Happy Mother's Day!!

A very dear friend sent this to me after spending the weekend with us at a local rodeo. She got to experience my 3 year old son first-hand so when she sent it to me she noted, "I simply could not get the Bear out of my mind when I first read this!! Hope this hasn't happened to you and that you have wonderful Mother's Day with that entertaining little man!!"

For all you moms out there! Happy Mother's Day!

At the time of this story we had this great 10-year old cat named Jack. Jack was a great cat and the kids would carry him around and sit on him and nothing ever bothered him. He used to hang out and nap all day long on this mat in our bathroom.

Well, we have 3 kids and at the time of this story they were 4 years old, 3 years old and 1 year old. The middle one is Eli. Eli really loves chapstick. LOVES it. He kept asking to use my chapstick and then losing it. So finally one day I showed him where in the bathroom I keep my chapstick and how he could use it whenever he wanted to but he needed to put it right back in the drawer when he was done.

Last year on Mother's Day, we were having the typical rush around to try to get ready for church with everyone crying and carrying on. My two boys were fighting over the toy in the cereal box. I was trying to nurse my little one at the same time I was putting on my make-up. Everything was a mess and everyone had long forgotten that it was supposed to be a wonderful day to honor me and the amazing job that is motherhood.

We finally had the older one and the baby loaded in the car, and I was looking for Eli. I had searched everywhere, and I finally rounded the corner to go into the bathroom. And there was Eli. He was applying my chapstick very carefully to Jack's rear end. Eli looked right into my eyes and said "chapped."

Now if you have a cat, you know that he was right--their little butts do look pretty chapped. And, frankly, Jack didn't seem to mind.

And the only question really to ask at that point was whether it was the FIRST time Eli had done that to the cat's behind -- or the hundredth.

And THAT is my favorite Mother's Day moment ever, because it reminds us that no matter how hard we try to civilize these glorious little creatures, there will always be that day when you realize they've been using your chapstick on the cat's butt.