May 10: Mother’s Day

I’d like to send out Mother’s Day wishes to all of you who are moms or have moms or hope to be moms someday. You are special people, especially the one of you who is actually *my* mommie dearest. I love you, Mom.

To celebrate today, I’m sharing some fun and profundity, as well as some of my favorite mom photos and a hilarious video. Enjoy!

Some Mother’s Day quotes

“Creating a warm, caring, supportive, encouraging environment is probably the most important thing you can do for your family.” (Stephen Covey)

“An ounce of mother is worth a ton of priest.” (Spanish proverb)

“You don’t really understand human nature unless you know why a child on a merry-go-round will wave at his parents every time around, and why his parents will always wave back.” (William D. Tammeus)

“If you bungle raising your children, I don’t think whatever else you do well matters very much.” (Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis)

“Your responsibility as a parent is not as great as you might imagine.  You need not supply the world with the next conqueror of disease or major motion-picture star. If your child simply grows up to be someone who does not use the word “collectible” as a noun, you can consider yourself an unqualified success.” (Fran Lebowitz, “Parental Guidance,” Social Studies, 1981)

“The mother of three notoriously unruly youngsters was asked whether or not she’d have children if she had it to do over again. ‘Yes,’ she replied. ‘But not the same ones.’” (David Finkelstein)

“I want my children to have all the things I couldn’t afford. Then I want to move in with them.” (Phyllis Diller)

“Motherhood brings as much joy as ever, but it still brings boredom, exhaustion, and sorrow too. Nothing else ever will make you as happy or as sad, as proud or as tired, for nothing is quite as hard as helping a person develop his own individuality especially while you struggle to keep your own.” (Marguerite Kelly and Elia Parsons)

 

Katie was just a few days old here. Scout was sooooo not thrilled about sharing my lap…

 

My Mother Taught Me…

To value a job well done: “If you’re going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning.”

Time travel: “If you don’t straighten up, I’m going to knock you into the middle of next week!”

Logic: “Because I said so, that’s why.”

Foresight: “Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you’re in an accident.”

Irony: “Keep crying and I’ll give you something to cry about.”

Osmosis: “Shut your mouth and eat your supper.”

Stamina: “You’ll sit there until all that spinach is gone.”

Weather: “This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it.”

Hypocrisy: “If I told you once, I’ve told you a million times. Don’t exaggerate!”

Circle of life: “I brought you into this world, and I can take you out.”

Behavior modification: “Stop acting like your father!”

Envy: “There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don’t have wonderful parents like you do.”

Anticipation: “Just wait until we get home.”

Receiving: “You are going to get it when you get home!”

Medical science: “If you don’t stop crossing your eyes, they are going to freeze that way.”

How to become an adult: “If you don’t eat your vegetables, you’ll never grow up.”

Genetics: “You’re just like your father.

Wisdom: “When you get to be my age, you’ll understand.”

Justice: “One day you’ll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you.”

 

Four generations of Maher/Jenny/Saltmarsh/Manullang girls
Look! My grandma liked me back then!

 

You’re Really A Mom When...

• You count the number of sprinkles on each kid’s cupcake to make sure they are equal.
• You want to take out a contract on the kid who broke your child’s favorite toy and made him/her cry.
• You have time to shave only one leg at a time.
• You hide in the bathroom to be alone.
• Your child throws up and you catch it.
• Someone else’s kid throws up at a party and you keep eating.
• You consider finger paint to be a controlled substance.
• You mastered the art of placing food on a plate without anything touching.
• Your child insists that you read “Once upon a Potty” out loud in the lobby of the doctor’s office and you do it.
• You hire a babysitter because you haven’t been out with your husband in ages, then you spend half the night talking about and checking on the kids.
• You hope ketchup is a vegetable because it’s the only one your child eats.
• You find yourself cutting your husband’s sandwiches into unusual shapes.
• You fast-forward through the scene when the hunter shoots Bambi’s mother.
• You obsess when your child clings to you upon parting during his first month at school, then you obsess when he skips in without looking back.
• You can’t bear to give away baby clothes—it’s so final.
• You hear your mother’s voice coming out of your mouth when you say, “Not in your good clothes.”
• You stop criticizing the way your mother raised you.
• You read that the average-five-year old asks 437 questions a day and feel proud that your kid is “above average.”

 

Baby Katie looked like she totally had me pegged:
“Mom, you don’t have a clue what you’re doing, do ya?”

 

Things Mom Would Never Say

• “How on earth can you see the TV, sitting so far back?”
• “Yeah, I used to skip school a lot too.”
• “Just leave all the lights on. It makes the house look more cheery.”
• “Let me smell that shirt. Yeah, it’s good for another week.”
• “Go ahead and keep that stray dog, honey. I’ll be glad to feed and walk him every day.”
• “Well, if Timmy’s mom says it’s OK, that’s good enough for me.”
• “The curfew is just a general time to shoot for. It’s not like I’m running a prison around here.”
• “I don’t have a tissue with me. Just use your sleeve.”
• “Don’t bother wearing a jacket. The wind chill is bound to improve.”

 

Sean, Victor, Stephen, and Ron holding their beloved grandma/mother-in-law

 

A Mother’s Day video

 

We’re going out for brunch this morning with the ‘rents, which is awesome because we like them and because Sunday morning brunches always have giant pans of crispy bacon. Yum. No matter how you’re being honored and/or honoring your own mom today, have a very happy Mother’s Day!