Has it really been nine years?!

When I got out of the shower this morning, I could hear a little boy making shuffling noises outside the door.

"Is someone waiting for the bathroom?" I asked.

"I am!" piped up Noah.

"Okay, I'll just be a couple of minutes." I hurried through the process of drying off, wrapped my towel around myself and opened the door.

"SUPRISE!!" he shouted, holding up a drawing of a flower that he had coloured and cut out, with "Happy Mother's Day" scrawled across it.

"Thanks, buddy," I said, giving him a big hug. His ear-to-ear grin was a photo-worthy moment in itself.

That was the beginning to a day that kept getting better.

The other two boys had made Mother's Day crafts for me, too, which they sprung on me as soon as I came out to the kitchen. (Jude actually made me look around the room for his three items, one of which was a poem: "Hair like sparkeling Jewels, you say all the rules, We made these gifs for you. Like em, save em, and enjoy em. Love Jude." Tee hee!)

Jude had been up since 7:00, mixing up blueberry pancakes. He had told us last night that he would likely do so, and Jason said that was fine, just wait for him (Jason) to cook them.

So, after a huge pancake breakfast, we got into the van, dressed up and ready to go to church. Out on the road, I took a look at the clock.

"We're going to be half an hour late. We'll miss most of the service, and then there is the Mother's Day Brunch, so we'll just be eating again."

Jason thought for a moment.

"Do you just want to do church at home?"

"Yep." (I hate walking in late, and a half an hour just seems quite ridiculous.)

So, we turned around and were home about two minutes after we left. Sunshine (our Golden Retriever) greeted us like we had been gone for hours. :-)

Since we were all spiffed up, and it was a gorgeous morning, we took the opportunity to take some family photos before we went inside for our service.

During our service, Jason had each of the boys say a few things they like about their Mom (that was pretty neat for me). Then he talked about how when they start looking for a wife, one thing to consider is that she will be a good mother, and teach their children rightly. After that, they gave me their biggest surprise: a video presentation that they had all worked on together yesterday while I was out for the day, covering the last nine years in family photos in about forty minutes. It was so fun looking back on my sweet boys as they were growing up, and it was a really great gift.

I am so blessed to be a mom, and I am so thankful for the boys I get to mother.

Really, how could I resist?

I don't know how those boys got to be so silly! (Ahem.)