Mother's Day 2013

When Craig and I were at the hospital during Connor's birth, Cara and her grandmother planted petunias along side our garage.  When we came home, our path up to the house was lined with flowers.  For months, the petunias thrived, continuing to bloom until the snow stamped them out (and even then, they hung on until the snow was serious about sticking around).  Seeing the flowers each time we arrived home was such a sweet reminder of that day, that I wanted to continue that in the following years.  Mother's Day seemed to be the perfect opportunity to do so.

I should note that I am NOT one of those people that find the act of planting particularly relaxing.  I garden for the same reason I vacuum: It's a chore that needs to be done. The first Mother's Day we did this, Cara and I spent hours in the yard, cleaning out the flower bed and then planting our carefully-selected petunias.  Each time I passed the flowers, I was reminded of that wonderful, sunny day spent with my daughter.

The years following, however, I could never really get the kids to participate in this activity.  Either one kid was interested when the other one wasn't or I'd find myself yelling "come back here" and "aren't you going to help" over and over again, thereby taking all the fun out of our annual planting.  Finally, I had resigned myself to the fact that, if we were at least in the yard together, that was going to count as a day well-spent.    

Since I wasn't pressuring the kids to help, I was routinely asked to watch them or find something for them or referee one of their arguments. After quite a few hours of outdoor time, I told the kids I was going to go inside for a shower. I was dirty from the other yard work I had busied myself with and just plain tired from the "watch me's" and reffing duties. I guess I really was not destined to get the petunias planted this Mother's Day.  

After I was cleaned up and refreshed from my shower, I went out to check on the kids.  Little did I know, my Mother's Day elves had something in store for me. 

Chalk from the heart.

"You like how I remembered the apostrophe, Mom?" - Cara

Petunias planted by two amazing kids.

These flowers will be yet another reminder at how lucky I am to have such wonderful children and what a blessing it is to be able to call them mine.