Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all those Moms out there, and all those who function as mom-figures.

A special Thank you to my mom who has gone above and beyond this past year, helping me and my family out as we dealt with this dumb cancer.

Thank you to all of those neighbors, friends and relatives who walked/ran in the Race for the Cure in my honor...both here in Minnesota and across the country in Philadelphia. Just this past week I've learned of 2 friends' moms who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. It's scary how rampant it is...and how important a cure is.

My husband was out of town, with his grandfather who had a stroke when we were on vacation, so it was just the kids and I today. They couldn't wait to give me their "presents." Sara helped Max wrap up some presents that he made, included a card where he wrote I Love Mommy, and a shield that he made me (to wear on my arm). Cameron wrote me a list of 5 things he liked about me and made me a very colorful tile to be used as a hotplate. It was really nice.

The funniest part was as I was about to open their gifts. Cameron ran over to the wine rack, pulled out two bottles of wine, and placed them next to their presents. "These are for you, too," he said.

What can I say? The child knows what I like!

The unwrapping

Christmas morning is always fun when you have a household of kids. They each approached their wrapped mountain in a different way.

Cameron tried to begin his day at 12:30 AM. Melvin and I were still both up doing the usual last minute gift wrapping and toy assembly. All the lights were on, so Cameron assumed it was morning. He came bounding down the stairs, “Merry Christmas guys!” We quickly sent him back up. At about 6:30 AM he came to our room and woke us up for the day. Cameron took awhile to open his presents because he wanted to see what his brother and sister were getting as well, and with each present that he opened, he would express such excitement and tell us how much he wanted it.

Ella didn’t run right to her pile, but when given a gift, she joyfully ripped open the paper. Then she would immediately hand me the opened gift and whine, “Open it! Open it!” because she wanted to play with whatever was inside immediately.

Max was very interested in the opening of the presents, but not the presents themselves. In about five minutes he was done with his heap of gifts and then kept saying, “I want more presents! I want more presents!”

The rest of the day involved playing video games on Cameron’s part and playing with all of Ella’s toys on Max and Ella’s part. Max’s pile remained fairly untouched. I’m working on putting the SmartCycle together.,…but I’m not sure if I’m smart enough (ha ha).

You've Got Mail

I’ve had some really great care packages lately.

My friend Lauren from Utah, who actually wins races, sent me a hot pink running skirt that I’ve been wanting forever. She wants me to wear it to chemo…but my legs are not that pretty, and I think she forgot about Minnesota temps in the fall. It’s definitely going to be my inspiration to get on my treadmill this week.

My friend Lanette from Pennsylvania, sent me the Cari's Crusaders t-shirts for my family, a great pink tee that says "Conquer" across the front and an Encouragement and Praise CD that she made beginning with the absolutely appropriate song India Arie song "I am Not My Hair."

My Aunt Patricia, who is battling cancer herself, sent me a breakfast in bed tray, complete with all the fixings. Yesterday Cameron made me get back into bed after being up for a while so that he and my mom could serve me the yummy pancakes and syrup.

My Aunt Sally sent me dozens of soft Philly pretzels. Now if you’re not from the East Coast, you don’t know what you’re missing. These are certainly not for the Atkins Diet consumer, but they’re the perfect post-chemo food. And Ella can munch on them without choking.

Finally, my Aunt Nancy sent a Halloween package for the kids. This box contained snacks, coloring books, puzzles and one lovely fairy costume for Ella. For Ella I say. But guess who has claimed the costume as his own!

Mother's Day Gifts

From Cameron: He made me a book at school illustrating the lyrics to Louis Armstrong's "What A Wonderful World." But he didn’t just hand me the book; he actually sang each page to me. And then I got to listen to a tape of his whole class singing the song. It was very sweet. Here is one page of a picture of him and me.

From Ella: Well, she didn’t scream, and yank my hair, and pull out her own pigtails and flail herself all around as much as she usually does lately when she doesn’t get her way.

From Melvin: He was on call Saturday and Sunday. Saturday night he had zero hours of sleep since he was busy making “mothers” all night. But he insisted on cooking breakfast, which was really sweet considering how tired he was. And the smoke alarm only went off 4 times.

From Max: In between his yells, screams and complete moodiness, he has been fixated on picking me flowers from the yard. He often brings me in a handful of dandelions, or some other weed popping up in the grass. So it wasn’t any surprise that on Mother’s Day, he offered me the same gift. “Here’s some flowers for you Mommy!” Except instead of a fistful of weeds, he joyfully gave me a handful of the only real flowers that had bloomed in my garden out back.
Unfortunately Melvin was at the hospital most of the weekend (doing eight deliveries!). But I did get to spend some time with my mom before bringing her to the airport. And the kids played nicely out back with some neighbors, drenching each other with water guns. We still had food from the party on Friday, so I didn’t have to actually cook anything. And I was able to end my night with a glass of wine (okay a couple glasses) and some Desperate Housewives. All in all, a pretty good day.