Once upon a time I had a little baby girl who could fit into the palm of my hand and was nothing more than a little paper weight.

Then one day as if over night she was all grown up and bossing me around like she was the mama!

But somehow in the middle of our crazy life she still has time to make me smile and thank the Lord for the blessing of being her mother!
Following are a few stories that make being a mom worth all the stress, effort, and worry!
The hurt toe...
About a week ago we were cleaning up the kitchen and rounding up kids to bed so that Brian and I could have some time alone. Like usual Layla was coming up with all sorts of ailments that could keep her from going to bed. First her tummy was empty and needed to be full up to her eyebrows. Then she was sick and needed to rest on the floor. Last she somehow hurt her foot and couldn't walk. She turns to me and with all seriousness says "Mom I need little kid stretches!" Not really paying attention i said well lean over like this and you will feel good. (I reached my arm over my head and leaned to the left) I went about getting Isa upstairs as Layla continued to ask for little kid stretches. i finally realized i had no idea what in the world she was talking about and gave her my full attention. She kindly explains...
"You know when Aunt Mia got her leg hurt she got stretches and now my foot hurts and I need little kid stretches too." I finally got it she didn't mean stretches but...

Crutches! I seriously laughed for like 10 minutes!
I thought this was their church...
Two weeks ago we went to church and were sitting quietly as everyone sang our opening song. Layla looks around and asks "where are they mom I don't see them?" I lean over and ask her "who?" She ignores me like most four years olds do when their mother talks and continues to look for some mystery people. She finally gets very serious and says "mom you didn't tell the truth, they aren't here!" I try not listen to the snotty tone in her voice and ask... "WHO?"
With extreme disappointment in her eyes she looks at me and says..." Heavenly father and Jesus. You said this was their church so where are they!" I just smiled and explained that we can't see them but if you are happy at church you know they are there. That made no sense to her so she just signed and moved on.
I lived in the hospital...
As parents we are given the great challenge of teaching our children anything and everything they need to know to be happy with life and succeed. As parents we have tried our best to remember everything that the girls might need to know and start teaching them while they are young. But in all of our teaching we missed a big lesson.
Layla and Isa spent the night with their grandma last week and she talked to them about everything she could think of. She told them about her mother and how she lives in heaven. She taught them so many important parts of the gospel and the girls listened with joy. That is until Grandma explained that the girls probably knew her mom is heaven before they came to earth. Layla instantly got very upset and began set grandma straight. Now Layla loves her grandma and thinks she is the best thing ever... but this really upset her and for the first time she yelled at grandma. "Grandma, I DID NOT LIVE IN HEAVEN I LIVED IN THE HOSPITAL!!!"
Somehow in explaining how blessed we are to have her in our life because of her hard beginning we left out that before she lived in the hospital she was in heaven. Needless to say we had a pre-existence lesson for FHE this week and explained the whole thing. I think she gets it now so hopefully she won't be yelling at grandma again!
More stories to come but for now I hope you enjoyed a few highlights from my life as a mother!