I love this day! Not only because I get to be spoiled by my loving family, but because I get to remember how awesome and great my own mother was and still is.  While on this special day of sleeping in and not have to tend to the early risers, I was thinking of my mom.  She is one in a million. 
As a child I remember money being very tight and at the time not appreciating the loving acts she showed to me.  She sacrificed so much.  The older I get, the more I see what she had done for me as a child.  She worked full time, but yet had time to sew clothes for me and my sisters.  I remember how wonderful it was one year when she made doll clothes for my baby doll.  I still have them and walk down memory lane when I watch my girls play with them. She spent so many Sat., her only day for cleaning and resting, being at my swim meets or taking me and my sisters to the mall. (I think that is a feat within itself!)  Clearance shopping was a great habit she passed on to me!  (However, I did bring her great stress when I would hide in the clothes racks and get lost!  There was a many of time that she had to rescue me from the manager's office at JC Penny's!  Sorry mom!)  Or our many adventures of camping; eating chili for all three meals because it was so hectic packing for us and the many others that would join us, that she forgot to pack the other food!  I'll never forget the look of disappointment, but hearing her laugh when we arrived at the Grand Tetons and only seeing the base of mountain because the clouds covered the mountain top!! She definitely has a green thumb!! I remember her beautiful gardens she would grow (and still does) and tend to and then once ready, she would harvest and bottle produce so we would have food.  One year she thought it would be great to make and bottle ketchup!  Such ambition, such brilliance, but ohhh not so tasty!  I tried to eat it I really did, but it just wasn't the same!  She was a good sport about it and got rid of all the bottles and never made it again!  Then there is the period of time she loved drinking bean juice!  Everyone thought she had lost it completely!! To our surprise, it was actually quited good.   Now one of her young grand-daughters (my youngest) loves it!! Or how about the many times I would be laying in bed almost asleep then hear the beeping of the microwave and then the smell of nachos overtake any sort of sleep I had felt moments before! I would find some reason to sneak out of bed so I could sample the goods! I know I could go on and on about how funny my mom is or how crazy she is over her dogs, but the truth is once you meet my mom you know she is special and wonderful and truly awesome!  Thanks so much mom for teaching me, loving me and most of all just being my mom!  Happy Mother's Day!