Mother's Day 2010

I haven't blogged for a few days, and seeing other bloggers' posts about Mother's Day, I felt I should chime in.
I had a pretty good Mother's Day. Better than other ones in the past, that's for sure. I had informed DH that I was going to purchase my own present this year, seeing as how I was tired of hinting and never receiving what I hinted at, and always getting a couple of cards and a bunch of flowers from the local grocery store instead. So this year, he FINALLY took the hint (that was blatantly obvious) and asked me what it was I was going to purchase. R filled in the details there (at least someone listens!)
Lo and behold, I finally received my very coveted iPod touch! I have drooled after this for a long time, and I am loving it! I immediately went out that afternoon and purchased a pink cover for it, and spent much of the afternoon perusing apps on the iTunes website.
For breakfast that morning, we went out to a popular breakfast restaurant called Cora's and met my MIL, FIL and Grandmother-in-law there. Afterwards, R had a ballhockey game that L and I chose not to attend due to the crazy cold weather and snow! (what was up with that??)
Later in the day, DH was supposed to have a hockey game of his own, which left us without plans for dinner. But due to a mis-scheduling, he didn't actually have a game, so we got to go out again for dinner to another of my favourite restaurants, East Side Mario's.
So all-in-all, a pretty great day! I didn't get to sleep in at all, but oh, well.
I came across this really cute story on another blogger's website http://outnumberedbykids.blogspot.com/ If you know the books "If You Give a Moose a Muffin" or "If you Take a Mouse to School", then you'll recognize it.

If You Give a Mom a Muffin

If you give a Mom a muffin
She’ll want a cup of coffee to go with it.
She’ll pour herself some.
The coffee will get spilled by her three year old.
She’ll wipe it up.

Wiping the floor, she will find some dirty socks.
She’ll remember she has to do some laundry.
When she puts the laundry in the washer,
She’ll trip over some snow boots and bump into the freezer.
Bumping into the freezer will remind her
She has to plan dinner for tonight.

She will get out a pound of hamburger.
She will look for the cookbook (101 Things To Make With A Pound Of Hamburger.)
The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail.
She will see the phone bill which is due tomorrow.
She will look for her checkbook.

The checkbook is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two year old.
She’ll smell something funny.
She’ll change the two year old.
While she is changing the two year old the phone will ring.
Her four year old will answer it and hang up.

She remembers that she wants to phone a friend to come for coffee on Friday.
Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup.
She will pour herself some.

And chances are…
If she has a cup of coffee…
Her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.

A Tribute to a Dad

Every morning when I drop the kids off at school, I see this one guy, a dad, who goes through the same ritual every single morning. The kids go in a door on the side of the school, and proceed down the hallway almost to the other side of the school to their grade one classrooms. Their classrooms face the front of the school. You can see in the windows right into their class, provided the blinds are open. And every morning, this one dad watches his daughter go in, and then walks to the front of the school and waits until he sees her go safely into the classroom. They wave to each other, and then go on with their days.

I think it is so sweet. The devotion that man has in his eyes. And it's wonderful.

I know many great dads. But I also know many not-so-great dads. So many dads take fatherhood for granted. And yes, so do many mothers, but I see it more often in the dads; their unwillingness to spend extra time with their offspring, to go that extra mile or do more than what's expected of them.

It's sad, really. I have a friend who was recently separated from her husband. Nasty, messy, it's never pretty. They have two young children, aged 7 and 4 at the time. This guy, he never seems to want to take his turn with the children. Now granted, I am only getting one side of the story, but the facts are still the facts, and they do still tell a story. He will only take the children on his appointed days, and anything over and above that is like pulling teeth.

I know that if DH and I ever had something like that happen to us, he would do everything he could to spend time with the boys. He doesn't like being separated from them for long periods of time; he enjoys spending time with them EVERY day. And I know many other fathers that feel the same way.

So even though it's Mother's Day on Sunday, this post is dedicated to all the great fathers out there. Thank goodness there are dads like the one who stands outside the classroom.