She Is...

Mother's Day. Let me recap:
Left the house at 6:30am, fifteen minutes late because silly me had set the alarm to soft piano music, which obviously did nothing to jar me out of my slumber.
Almost ran out of gas on the way to work. Gas-o-meter read that I had 5km left before my car would screech to a  halt in the middle of the highway (and probably explode or whatever a car does when it runs completely out of gas), so I had to pull over at the first gas station that loomed over the horizon and make myself even more late for my day.
Got to work with a few minutes to spare. Thankfully I had all the same patients as the day before, so there wasn't any drastic changes in what my day would look like.
Had the pleasure of watching everyone get lots of visitors, phone calls, and flowers! Seriously, if every day were Mother's Day on the ward, there would be much less of a need for constant care, bed alarms, and the list goes on! So really, that part of the day was very good. Lots of happiness in a sometimes not-quite-so-happy environment.
Got home at 9:00pm with a sinus headache and an earache. Locked out. No one home. Ty had been gone since Friday (Minneapolis for a baseball weekend with the boys), so  I wasn't expecting him quite yet, but where was my boy? Well, a few minutes later he showed up with grandma and grandpa. But he certainly wasn't as happy to see me as I was to see him. I mean, there's only so much you can expect out of a less-than-two year old, but still - it was Mother's Day! So he basically shrieked for "Papa! Papa!" while I stuffed him into some jammies and tossed him into bed without our usual routine.
Went to call my mom to wish her a happy Mother's Day, but the phone was dead. I assumed the charger had been taken by Ty for the weekend, so there went that plan.
Then my mother-in-law came back to our house with some milk for Hudson (we were all out), and I lamented for a few minutes and then she wished me a happy mother's day and gave me a hug, and I got to wish her one back - and I felt a little better.
Went back inside and brought some milk in a sippy up to Hudson's room. He was still whimpering when I got there, so he sprang up as soon as I opened the door and then I picked him up and gave him his milk while we cuddled on the rocking chair. And that was the best part of Mother's Day!

But while I was getting through my day at work, the moms of Mr.Kornelsen's grade 5/6 class were all getting a surprise...wait for it...I'll give you a few hints...

The teacher's work station

Works in progress

Students working together

 I had the extreme pleasure of being able to teach a Mother's Day mixed-media art class to my husband's students! He asked me if I would do this with them a few weeks ago, and I thought it was a great idea. I came in last week for two art classes, where I took some inspiration from the She Art class I was a part of in the winter and helped them make something special for their moms. I had a great time! Those grade 5/6ers were so much fun to be around. They were respectful, but still full of energy, and they really amazed me with some of the things they came up with. When I asked the students to put on a phrase starting with "She Is..." and asked them to fill in a word that would describe an awesome quality about their mom, I wasn't sure what to expect when it came to the boys - I know at that age, expressing feelings (especially towards parents!) aren't at the top of the priority list for many 11 year olds. But I was surprised when one of them asked right away, "Can I say 'She Is Lovely?'" Um...yeah!!! Here are the finished works of art:

Happy Mother's Day to all you great mommies out there. It is the most important job we will ever have!