Lily's final concert, baseball ends and Mother's Day
Tuesday I just went in for an hour to cover a teacher who was helping with testing and then I spent the rest of the day finishing my Monday to-do list like laundry and ironing and making a grocery list and doing one of my cleaning projects before my sisters come. Wednesday was the gym and groceries and a piano lesson before picking Emma up from dance and going to Lily's band concert--her last one! She has had a great musical career starting on flute in 4th grade with Mr. Ramano, then switching to clarinet in 5th grade and then being in symphonic band with Mr. Johnson in middle school and then with Mr. Martin in high school, though there were a few bumps in the beginning of that journey. She has really come to love music and appreciate Mr. Martin and I think she has enjoyed being in band and will miss it. I held it together until they honored the seniors at the end and then Mr. Martin said to the audience, see you next year, and I was like, no you won't. :( We'll be back with Brandon but that's not for three more years. Anyway, it was a lovely evening. Curtis had gone to the Shallingtons to do some service so Josh picked him up and since none of us had eaten dinner yet, I suggested Salsa's for a celebratory dinner, which was super yummy and fun. It has been rare to eat dinner together and it was a really nice evening.
Thursday I took Lily to the dermatologist and then went to go sub for a few hours (decided subbing for Special Ed is just not my favorite--some kids are just so hard and I'm not getting paid enough for that nor am I trained for it) then since Brandon wasn't feeling great and didn't want to go to practice, I decided to go to Curtis's away game up in Waldorf. It was a play off game and I was hopeful they would win and I wanted to be there so I went. It was a little lonely but I'm so glad I was there; Curtis had a great game and it was so fun.
Friday Josh and I went for a walk and I went and picked 20 pounds of strawberries while he did school work and then I made some jam. Then I made dinner and we went and got Curtis from practice and headed to the ward camp out. It was my idea to get them going a few years ago (I put the bishopric in charge though) and yet it has never worked out for us to be able to go so I was glad we finally made it. We got there and chilled while others were setting up their tents and then we were part of the fireside program and we ate s'mores and some of Bishop Wiest's pumpkin crumble and chatted a bit before we drove home. Brandon had a great time and was ready to bunk up with Joel but we made him come home since he had a game the next day.
Saturday we first went to Curtis's playoff game against Chopticon and they actually played well against a very good team. They lost but not by a huge amount--definite improvement over the season. Curtis played well and it was a decent end to the season. Then I took Brandon to his game where he played amazing! Definitely his best game of the season and he was named defensive player of the game for his four flag pulls and blocked pass. It was a very fun and exciting game. I really have come to enjoy baseball but there is an energy and a bit of chaos about flag football that makes it fun too.
Then we came home and I finished making jam while the kids and Josh did yard work. It was what I had asked for for Mother's day--to clean out the garden and plant it and cut the grass. I finished the power washing in the back as best I could without a ladder and now our yard is looking pretty nice so I hope it can stay that way for two weeks until the party. Then Curtis went babysitting and the rest of us had strawberry milkshakes and popcorn and watched the Amazing Race (actually Josh did school work--one more week!).
All week I've just been praying for the strength to make it through the next day and to remember everything and to be able to work things out and make them happen and those prayers were definitely answered. I have a long list of things to do this week but I am trying to enjoy them and these sweet moments with our graduate.
Today is Mother's day and some years I've been grumpy about it but since I just started telling my family what I want, it has been great. Josh made pancakes and we were able to enjoy a nice breakfast together (my favorite) and church was nice and then Josh made BBQ chicken pizza for dinner and Lily and Brandon made cookies and it was nice to just sit around and not be in the kitchen for a day. I talked to my mom and Josh talked to his and I watched some videos of the kids when they were little and it was lovely.
I'm grateful to be a mom and worked really hard to become one. I really do love my kids and they are so good and talented and hard-working. Just this past week I was feeling a bit invisible; I support and help everyone else with their work and responsibilities and then I was feeling like everyone is too busy to ever help me and I just get kind of the leftover life. But then the Spirit taught me that Jesus gave his life for others. While on earth he taught and healed and blessed and rarely did anything for himself. Then he literally sacrificed his life for us all. So if my goal is to be like him, it is okay that my life is one of service and helping and being there for my family and loving them. I wouldn't choose any other life, though it would be nice if the kids did a bit more around the house but we'll work on that. Josh won't be in school forever or in the stake presidency forever either and I'm grateful he's my teammate in this parenting gig. Being a mother is a great honor and blessing and I am so grateful, especially knowing our relationships will continue on forever.
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