Mother's Day

I know, I know, Mother's Day was more than two weeks ago but part of being a mom is putting off things that you want to do in favor of necessary tasks and then forgetting about those things you want to do until it's too late. So I'm writing about it now.
Anyhoo- I wanted to express my gratitude for my amazing mother and mother-in-law who, between them, raised 11 children with epic amounts of patience and love. They are also fabulous grandmothers for my four little guys. They kindly suffer through innumerable unintelligible toddler phone calls and always sacrifice a little time and sanity to come and help when a new baby boy Ricks arrives. Thanks moms.
I am also profoundly grateful for the privilege of being a mother even if it means a lot of chaos and occasional unpleasantness. My little boys and husband did a wonderful job of making me feel like the luckiest woman in the world on Mother's Day. They all surprised me with breakfast in bed. The boys made some juice and toast and Marc made scrambled eggs. Each of the boys gave me a homemade card with original text dictated to Marc.
Gabriel's said "Happy Mother's Day. I love you. Don't cry. Thank you for the family." and Elijah's read, "I like Mommy. I love Mommy! Dear, dear Mommy, thank you for making my heart."
I also got a "mushy" card from Marc, a book that I mentioned in passing that I wanted (And he remembered! I was super impressed.) and a tour of Cleveland's eateries in the form of gift certificates for six very diverse restaurants.
Needless to say, I found it difficult to follow Gabe's advice not to cry. I just felt so very very blessed. I always remember those four years of tortuous Mother's Days when I desperately wanted children but wasn't sure if we'd ever be able to have any. It seems incredible, almost unbelievable, that since then we've had four children in four years. Thank you, my wonderful blue-eyed babies for giving me the title I prize above all- Mother.


P.S. Don't mind David John's nose. He's in that phase where he thinks he can run faster and jump farther than he's able and falls down a lot. It was sad to see his little button nose all scratched up. It was on the mend, but he fell again today. Ahh boys.

Weather You Like It or Not

It is May. Is anyone else aware of this? Cleveland seems to be unaware, or at least whatever weather deity is in charge of Cleveland anyway.
A couple of months ago, I heard someone on the radio say that Cleveland has four seasons: Almost Winter, Winter, Still Winter and Road Construction. I thought that was pretty funny, and accurate. All of April was Still Winter, or Monsoon Season (take your pick), but I thought with May we might finally have reached Road Construction. Last week was beautiful. We still had rain but it was warmer and we had some sunny days too. I walked to the library with the boys, we played at a park and had an outdoor picnic during the course of the week. On Thursday, we even had to turn the air conditioner on for a little while to take the edge off the heat but by Sunday, we had to turn the heater back on.
Yep, you read that right. We had to run our furnace... in MAY! If I wanted to run my heater in May, I would move to northern Alaska where there are no state taxes (in fact, I think the government pays you to live there), amazing natural phenomena and wildlife beyond just red squirrels.
I would blame weather.com for our lack of Spring weather, but then I figured that if they actually had any control over the weather their predictions would be right more often. However, I did consider writing them a letter in hopes they might know someone who knows whatever entity does make the weather. I figure their information has to come from somewhere. I imagine they have informants who hang out with the big wigs of the weather world. "Well, Thor was in a real funk at the party last night. You might want to predict a thunder storm for tomorrow."
So who is in charge of Spring weather? In searching for someone to receive my wrath, my mind lit upon Persephone of Greek mythology. I remembered her from my high school education as the goddess of Spring. For those of you don't know or can't remember her story, here's a recap. Persephone is the daughter of Demeter, the goddess of the harvest. Persephone was abducted by Hades, god of the underworld. Demeter found out about Hades running off with her kid and somehow Zeus was involved in the whole scheme. Demeter was ticked off so she wouldn't allow anything to grow until Persephone was returned to her. Persephone came back, but because she ate some pomegranate seeds while she was hanging out in the underworld she had to live there for part of every year. (Wow. Why do we teach such weird things to high school students? Does pomegranate still have the power to bind someone to a specific location? I'm thinking we could use this to solve parole issues for starters and possibly solve some major land disputes in Asia and Africa.)
Anyway, the point is that when Persephone returns from her annual sojourn with Hades, Demeter allows it to be Spring. Here's my thought: Maybe Persephone isn't sticking around. Come on, Persephone! Is Cleveland so bad that you would rather go back to H-E-double-hockey-sticks? I mean, I know that we've had our unfair share of serial killers and the Browns have never been to the super-bowl and sometimes the lake is too gross to swim in, but really? Is it worse than schmoozing with the souls of the damned? If you will just hang out in Cleveland for while so winter can really be over, I'll bake you some cookies. Really good ones. No pomegranate seeds.
I hope she changes her mind in the near future so we can finally have our Road Construction season. Goodness knows, the streets need it. And Persephone? If you aren't going to come back could you at least lend us a little fire and brimstone to heat our houses? My feet are cold.

Lately...

...the boys have found a multitude of uses for their Easter buckets. They have become roller skates, robot arms, toy sorters, tower bases and, of course, fashionable headgear. Here is our bucket brigade complete with broom for playing broomball.
... David John has advanced to the level of Yoga Master. Here he is demonstrating a perfect downward dog. Yes, that is his head on the floor while his feet are perfectly flat.
... we've had a lot of visitors. My family and then Marc's mom came to help when Benjamin was born and then everyone drove out again for Benjamin's blessing including Marc's dad. We were also thrilled to have Marc's brother Jonathan (aka Uncle Jonx) and his wife Tine fly in from Houston. We had a great time with them on Saturday going to one of our favorite ice cream places in Cleveland- East Coast Custard. We also went to the historical sites in Kirtland. The tour was great except that in the revelation room of the Newel K. Whitney store where Joseph Smith received many sections of the Doctrine and Covenants, Elijah let one rip. It was so loud that it stopped the poor sister missionary in the middle of her spiel. All of my boys started giggling and so did the sisters. It took a while to get the tour back on track. We were all sitting on wooden benches when this happened and so Marc has started saying "That's a bench rattler." when one of the boys has terribly loud gas. Wow. Did I mention how awesome it is to be the only girl in this family?
... we blessed little Benjamin on May 1st. Several friends came over to our house after church to help celebrate. Benjamin looked adorable in the little white blessing outfit.
... the boys have really enjoyed rough housing. They love it when Daddy or Grandpa or Uncle Sam play with them and throw them around a little. Here they are making a dog pile on Uncle Sam.
... it has been raining a lot. I mean a lot. Like, everyday, for a month. So I thought it was cute and not entirely surprising to find Gabriel and Elijah playing Noah's ark on the couch. "It's raining! Quick, build the ark! Get all the animals on!" They "build the ark" by arranging cushions, pillows and blankets on the couch then get all of their stuffed animals to safety.

Adversity

This tulip surprised me. It was flooded, trampled by size 9 toddler shoes, repeatedly hit with sticks and poked at- but it still bloomed. I know it's kind of cheesy but it reminded me of a quote from the movie Mulan. "The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all." I guess if this tulip can make it in a garden overrun by little boys, so can I.