my mom.

One of my favorite things about growing up was my mom.  You're probably thinking the same thing...

I loved my mom.  She loved me...she loved being a mom.  I want my kids to know that I love being a mom.  I love them.

One of the reasons that I knew that my mom loved me and loved being a mom was because she was always coming up with ways for us to get to do things together.  Every summer she couldn't wait for us to get out of school so we could make plans of all of the fun stuff we could do together over the summer.

I make it sound like it was just me...she couldn't wait for ME to get out of school...but really there were five of us.  One of the first items of business for the summer was to sit down and make a list of all of the things we wanted her to teach us that we thought would be fun.  Then we'd make a plan for our field trips, projects, trips to the pool, adventures to fun places, and creative exploring that we wanted to do.

One summer the three of us girls wanted to learn to sew...that was the project that was going to be the coolest for the summer.  I remember sitting in our garage-converted-to-sewing/project/arts-and-crafts-room for hours working on a pair of shorts just after my 6th grade school year.  I had visions of being the most fashionable and stylish girl of the summer.  I knew people would wonder where I bought my cute shorts because they wouldn't look like I sewed them at all!  I'd like to say that the reality lived up to the dream....and I think it did in my own mind.  I was so proud of those shorts with their skeewampus zipper. 

And now, I have sweet summer memories of my mom guiding me through the unknown of making my first pair of summer shorts.  I didn't grow up to become an expert seamstress or world famous fashion designer but my mom did put the seed in my heart that whispered, "You can do anything.  You are amazing and beautiful and I love you."

And that's what I hope my little projects with my kids do for my kids.

Our American Girl Book Club met a few weeks ago and so since our last meeting in February the girls and I decided that we were going to brave the world of fabric and thread and ribbon and see what came out on the other side.  Each of my girls pinned fabric to pattern, picked through ribbon, and sat at the sewing machine and watched scraps of random bits become something that they created.

It was at times frustrating and at other times so full of wonder and excitement and fun and laughing and being thrilled at what can be nothing at the beginning and seeing it through to the end.

I hope my girls know, "You can do anything.  You are amazing and beautiful and I love you."

And to my mom who started it all.... "You can do anything. You are amazing and beautiful and I love you."

creative. LOVE.