We Bowled Through Mother's Day

This weekend is one of my favorite weekends of the year .... state bowling tournament. It is a mini-vacation for our family to go to a city in our state and stay in a hotel for the weekend. We get to eat out and swim in the hotel pool and relax and have fun. And the kids get to bowl. We, as parents, crowd around and cheer on our little people. It is just a weekend full of joy, and I love it! This year's state tournament happened to be on Mother's Day. But I really cannot imagine enjoying my day any other way.

When my kids are happy, I am happy. I don't require much for my own personal happiness. Give me a semi-clean house, a cup of coffee, and a good book and I am pretty much set. I had all of that in a hotel room on Saturday while Rick and the kids were swimming.

The kids did not have as successful a tournament this year as last (last year they were state champions in their division). In fact, I don't think we even placed in the Top 10. But, my kids each exceeded their averages each game of the tournament, nine games total. Winning is great and a goal to have, but that is not the ultimate goal I have for my kids. They tried hard, didn't get discouraged when they made mistakes, worked to improve, and encouraged each other. Those are the things that make them winners, in my opinion.

They bowled on the same lanes as a group of four teenaged boys who cussed when they did poorly, stomped around, banged their fist on the equipment, and even hit the scoreboard. Our children did not act like that. My kiddos didn't give up. They had fun. They had small victories, like Eli anchoring his team on their last game and being the one to put them over their average as a team when a couple of his teammates had poor scores. Those things are what make winners.

I parent all year long, but my greatest moments as a mom are when I learn from my kids. I am a blessed mom.

Now, I did get some great loves from my family. Rick got me a very meaningful card. I love receiving cards that I can tell the giver spent time picking out specifically for me. The things printed in the card were things I know he feels toward me. I loved it. Every year he gives me all of the flowers for my pots around my house. I have purchased a few already and will get the rest later. He and the kids also got me a Fitbit, which is awesome! Dawson got me a set of The Chronicles of Narnia books that I was wanting for our school studies next year. Kyndal dedicated a FB and IG post to me that was very touching. She also went with us this weekend so I got to spend the whole time being her mom. They never get too old for that, even when they are less than two weeks away from getting married.