Thanks, Mom!

Mother's Day is a great way to remember the person who may have had the most influence in our lives. My mom is phenomenal. She stayed at home with my sister and me when we were little and did everything with us, from taking us to the library in our red wagon to letting us help her cook! She read to us, danced with us, and sang with us.

Mom home-schooled us for a couple of years in elementary school and was an amazing teacher! She encouraged us to explore anything we were interested in and made everything an hands-on experience. In science, she had us go outside and find rocks from different classifications, we put snowflakes on slides and looked at them through microscopes, and pressed different leaves and flowers for collections. I read anything I could get my hands on, did as much math as I wanted, and became a voracious speller, all thanks to my mom.

I haven't always been the easiest child in our family to deal with, but my parents have always been there for me. I think in our current fad of not-parenting, looking back, I can really appreciate the way my parents did show me tough love when I needed it. Nothing crazy, but I have a good sense of what's right and wrong and a lot of that comes from my parents.

My mom is the reason I want to be a stay-at-home mom when I have kids. I can see what a great mom she was (is!) and that inspires me to want to be a great mom, too! She made her kids a priority instead of having a "successful" career and ended up with two pretty great kids (I'm biased!). I think that is the most noble thing anyone can do and I can't wait to give what she gave me to my kids.

Thanks, Mom!

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi