May 9, 2010

Neither my husband or I make a very big deal out of Mother's Day or Father's Day. As much as I like the idea of having another day in the year (other than my birthday of course) that is supposed to be all about me and how great I am... Mother's Day kind of falls into the same category as Valentine's Day for me. The "if you're only going to do something on one day, I'd rather you didn't" category. In other words, I think it's nice to set aside days that are meant to make us think about the people in our lives, but if you only pull out the stops and/or give your mom, dad, mother, father or lover appreciation on a day that is designated by the calendar... puh-lease...

That's not to say I don't like a nice gesture that says I love you in a special way, or a family get-together (because that's what families do on days like Mother's Day). What do you know... that's what my mother's day was like this year :-)

Brandon really likes to spend one-on-one time with his girls. Especially with Layla. Not because he favors her, but because she's older and he can interact and relate to her in a way that is more natural for him. This year, he came up with the idea of making my mother's day gift with Layla. He remembered a wooden flower that he had made for his Mom when he was in cubs or scouts (or something like that) and thought it would be a fun craft to do with Layla.

So one evening last week, he took her to the craft store (probably Layla's second favorite store... after the ice cream store that is!) to pick up some supplies. She came home with sparkles in her eyes and talking about a "surprise for Mom for Mother's Day". She really doesn't get the whole surprise thing yet though. At the dinner that night she whispered to me "it's a flower... shhh... it's a surprise". I laughed and told her that I would pretend I didn't hear her so that I would still be surprised when she gave it to me. She simply whispered back to me, "it's a flower... it's a surprise". Sigh. (1) she was absolutely adorable in her effort to be secretive and (2) one day I'll wish she could keep a secret that well... or that badly... however you want to look at it!