Supermom!

Eli: mom, you left something in my backpack.

Mom: huh?  I haven't put anything in your backpack.

Eli: well it was sure in there.

Mom: what was it?

Eli: well, when I was changing into my soccer clothes after school your underwear fell out of my bag.

Mom: ............................................. THIS BROADCAST HAS BEEN INTERRUPTED BECAUSE SUPERMOM JUST DIED OF EMBARRASSMENT.

Yep.  I'm the mom that stopped using dryer sheets because it is trendy and now my underwear is getting stuck to Eli's soccer shorts.

Speaking of soccer.  Today was Eli's first soccer game.  Supermom didn't go.  Supermom chose to go to curriculum night at Gabe's school instead.  Supermom secured a ride home from the soccer game for Eli and made dinner for Gabe, left it on the counter and figured Gabe would only be home for about 30 minutes alone while mom headed to the curriculum night.  Mom returned at 7:30 and found that Eli wasn't home yet.  Supermom really didn't know where Eli was because he didn't respond to any texts.  Supermom finally found Eli,  put Gabe to bed, started a load of laundry and then left....her two wee little lads home alone on the dark rainy night because mom had some last minute errands to run.

Tomorrow is Gabe's birthday.  His 10th birthday - a big deal.  In an effort to meet every last one of Gabe's birthday requests supermom ran to Subway to get a sandwich to take to him for lunch tomorrow.  Mom told them to put mayo on the sandwich.  Gabe hates mayo.  So mom brings the sandwich home, uses her grubby paws to scrape off the mayo.  Unfortunately, the scraping also removed the lettuce, pickles and olives.  Supermom chops up pickles and olives in very thin subway approved slices, adds mustard and closes up the sandwich hoping he doesn't notice the minimal shreds of lettuce left on the sandwich.

Supermom also made a stop at Safeway to get the kid a cake.  Yes, at 9pm the night before a child's very important 10th birthday supermom is looking for a cake at safeway.  The choices were carrot or german chocolate.  Supermom tells herself that surely at one point Gabe must have requested a german chocolate cake and swoops it up...out from an older man's hands.  Since it is 9pm there is nobody in the bakery to write on the cake, if it is even possible to write on a german chocolate cake, so mom gets those $56 candles that spell out "happy birthday" slaps them on the cake and calls it good.

Supermom also wanted to get Gabe's favorite breakfast pastry, but since breakfast items have long since been depleted from the bakery aisle, mom grabs a box-o-coffee cake mix and after a pleading text from Eli wondering where his mommy has gone, she heads home.

Doesn't sound too much like supermom?  

What makes mom super?

This mom is super because she willingly accepted help.  The dinner I made and left on the counter for the kids was made with love by a dear one who generously made me a ton of freezer meals.  And that birthday treat that is ready for Gabe to take to school....it was picked up by a friend of mine who was at costco and saved me a trip.  The missing Eli?  He was being fed and safely carried from the soccer game in Tacoma to home.

One may think with all that extra help I could have planned a little better for Gabe's birthday.  One may be right, but I didn't.

This mom is super because she problem solved.

This mom is super because she didn't lose her cool.

The kitchen is cleaned so that Gabe can make his birthday feast tomorrow, the presents and cake, however untasty or lame looking it may be, are laid out on the table.  Lunches are prepared, birthday snacks ready for school, clean clothes are ready for tomorrow's dirty adventures, everyone is safely tucked in to bed and that box-o-coffee cake is ready for me to put in the oven in the morning.  

It doesn't matter how I got here, I made it to the end of the day, with help, with grace, and with a whole lot of laughter because really who else sends their 12 year old to school with a pair of black lace unders?