Dinker and Giggles

It wasn’t until I was a mom that I realized how awesome my mom is. Seriously. As I try to be the teacher, cleaner, nurse, shoulder to cry on, and more I realized how hard I was on my mom as I was growing up.

Last night we had an amazing dinner for my middle son to celebrate his four years of being cute. We had everything from pancakes to bagels, scrambled eggs to avocado, bacon to chicken sausage and everything in between. It was yummy. We opened gifts and had cake. My mother and sister left and I really didn’t think much about it until I got an email from my mom this morning.

Here’s how it went down…

My email to her

Thanks for coming tonight. I think the boys had a good time. Boys went to sleep fast after they got into bed.

So, how was dinner – even though it got cold REALLY fast?

Of course I had to ask how it was. I took a lot of time planning how to display it all nice and serve it up all fancy. Although I didn’t time things right and the eggs got cold fast. But anywho.

Her email to me

Dinner was VERY organized and it appeared to be obvious the boys are use to sitting down as a family. Don’t ever loose that time with the boys – you will see as they get older how much information you get from them when you spend time as a family over dinner. Although H tends to spoil things – I think he is getting better and that K is too dang cute. He loves to sit and be read to – I remember when he couldn’t sit still through 1 page of a book.

You are doing a nice job with the boys – keep it up and keep up the studies. You will NEVER regret getting an education and I think you have chosen an excellent field – the world will ALWAYS need caretakers.

TEAR!!! To get an email like this – something I was totally not expecting – made my day. Heck it made my month! To know that I’m doing things right and my boys are already showing signs of being raised correctly in a good manner is amazing. The fact that my mom noticed and instead of just saying ‘dinner was great’ but took the time to let me know that I’m doing well and the boys are cute as a button.

For the times that you get caught off guard and are totally taken by surprise as something you never would have expected and it just puts a smile on your face that you can’t take off no matter how hard you try.

So thank you mom for taking the extra few minutes to let me know that the dinner was organized for I sure did try! Also, for reminding me how important it is to keep small things like eating dinner together as a family a nightly tradition. How just 15-30 minutes a night can change the way my kids view relationships, the world, and even themselves!

It’s just a small thing. A simple piece of wood crafted by the Amish into a table. It gets colored on, climbed on, slammed, bumped, and a few Matchbox cars have had their final ride off of it. Yet it’s so much more than a table. It’s a place where I get to watch my kids as they learn to use a fork for the first time. Where the baby has taken a liking to slipping the dog a few nibbles here and there. A place where I can look around and just sigh with contempt that we are all here – safe and happy for another day.

This is what I’m grateful for! How about you? What are you grateful for this past week. Leave a comment or link to your Grateful Friday post!