Mother’s Day: Something to Smile About

May 13, 2013 By

Mother’s Day can be joyful but also full of hurt and despair. I am surrounded by women who are tremendous mothers and examples to me. I also know several who have yet to become mothers–some struggle with infertility, others chose not to have kids, a handful have lost their mothers or have a bad relationship with them and many more want to settle down but haven’t found Mr. Right.

My own mom never liked Mother’s Day so I’ve always treaded softly around the subject. This morning, I posted a picture on Facebook of Bode reading a book he wrote to me with this message:

Happy Mother’s Day to all the wonderful women who mother, even if they are not moms.

I had been up most of the night with an unrelenting cough, causing Jamie and Fat Kitty to leave me alone in my misery so they could get some sleep (and I didn’t blame them a bit). Early the next morning, I saw three faces peek through my bedroom door and when they realized I was awake, burst in with my favorite breakfast: fresh mangoes, raspberries and strawberries with yogurt.

They showered me with homemade gifts–Bode a beautiful picture, Hadley a fun notebook she had made at church and Jamie spoiled me with a new juicer (send me your favorite recipes), two four-hour deep house cleaning Groupon cards (HALLELUJAH!) and he reluctantly wore his Canadian maple leaf tie in my honor.Our ward’s tradition at church on Mother’s Day is to have pie at the end of our meetings. One year, some silly man got it into his head the women didn’t like the pie so changed it up. I won’t go into the  ugly details of the Mom Revolution (think: World Ward III) but I was very happy to see pie back on the agenda the following year.

And this welcome addition: Jamie prepared a smoked beef tenderloin, thyme-rosemary fingerling potatoes, garlic mushrooms and poppy-seed coleslaw.

My vote is he’s on dinner duty from now on.

Our little family likes to keep Mother’s Day low-key. A couple of years ago, we went for a walk around gorgeous Evergreen Lake where we love to skate in the wintertime. It was so memorable I declared it our new tradition because there are just so many things to smile about like this: Not to mention this.

And this.But don’t tell that to Hadley. She thinks I have a camera constantly in her face and she would be correct. Sorry, dearie but such is fate of the iPhone generation of parents who always have their camera phone with them. Doesn’t she just looked thrilled to be in this picture?

May2013

Jamie wasn’t much better. The first shot I took, he was mimicking Hadley by scowling at the camera.
I obviously made him retake the picture.

For this one, I told Hadley we weren’t moving until she would smile. Stubborn Miss took a while (so long poor Bode declared he was going to start crying because he had been smiling forever).

It’s my Mother’s Day and I’ll MAKE YOU SMILE IF I WANT TO.

But don’t be mislead. She was smiling 99.9 percent  of the time as we took that beautiful stroll around the lake. I even caught this candid shot of her (gasp) smiling.

Just don’t let her know I’m onto her.

Happy Mother’s Day!!!

Filed Under: Bode, Family, Hadley, Jamie

How NOT to honor the mother of your children on Mother’s Day

May 12, 2013 By

The Husband: “What tie should I wear?”

Me: “The maple leaf one to honor your Canadian wife on Mother’s Day.”

Him: “It’s broken.”

Filed Under: Canada, Humor, Jamie

Happy Mother’s Day!

May 10, 2013 By

We’re in the home stretch before school lets out and I’ve been racing through writing deadlines, purging the house and holding a garage sale, field day, chaperoning Bode’s field trip to the aquarium, piano, Hadley’s 3-day camping excursion to a farm, wrapping up soccer and tennis, a long weekend in Colorado Springs, a father-son campout, a kick-off to summer potluck with a few friends and oh, did I mention I’m sick? Check on me after May 31 and you’ll be able to put a fork in me. Though at that point, I may opt for a knife.

With grandkids in the Outer Banks

Of course, Sunday is Mother’s Day and I’m so grateful for my mom. Around Christmas, we almost lost her and I can’t tell you how grateful I am that she pulled through. Growing up, she was always the life of the party, uber-talented domestically (cooking, crafts, sewing, you name it) and so cool my friends would come to hang out with her. She started selling her crafts on consignment in the area and was encouraged to showcase her talents by opening a successful tea room and gift shop. She was the reason people came for miles…she knew how to make people laugh and feel special. She has always had an admirable sense of fashion and was an amazing cook (hence the reason she opened a restaurant).

One of my favorite memories is when I was 16, she and her business partner took  her daughter and me to San Francisco. While they were at a gift show, my friend and I explored the city, after which the four of us rented a car and fell in love with the gorgeous coasts of Carmel and Monterey. On my recent visit to Calgary, I interviewed her about her colorful personal history of growing up on the farm in Southern Alberta..from cutting off chicken’s heads to funny stories about my grandparents who raised her. Truly, I come from such a wonderful legacy.

Her 25-year-long battle with her horrid disease has been a roller-coaster as it has ravaged her poor body and mind. A recent blessing she received gave some perspective on it–that the Lord views what she has gone through and continues to go through as a sacrifice. And she has had to give up so much of her former life that I know it kills such an independent spitfire like her. But through it all, she is so kind to her grandkids and does what she can with and for them and is so generous to my brothers and me.

I love you, Mom. Happy Mother’s Day!!!

XOXO

 

Filed Under: Family Tagged With:

On Raising Miss Independence

May 7, 2013 By

When did these kids of mine start growing up?

I admittedly couldn’t wait to get through the baby stage (a colicky, sleepless newborn will do that do you) but now that they are fun and thriving, I want to put the brakes on this whole growing up thing. Everywhere he goes, Bode sings and always has a smile on his face while Hadley’s growing self-confidence in her school work is making her happy and agreeable.

They are ready to start flexing their wings and I’m straining to give them more independence but it’s tough, even for a non-helicopter parent like me.

When we were in the mountains at YMCA of the Rockies last winter, we drove past their summer camp facility, Camp Chief Ouray. I described it to the kids–five days of new friendships, horseback riding, swimming, hiking, rope courses, field games, firesides, skits and more. They thought it sounded like the coolest thing ever and judging from the camp’s active alumni community and the fact it’s almost sold out, it is.

A couple of years ago, Hadley took her first solo flight to see Grandma in Utah and we’ve been promising Bode the chance to do the same thing. So, when we found out he needed to be 7 to go to camp (he’s a month shy), we decided to book him a flight.

Neither of my kids have ever been the hang-on-my-leg-begging-me-not-to-go types. Bode was more clingy when he was younger but now, they’re up for pretty much any adventure, anytime. And I’m so relieved they’re courageous and thriving.  (If you’re a helicopter-type, read this article about why playing and “helping” them actually hinders their creativity and development).

But sometimes I think I’ve done too good of a job of raising them to be independent.

I recently registered Hadley for Camp Chief Ouray and paid $175 for the additional horse camp option. She’s obsessed with learning to ride, lessons are expensive and the more affordable programs like Westernaires require parent volunteers to do menial tasks like mucking out stalls.

HELL, NO. (Can you tell I’m not a fan of horses?)

She was literally bouncing off the wall when I told her she was confirmed for horse camp and fired questions at me a million miles a minute. I was jealous and happy for her–I was a big fan of the Parent Trap and always wanted to go to camp as a kid. And then I got worried. Would she be OK? Would she miss us at all?

“Hadley, you’re not going to be homesick, are you?”

“Don’t worry about it, Mom. I’ll forget about you.”

She’ll never be mistaken for the sentimental type.

 

 

 

Filed Under: Bode, Hadley, Humor

Hanging with the big guns at 9News

May 6, 2013 By

The first Monday of the month is always a big one because that’s when my column comes out in The Denver Post and I usually do a segment on 9News to promote it. Here are the articles:

Hadley’s birth story (you may have seen it before).

Mother’s day gift ideas

Setting up Mother’s Day picks

But that was not the big news: some buff firefighters arrived to promote the latest Colorado Firefighter’s Calendar. I was dying to get a picture with them but they were taking forever in the studio and I would’ve had to fight off all the female employees who kept finding reasons to sneak onto the set.

And really, who can blame them.  It was one rough day on the job.

Filed Under: 9News, Humor

First Grade Academia Marvels

May 2, 2013 By

I’ve decided I want to raise a geek. Seriously. Other parents can have their popularity and cheerleading contests because I don’t want my kid to get caught up in that rat race. The nicest teenagers I know are the geeks–they’re smart, respectful, have a great group of supportive friends and go on to have successful careers.

Bode is turning into a little geek and I couldn’t be more proud. He loves learning. I bought him an interactive Intelliglobe for Christmas and that boy is constantly drilling me on my continents, populations and ecology with his globe’s 18 touch and explore features, trivia and multiple choice challenges. He’s also borderline obsessed with getting to the very end of Raz Kids with its interactive ebooks, downloadable books, and reading quizzes. And math. Don’t even get me started with math. Everything begins and ends with numbers.

I don’t remember a lot about first grade. I was still pretty cute (that quickly changed a couple years later) and I was madly in love with Phillip Cutler who later moved to Texas (oh, the heartbreak). And that I got a lot of nosebleeds. Beyond that, first grade was pretty much a wash.

Last week, Bode had his parent-teacher conference and he led us around his classroom showing us his various projects, playing a math game and reading. It’s amazing to see how much his writing has improved since the beginning of the year–from one-sentence paragraphs to multi-page essays. He’s thriving in all areas and only missed one answer on the state-wide standardized BEAR test.

Jamie, of course, had to give him a hard time about that.

For reading, he’s currently testing out at the same level as a second grader at the end of the year.

Jamie joked he could take next year off. That husband of mine thought he was the parent-teacher stand-up comedian. Bode’s teacher wasn’t that amused.

We were blown away by it all but the kicker was at the end. Bode has been working on a research project on an animal of his choice: sloths. He sat us down to show us the PowerPoint presentation he had prepared on the subject.

Things have changed a wee bit since I was in first grade.

Filed Under: Bode, Humor
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