best mother's day

All week, Ella has been ducking into her room to work on her "project." We'd finish school in the early afternoon, and then she would disappear each day for at least two to three hours at a time. She kept things top secret, though I could tell she was very, very excited about what she was working on and that it was hard not to unveil it prematurely.

Then, on Saturday, the day before Mother's Day, I literally did not see her ALL DAY LONG except during snack times and meal times. She worked in her room on "the project" tirelessly. At dinner time, the kids went to their grandparents while Bryan and I headed out for a birthday dinner for a close friend. When we returned to get the kids, the first thing Ella voiced was her plans to finalize her work when we got home.

With Bryan's blessing, she stayed up late to put the finishing touches on things and then she banished me to my room so that she could prepare for the following morning. She was giddy when she finally came up to brush her teeth around 10 pm and she could hardly settle down for bed. Honestly, I've never seen her get this excited even for Christmas morning. She could not wait for me to wake up so she could show me all her surprises!

This morning, I opened my eyes to see her next to me, wide eyed, waiting for me to get out of bed. She's crazy! She roused Simon once I began to stir so that he didn't miss out on all the fun. To start, there was a Happy Mother's Day sign over the bathroom door. Then downstairs we ventured to see more of the same signage in every room. Balloons were hung in the doorways and a large banner hung in the kitchen:

She had everyone in the family sign it, including Josie.

Once she had me settle into the couch, she piled up the wrapped gifts. She had worked so hard I couldn't wait to see what she was up to!!

This is a sampling of a few of the gifts. At the top left, you'll see a short story she wrote and illustrated about a young prince and princess who grow up sitting next to each other in school who end up falling in love and getting married when they are 20. Next to that is a pop up card which lists all the years of her life that I have been loving her along with the rest of the years that I will be watching over her. Then we have a duck tape frame with the inscription "Mom's are Great!" and a duck tape hair bow. The fancy project is a pair of blue sandals she made for me out of cardboard and painter's tape. They actually fit! (I wondered why two of my pairs of shoes were missing this week :)

My top three favorite handmade gifts from Ella were these:

Bouquet of painter's tape roses in a duck tape roll vase

Duck tape sculpture of downtown St. Louis!

Duck tape ring with gorgeous jewels

I don't know exactly what I did to deserve such adoration, but I can't tell you how full my heart was all day today. There are so many days that I wish I could express my love in a more complete and full way to our kids, to always be a source of acceptance, security and unconditional love but somehow I feel I fall short in expressing the depth of these feelings in the day to day living of life. But seeing how much Ella wanted to serve me, make me laugh and treat me special...it made me feel secure that it's really getting through. All three kids are so incredible, so special in their own way. I am blown away that I get to be their mom.

Today I truly felt like Mother of the Year. Thank you God for entrusting me with these amazing people! Bryan, Ella, Simon and Josie...I love you, I love you, I love you!

Photobooth fun today!