I love my mom

The boys and I went to pick up my mom at the airport on Wednesday afternoon.  It's so great having her here!  My mom is a whirlwind of energy, and she's barely been still a moment since she got here.  She's helping me (and by "helping me" I mean "almost entirely on her own") organize my house. 

She spent the first couple of days working upstairs.  Upstairs scares me.  I don't get up there too often, and when I do, I'm reminded why I don't want to go back up there.  :-)  Since January, the boys have been responsible for their laundry.  I'm happy to do it, but they need to bring it downstairs, and then take it upstairs and put it away.  This has been met with varying degrees of success.  Well, I should be honest-- it hasn't been very successful at all.  :-)  I don't think my boys have been putting their clothes away at all, so the clean and dirty clothes get mixed up and no one knows what is clean and what is dirty.  My mom brought down piles and piles of clothes and did probably 10 loads of laundry,  no lie. 
And then she totally reorganized all the rooms upstairs, organizing our food storage, the boys' closets, and helping each boy organize his room so all of their things have homes.  She helped them go through all their clothes and cull out the too-small, stained, ripped clothes that have persisted in their wardrobes.  This takes such a load off my back.  Even though I know I really can't do anything about the condition of upstairs, besides encouraging the boys to stay neat, it still stresses me out to know that things are not orderly.

Today while I took the boys to violin lessons, she cleaned out the under-the-stairs closet space, sorting through all our suitcases and duffel bags and random stuff that accumulates back there.  She cleaned and organized under the kitchen sink, and my entire tupperware/mixing bowls/water bottles/play dough/random stuff cabinet.  The biggest job, though, was the play room, which has needed purging for a couple of years.  We have boxes of give-away stuff, and boxes of throw-away stuff.  I now have EMPTY shelves in the play room!!  This is truly incredible.  It was a big job and took most of the afternoon.  She's also managed to keep the kitchen totally clean, wash down all the little boy finger and hand prints on the walls, read to my boys every night, and practice flute with Joseph every day.  She is amazing.  She really, really deserves a day of rest tomorrow.  :-)

Thursday night, in celebration of my clean MRI, we went out to eat at Jason's Deli, and then went downtown to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 at the IMAX.  That was awesome.  I loved the movie, but I left with definite bittersweet feelings-- no more books OR movies!  I wonder if there will ever be a phenomenon like Harry Potter again.  It's totally unique because it's totally deserved!  I'm sorry all you Twilight fans out there, but the Twilight books cannot hold a candle to Harry Potter.  The Harry Potter books will forever be my very favorite series of books.  And I read a lot.

Friday morning we went to horseback riding.  Brigham and Mosey were excited to show Grandma how they ride.  Joseph was content to sit next to Grandma on the couch.  Once we got home, I attempted to oversee practicing, but no one was very excited about it, and I ended up really stressed out.  I have some plans to lighten up during the school year, because seriously, the practicing is going to do me in.  I really can't sit with every child for every practice session every day.  It's going to drive me bonkers.  My mom saw that, and took over the last half of practicing while I went to decompress at Target.  :-)  I came home to find her making dinner for the boys, and then took them to a birthday party (a night-games party from 8-10 PM, such a good idea for 10 year old boys!).

I sure wish we could figure out a way to live nearer to my parents.  Maybe someday.  It would require us living in Southern California (with which I have a very seriously complicated relationship), but I think it would be just about worth it to be close to my mom and dad.

I am determined to take some pictures of my mom with the boys while she's here!  The trouble is that we're just so busy being productive, that I forget about my camera!  Tomorrow, for sure.