She's Pretty Special

Have I ever mentioned that my Mom is amazing? She is an outstanding cook, a superb seamstress, a savvy small business owner (that allowed me to graduate from college student loan free), a ferocious mama bear, AND she somehow fits like 30 hours in a day. And I am not saying all of this just because she is one of my (maybe of just handful?) loyal blog followers. Not only was she SuperMom while I was growing up, but now she has morphed into Glorious Grandma as well.

Let me back up...she kindly and generously offered to help with the Peanut's birthday party. It was at my parent's home, because they have more room and let's face it, our house is a disaster right now with the big move coming up. Prior to the party, she told me more than once, "Just let me know what you want me to do." So I did. With just a handful of days before the party, I called her and gave her a laundry list of things I needed her to help with, including three different things I wanted her to make for the menu. This was in addition of course to the list of their own things they wanted to do such as cleaning their house, getting the normal upkeep of yard work done, and setting up a big outdoors tent to accommodate everyone outside. This is because God has a sense of humor and we had had like 67 days straight of sun prior to the party (very abnormal here for summertime) but on the day OF the party, we had rain showers--AND it was cold. Did I mention my Mom also works full time? All that to say, my Mom (and Dad) were a great deal of help for the party.

Stay with me here, there is a point to this. So as I was "helping" the Peanut open her gifts at the party, my mom got me. When I say "got me" I mean, she got one past me, yet AGAIN. I guess when you are talking about me, that's not saying much. It's pretty easy to pull the wool over my eyes. Between work and helping me with my details of the party, she also made this amazing and wonderful fabric ABC book for the little Peanut:

(Insert the Peanut's name at the top--it's been removed to protect the innocent.) Sorry for the lack of focus-- still trying to figure out the manual settings on the camera after a YEAR.

Indeed, it was.

Of course I would love to show each of the pages, but I tried to narrow it down to some of my favorites...although each page/letter is special in and of itself.

This is Peanut's favorite page--Grandma's too. Coincidence? I think not--the Peanut gets hiccups like Grandma too.

With little beads for the spots.

I just thought the purple octopus was cute, even with only 5 legs--are they called legs?
I love that pumpkin, not just because that is one of the many nicknames for Peanut, but it reminds me of Cinderella, my favorite fairy tale.

You know that Pink and Brown is the new black and white. :)
So, so sweet.

How cute are those giraffes?

So of course, when I opened this for the Peanut, I started crying. Not only because of all the time and love that went into this book for the Peanut, but you see, this book was sort of an addition to a book my Mom made for me when I was a little girl. The book she made for me was used much when I was little, but I saved it (rather, my mom saved it for me) and now it has been washed and the Peanut will soon appreciate it as well:

It was a fabric book too, but with a different purpose. (Yes, I realize I am dating myself.) Not teaching the alphabet, but teaching little ones fine motor skills or "life skills. "

Buttons, that open up...

There's the hippo's tongue!

Ribbons to tie on the giraffes neck...

A zipper to zip...

...there's his tongue too!

In my book there is also a braid to braid, snaps to snap, a buckle, laces to lace and tie, and eyelets hooks to hook and unhook. It is so special...I am so glad I still have it and that Peanut has her new alphabet book. But most of all, I am grateful that we both have my mom. She's pretty special.