My weird mothers day gift request......

Today was one of the best mother's days ever. As of yesterday, we really didn't have any plans, which was kind of nice. So we decided to surprise my mom by attending her church this morning (which also happens to be the church where I grew up). I knew she was going to be a part of a skit, too. She was really excited to see us, as it has been a LONG time since we've visited due to our commitments at our own church. It was an amazing service, and the skit about the seasons of a woman's life made me cry like a baby. We ate at Hungry Hobo afterwards. Yum.

The weird part of the day came when, after many inquiries about what I'd like to do on mothers day, I came up with the perfect thing. I've been feeling bogged down lately by the growing list of things to fix/maintain/upkeep around our house and the lack of time to get any of it done. Soooooooooo, I told my eager-to-make-me-happy family that I would like to have a family work day.

*can you hear the crickets?*

That is honestly and truly what I wanted to do. And NO, I did not sit inside and eat bon bons while they all worked. I'll admit right here and now that I would never be able to enjoy the bon bons because I'm way too controlling about the to-do list and how it's done. I'll deal with that issue later. Besides, I wanted it to be a "together" thing. So, here is the list of accomplishments:

1) moved everything out of garage (crew: everyone)
2) organized scrap wood, tools, electrical materials (crew: everyone)
3) blew leaves, sawdust, and dirt out of garage with leafblower (crew: Tim)
4) recovered from respiratory distress from #3 (crew: everyone, plus a few neighbors)
5) moved #1 back into garage in much neater fashion (crew: everyone)
6) weedwacked (crew: Tim)
7) mowed (crew: Tim, and introducing SAM!! He mowed the lawn!!)
8) Swept, shoveled and bagged about 3 tons of helicopters (crew: Mom, Janie, and Sam)
9) Trimmed unruly dogwood bush (crew: Tim) note: I tried to do this once, and it looked like a four year old had gotten to it with a chainsaw. Thank you, Tim for your trimming expertise.
10) One gutter cleaned (crew: Janie and Sam, supervised by Tim) This job was a bit of a rabbit trail on Tim's part, and I was not excited about J and S being on the roof. So that's why only one gutter was cleaned. The stink was awful. Gutter rot.
11) Huge pile of bricks moved from front yard to back yard. (crew: Janie, Sam, Joe, Pete)
12) cilantro and basil planted (crew: Mom)
13) garden watered (crew: Janie and Sam)
14) dirt under swings watered and mud pool created (crew: Janie)
15) mud tracked everywhere thanks to mud pool (crew: Janie, Sam, Joe, Pete)
BONUS ITEMS:
14) Chocolate cupcakes made from scratch..frosting and all (crew: Janie)
15) Country Style run at the end the day (crew: everyone)

Yes, dessert twice.

Can I just tell you what a lift to my spirits it is to have those jobs out of the way? I know it's not the normal mothers day fare, but it sure made my day. The kids were great workers (I only had to threaten naps and no ice cream a couple of times, and I think that was only for Pete, although he really was a good little worker :). I was proud of them, we had fun, and we got a ton of stuff done. Maybe we'll make this a mothers day tradition. Or maybe next year I'll feel like tea and cucumber sandwiches. I guess that's the sweet thing about mothers day!