Mother's day and other stuff

       Our bathtub drain cover thing has been loose, and was finally getting clogged to the point that I took the time to try to clean it out and re-tighten the cover again.   When I say "took the time", I mean that Baby Sis was ready to take a bath and I looked at the loose cover and thought, "I am going to tighten that real quick."

Of course, it wasn't 'real quick' because there was a bunch of hair and soap residue surrounding the screw so that it wouldn't turn.   Thus, Baby Sis stood there waiting while I tried to get the screw out and then tried to figure out how to get the hair and scum off without gagging.   It was pretty gross--to me--and I looked at Baby Sis and said, "I do NOT get paid enough for this!"

She tilted her head down and looked up at me with her big eyes and said, "All-right." 

There are many times I feel so unappreciated for what I do.  But little things, like my sweet baby girl looking up at me and agreeing with what I say (which is nice--even though she is only 3), help me realize that there is a bigger picture here.  A picture where I am just so grateful to be able to love and nurture these sweet children.  Grateful to provide an (mostly) unclogged bathtub for them....because I remember that being a mother is a privilege. 

In church today, one speaker pointed out that if you take the 'M' out of the word 'mother', you are left with a word that says what Mother's are all about: Others.

 So, yes, to be honest, I like the idea of being appreciated for what I do as a mother.  But if I let myself get too focused on wanting to be appreciated, I then tend to lose focus on appreciating (I know this from years of experience Ha ha!).    
  
Anyhow, Middle Sis. gave a card to me today.  Yep...biggest card anyone has ever made me.  It also has lots of little flaps, pull-outs, and fold-outs.  She even made a little book and a pocket for it.   Creative...and funny girl!

My other kiddos gave me some candy (which we shared,of course).  Big Sis bought me dinner at Jimmie Johns earlier this week and also a cute shirt from Maurices....and The Husband took me shoe shopping (which is never a bad idea).

In other news:  We had some crazy May snow at the beginning of the month and Middle Sis. made these mini snowmen on the front porch.  Haha!  Okay, I just thought it was too cute.  Notice the message she spelled out with the sticks? 

 

The other day we got notice that our water would be off for the afternoon while some guys worked on some sewer issues.  I knew that it would be a good idea to not be home during that time.  We hung out at the library for a bit then went over to a park not far from our house.  

Fortunately for us, our neighbors happened to be out of school that day as well.  Since they were in the same "no water" predicament as us, they were able to join us as well.  We had the park to ourselves and the weather was super nice. 

I'm just saying.... it was so nice to be at a park where I could watch my little ones on the playground and still keep an eye on my older ones playing around the pond or on the tennis courts.  I had to snap a pic of my older boys on the bouncy-teeter-totter-thing....

We'll definitely have to do this again before school is out!  

My other news is that pretty soon I'll get to change my Pre-nursing student status to Nursing student status!   These past couple of months I have had to get some final things done before registering for classes.  I had to take a Healthcare Provider CPR class as well as re-certify as a Nurse Aid (CNA).   I was totally stressed out for like 6 weeks in studying for that CNA test! 

There was a written test as well as a clinical test.  The clinical test was the one I was super nervous about.  I had a packet of 60+ skills and was tested on 6 of them.  One of the skills was handwashing, but I had no idea going in what the other 5 would be.  The other stressor was that I only had one chance to pass this test if I wanted to be able to register for nursing classes.  I am so excited and relieved that I passed the test!  Phew!