My mom :)

You know, you don't really appreciate your parents until your at least out of high school. Then it hits you one day, ALL that they have done for you. Then you have kids and WHAM it can hit you like a ton of bricks. As an adult, you finally look at your parents as "normal" people who had a life before you were born. My parents rock. I am so blessed to have such wonderful, loving, considerate, spiritual parents. I love my dad, and I will devote another day to him...but I just wanted to say why my mom is THE GREATEST mom I could ever ask for...

When I'm sick, she makes me chicken and rice soup and calls to check on me throughout the day.
She quit her career to keep our kids.
She calls to ask me if I want anything from the grocery store (even though we don't live in the same household).
When I'm sick, she calls to check on me.
When I was experiencing post-partum depression the night I came home from the hospital with Jared, she couldn't contain herself and wanted to DO SOMETHING. After I told her that I got my doc to call in a prescription, she immediately left to pick it up and bring it over (@ 9PM at night).
She is truly the nicest woman I know.
She will politely listen to me ramble on and on and on and on and on.
She is one of the strongest women I know.
She loves my husband like one of her own.
She loves my father so much.
She loves my brother and misses him so much.
She LOVES her grandkids.
She is patient w/ her grandkids.
She stayed home with us and all of my cousins! THAT takes some strength and patience.
She's great at decorating.
She cleans my house EVERY week (dishes, washes linens and rugs, does laundry and puts it up, cooks sometimes, vacuums, straightens up and just makes everything look nice when I get home).
She does little things to make our house more comfortable and accessible w/ children.
She respected my wishes as a parent while watching over our kids (and even tattles on herself if she did something I may not "approve" of, lol).
She's creative.
When I was pregnant with Jared, she would keep Jack A LOT so I could rest.
One day, Jack was waking up from a 2 hr nap and Chunk was heading out to play golf (he hadn't played in a while and was REALLY looking forward to it), and I all of the sudden started crying because I realized how tired I was and how ENERGETIC Jack was going to be when he woke up. I called her and she was about to take a nap...despite my efforts to hide why I was calling, she realized that I needed rest and immediately came over to pick Jack.
She makes sacrifices ALL the time for our family.
She's a good Catholic.
I'll sneak in a wish here...I wish she would vent to me like I vent to her. It's always good to get things off your chest.
She helped raise an honest, good-hearted, hard-working man. I hope we can do a good job w/ ours.
She's beautiful.
After always wanting boys, she made me realize that I want a daughter so that I can have a close relationship with my daughter, like we do.
She doesn't give up. She is one determined (or some may say STUBBORN) woman.
She's genuine in every aspect of her life.
She made me feel like I could do ANYTHING in the world.
She "tolerated" all the animals we had as kids, even though she's not a big animal fan...such as dogs, cats, guinea pigs, gerbals (and their babies), hamsters (and their babies), rabbits, turtles, frogs, snakes, mice, birds, fish and many, many, others.
She never admits that she gets worn out keeping our kids.
She knows when to just listen and when to give advice.
When she was kind enough to let us borrow her car to take to Missouri, she would clean out mine while we were gone.
And a million others things...


As I tell her, if I could be HALF the mom that she was to me, then I KNOW my kids will have a good life.
I love you mom! Thanks for ALL that you do!