This post was supposed to be ready for yesterday.... however, the time change finally got the best of me and I fell asleep early - very early. So early in fact, that I was up well before the alarm even thought to go off this morning, so enjoy yesterday's post & hopefully - despite the gorgeous weather and beautiful sunshine - I'll get my post for today up too!
Yes - I'm one of those overly sappy mothers that get a little too emotional when I realize how quickly my kids are growing up. I let them climb in my bed when they have nightmares, I pick them up and carry them up the stairs at night, I let them climb up on my lap when we read a story, because I know that this time is limited - that soon they will be grown and I won't be able to carry them anymore.
Not to say that I wouldn't have been a sappy mother regardless, but it probably doesn't help that my father died very suddenly in a work accident when I was a senior in high school - or the fact that a year ago this month, my little brother was killed in an accident while working on a dump truck. Both very sudden - both without saying good-bye - both leaving me clinging to all those precious family memories from when I was a kid.
Sure I can recall lots of different memories from growing up, but some of my favorite memories come from simple, precious moments, spent as a family. Fortunately for me - there are many - and I hold them very dear to my heart.
One Saturday several weeks ago, I woke up and decided out of nowhere that I was going to cook a big breakfast for the family. It was a few weeks after Brayden was born, and I was finally starting to feel like a normal person again. (For those of you who don't know, I had some really bad hip issues following Brayden's birth and had some problems walking, moving, etc. for a little over a month) We aren't big breakfast people - mainly because Matt hates breakfast food. How is that possible you ask? I don't know! - but we had all slept in that day, it was past time for breakfast, but not time for lunch and we had lots of errands to run - so I thought maybe a big breakfast sounded good.
So anyway, I got up, dusted off the griddle and got busy mixing pancake batter, cooking sausage and scrambling eggs. The kids loved it - and I think Matt even enjoyed it too.
Then the next week I decided to do it again and before I knew it, I was cooking a big breakfast every Saturday morning. What started off as a virtuous mission one Saturday morning, had quickly turned into one of my families favorite times of the week.
When we do our meal planning for the next week, my kids love deciding what will be on our Saturday morning breakfast menu - blueberry pancakes, chocolate chip pancakes, french toast and the list goes on and on. There is nothing better then family time on a lazy Saturday morning and I love that over the past several weeks, my kids have come to look forward to our Saturday morning "tradition."
Our Saturday morning "tradition" may seem a little silly to some, but I love that it's something special for our family and that it brings us a little closer. In the busy hustle and bustle of our lives, it's so nice to have a time to enjoy each other that isn't rushed... and I hope that several years down the road, when my kids are all grown - and maybe have kids of their own - that our silly little tradition might bring back warm moments they'll remember and cherish.
How do you and your family find ways to spend time with one another? Feel free to share in the comments section... Don't have a family "tradition" of your own - it's not too late to start one today.
