I’m not an incredibly sentimental person by nature, especially when it comes to holidays. I know I’ve mentioned it here before that we rarely celebrate holidays and birthdays in our home with more than a song or a hug (well, and a few gifts for the kids), and I am 100% okay with that.

Mother’s Day is NO exception to the rule. In fact, between my frustration with it being another silly Hallmark Holiday and my pain during all of the TTC/Infertility years when I was terrified that I would never get to be a Mom, Mother’s Day was probably one of my least favorite holidays for a few years there.

Somehow that apathy has all flipped around on me this year!

For months, one of my younger sisters has been keeping her eye out for a nice ice maker for my Mom. It sounds like a silly gift, but my parents built this nice, new house a few years ago, and ever since they’ve lived there, the ice & water in the fridge hasn’t worked very well. My Mom is one of those people that get a cup full of ice water and adds just a splash of her drink to it, so this was incredibly annoying to her. She also likes the smaller, crunchy ice (almost like ice chips from the hospital). Last month, my sis found the perfect ice machine for her, and all of the siblings chipped in together to get it for her. Last weekend, 3 of the 5 siblings were at home, so on Monday night after dinner, we did a quick Skype call, so we were all “present” when Mom turned around and saw her nifty new toy. I kid you not – she almost cried when she saw it. 🙂 Now THAT’S the perfect gift!

Then today at Stella’s school, she and her classmates had planned a Mother’s Day spa. I am a horrible mother and COMPLETELY spaced it this morning at 8:30am, but thankfully her teacher texted me about 8:45 to see if I was still coming, and I saw it just before 9am and hightailed it over there. She was SO sad and hurt when I first arrived that I literally almost cried when I saw her face. There were 14 kids sitting with 14 moms and HER, all alone. Good Lord you guys. It was awful. Thankfully she warmed up to me after maybe 10 minutes and lots of apologies and kisses, and we got on with our Mother’s Day spa!

For my spa day courtesy of Stella, I had my nails painted, got a hand and arm moisturizing massage, wore my fancy eye mask, got a back massage (with a toy car!) while Stella sang songs, ate a delicious snack of watermelon/chocolate dipped pretzels/banana bread/juice, oohed and aahed over the plant she grew for me in the pot she painted, took silly photos in the dress-up photo booth, and cried when I read the card she made for me.You guys, I don’t even care that Mother’s Day is on Sunday – this was the best Mother’s Day I’ve ever had. <3