times a day (I guess I am kinda funny!)

~I love my husband with all that I am and show that in the respect, love I give him and how I take good care of him. By having such an awesome relationship with my husband, I/we are teaching them what true love is and how a marriage should be. How they should treat their husband/wife and how they should be treated by them as well.

~My kids get tons of encouragement, I think this is one of the reasons they have such good self-esteem. (I'm still working on mine)

~ My kids respect me, I guess that means that I have done what it takes to earn their respect and love.

Things I need to improve:

~Patience, I guess I could use a bit more of that

~Yelling, well I guess that goes along with patience but I could stand to yell a little less, I never wanted to be the mom that yells.

~Energy, I need to start taking better care of my health so that I will have more energy for them, but man they ware me out some days!

~Stop worrying so much, I think my brain is going to explode some days, I'm constantly worried everyday about EVERYTHING. This might be why I have no patience or energy.

~ Stop worrying about the things we don't have, and concentrate on being thankful for the things we do.

Well hey!!! My good list is longer than my need to improve list!

I'd say for last year I'd give myself a strong B+.

My Hubby ordered me the Lisa Leonard Necklace I've had my eye on like forever. http://www.lisaleonardonline.com/custom-necklaces/teenie-tiny-initials-necklace.html He's not very good at taking hints, so I sent him an e-mail that included the link, chain size, ordering instructions, and my discount code. (I think he got the hint lol) It still took me sitting down and doing the ordering for him, couldn't leave anything to chance like him putting the wrong initial on one of the charms LOL.

Now that I have done my annual Mommy Eval on myself, I think I am going to accept that beautiful necklace, and actually feel like I deserve it! For those of you that know me, you know how hard it is for me to say that.

On Mother's Day, I'm going to enjoy some great food with my kids, my hubby (after he works for 6 hours at the station in the morning Grrrrr it's the life of a firewife right? ) and my mom and step-dad.

I'll be thinking about my grandma and my Little Grannie too. I'll be wishing that they could be there to enjoy the day with us, although they are always their in spirit.

I'm going to enjoy spending with those those great kids of mine, and we'll laugh a million times, and I'll accept a million hugs Sunday. They always seems to hug me a little more on Mother's Day, which I don't mind and just absolutely love!

And my heart will smile, each and every time I hear, "Happy Mother's Day Mom....I love you!"