Happy Mothers Day!!

Even though I often will poke fun at my mother, I love her more than anything.  She raised me to be a doting mom to my own kids and taught me keep my eyes out for suspicious activity at all times.  Growing up in a family oriented area of Southern California, we often times would ride bikes up to the local strip mall by ourselves for an ice cream cone.  Life was good.  My Mom was at EVERY one of my sporting events...softball, basketball, volleyball.  She attended drama productions and campfire girls.  I never doubted how much she loved me (except for the time she chased me around with a wooden spoon that I am quite certain I deserved).  

One of the things that I loved about being her daughter was she LOVED everything I did.  Seriously...EVERYTHING.  My sister and I had the chore of making dinner one night a week for the family.  We would make such dinners as mac and cheese, chili bili's (tortilla chips, chili and cheese...an old ball park favorite), and spaghetti.  As we would sit down to dinner, my mom would act as if it was the best chili bili she had ever had.  It always made me so happy.  She let us try so many things and believed in a "do it yourself" type way of learning.  I wanted to make cookies with a friend one time and she let us go to town in the kitchen.  We ended up dumping all the flour in at once and when we turned on the mixer it all went flying...we were covered in white.  We all laughed so hard...including my mom.  She let me make my own Halloween costume of R2D2 and I was so proud of that costume.  It was actually quite pathetic but, she was so proud of me for doing it mostly by myself.  

Being a mom now, I realize how much she did for me as a child.  She stayed home with my sister and I and asked us everyday after school how our day was.  She took care of me when I was sick. She drove us around to our many activities. She was a room mom. She let us have sleep overs.  She made us cookies.  She taught us how to swim.  I could go on and on...but, the most important thing she taught me was how to be a great mom to my own kids.  For that, I thank her from the bottom of my heart.  I love you, Mom!!!!