Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day, everyone! I realize I have been putting a lot of mushy, sentimental stuff on the blog lately, so bear with me on this one. I just wanted to take a second to talk about the two greatest mothers in the world: my wife, Sarah, and my mother, Kathy.

Although Sarah had almost six years of experience taking care of a helpless human being (by being married to me), becoming a mother was still a challenge for her (as I am sure it is with all moms). Taking care of a baby is tough work, even with both parents involved. Sarah has handled it with remarkable grace and patience for the last nine months. El Senor is such a happy, smiley, well-rested kid, and that is entirely thanks to Sarah's tireless work making sure he has the best of everything.

If left to my own devices, El Senor would probably be wearing the same onesie he wore home from the hospital, would never get adequate rest, and would be eating Cheetos for dinner. To my son, if you are ever reading this years in the future, please recognize that you have turned into a functional, relatively normal adult entirely through your mother's tireless efforts, which also include constant monitoring to make sure not too many of my bad habits rubbed off on you. Thank you, Sarah! We both love you so much!

To my mom, you are the greatest mother (and grandmother) I could have ever hoped for. Although my father's bad habits did rub off on me (despite your best efforts, I'm sure), you always did everything you could to make sure I was happy and taken care of. You worked so hard to make everything special, and I will always appreciate that. As evidence, I present the "tower of treats."

The picture on the left is from Easter 2014. The picture on the right... Thanksgiving 2011. The so-called "tower of treats" has been a staple in my family for almost a decade, and it represents a lot of what makes my mom so special. Everyone loves the holidays, and my sisters and I are always impressed at the decorations and treats at my house at every holiday family event (Christmas, Halloween, birthdays, etc). For us kids (and I'm sure many of you readers can relate), sometimes we expect the holidays to just magically happen when we show up at our parents' house.

But this tower of treats represents countless hours of baking and preparation leading up to each and every family event. My mom organizes this tower for almost every family get-together, no small feat when you realize that each time she has a whole different set of amazing snacks. My mom is always working, behind the scenes, to make sure that these events are special for us. I know I don't say it enough, but thank you, Mom, for everything you have done for me, and for everything you do for me and my own family now. You're the best! I love you!