Mother's Day

Mother's Day 2006: An old-fashioned spirea planted well before the toddler's could toddle giving it a chance to firmly establish itself in our clay-filled soil. The white blooms in the spring are wonderful to gaze at in the morning with a cup of coffee (at 5:30 in the morning mind you because that is the only time of day to actually sit with a cup of coffee and enjoy your Mother's Day gift.)
Mother's Day 2007: The old-fashioned lilac never had a chance against the now-toddling toddlers. But I show you all of this in order to set the scene for the following:
We made it through National Guard weekend in October without much drama. And success means that we only had three blood incidents, none involving a doctor or hospital. A certain sing-songy rhyme came to mind when I looked up and saw Nicholas with his green pale go bottom over teacup down the hill then come up with a bloody lip. Yawn. We’ve seen that before. I should maybe have listened to Benjamin when he was begging for the chapstick before dinner, but I really thought he just wanted the colorful tube. The next morning, the poor guy’s chapped bottom lip had busted and bled a little. But the winner in originality involved my beloved Mother’s Day gift pictured above.
As the bush sits there dead in our yard waiting to be dug up, the boys periodically wander over to crinkle the dead leaves or pick them and bring them to a parent or break off a brittle section to run around the yard with and threaten to whack someone. Who would have guessed though that Benjamin could take part of the dead branch still attached to the bush, shove it up his nose, and pull out a bloody twig before anyone, including him, could even comprehend what he was doing?
Mother's Day 2007 Do-Over: The butterfly bush was adopted as the beloved gift.But it didn't take long for the boys to pull it apart, dive into it in their run down the hill and use it as a landing pad for wrestling matches. That is a branch of the butterfly bush in Nicholas' hand that Benjamin finds so funny.Mother's Day 2007 Do-Again-Do-Over: The variegated privet. Originally planted to cover an ugly corner of the yard, it will now be gazed at fondly over coffee at 4:30 in the morning with a flashlight since the end of daylight savings time has pushed our mornings forward an hour.