I had a moment this morning.  One of those moments where everything is just right and good, even though nothing extraordinary is happening.  Maddi was helping me make waffles and Graysen was happily smashing banana in his highchair, and all was quiet and content.

Sometimes I wonder how my life would be different if I had an important high-profile job, or got to travel with my husband to fancy places, or could go get a masters degree, or get involved full time in a cause like this.
 
But then I have these moments and I always decide, I like this better.  At least for now.

funny stuff, by maddi.

Madison: Mom, I have energies.
Me: Do you want to go play outside?
Madison: No. My energies make me tired and sneezy.
Me: Oh, you mean allergies.
Madison: Yup, ellergies.

Madison (in a panic): What's going on?!?! There's something all over my arm!!
Me: That's your arm hair, Maddi.

(when told she wasn't allowed to eat a donut in the car): But I want to hold it.  I need it. Because I love it.

(patting a canister of nesquik): This chocolate milk is bloo-tiful.

Me (cleaning up after dinner): Maddi, take care of your dishes, please.
Madison (cradling and shushing her plate): Aww, it's ok. I got you. Shhh.

Some vocabulary:
"freehead" (n)- area of the face between the eyebrows and hairline.
"barm" (n)- A large farm building used for storing grain, hay, or straw, or for housing livestock.
"funder" (n)- A loud rumbling or crashing noise heard after lightning
"glubs" (n)- A covering for the hand worn for protection against cold or dirt
"beltseat" (n)- safety restraint in a car, shopping cart, or airplane

twenty six.

I really really really really really love birthdays.  Thank you, dear family and friends, for making it such a happy day!

 (Birthday breakfast in bed. Micah even powdered-sugared the crepes to make them pretty. I was so proud!)

(birthday mail. I love mail almost as much as I love birthdays.) 

(birthday shoes.) 

(thanks for the necklace, mom!)

bedhead

 Sometimes the best part of waking up is these sweet hairdos.

on being a mom.

I took a bubble bath in the middle of the day today. With candles. Lucky me! And, I got lots of my favorite things.

My family really knows how to spoil me and make me feel like a princess on special days.  Micah fixed the meals, washed the dishes and changed the diapers, and I took a nap.  A nap!

At church today, Maddi got up with all the kids to sing to the mothers.  She stood in the very front and waved at me the whole time.  She's my favorite three year old in the world.

Maddi helped me make cookies and after dinner we took plates of them to some ladies from church to wish them a happy Mother's Day.  We rolled down all the car windows and Madison yelled out "Happy Mother's Day!" to anyone she could see on the street (dogs included).  I think we have a new tradition.

Besides being entirely spoiled all day long, what I loved about today was having some time to think about being a mom.  And feeling so lucky that my full-time job is puzzles and play-doh and dress-ups and grilled cheese sandwiches.  Yes, at times it's whining and tantrums and diapers and doctors appointments, but it's worth it. I'd take a whole lot worse than that to get the smiles and cuddles from Graysen and the "I love yous" from Maddi.  I can't imagine any other job making me as happy as this one.

   "One young mother wrote to me recently...'Through the thick and the thin of this, and through the occasional tears of it all, I know deep down inside I am doing God’s work. I know that in my motherhood I am in an eternal partnership with Him...' 
There is nothing more important in this world than participating so directly in the work and glory of God, 

in bringing to pass the mortality and earthly life of His daughters and sons."

-Jeffrey R. Holland

Easter

(The kiddos in their Sunday best.)

I made a conscious decision this year that I wanted Easter to be more about Jesus Christ and less about treats and baskets and bunnies.  That being said, we did do an egg hunt or two, and the kids got a small bucket of goodies each, but we tried not to make those things the focus.  

I loved watching Madison with her eggs. As soon as she found one, she'd pop it open, dump the candy in her basket and toss the egg away. If it's not chocolate, don't keep it!

Micah, who is the Choir Director at our church, led an arrangement of this beautiful song in our meetings today:

How grateful we are for our Savior Jesus Christ, and His divine sacrifice for us. 

Behold I have given unto you my gospel, and this is the gospel which I have given unto you—

that I came into the world to do the will of my Father, because my Father sent me.

 And my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross; and after that I had been lifted up upon the cross, 

that I might draw all men unto me, that as I have been lifted up by men even so should men be lifted up by the Father.

The Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 27:13-14