Sundays are usually work days for me, filled with class preparation and grading and writing my post for this site for Monday, as well as juggling all the sundry odds and ends of getting the kids and household ready for the coming week, while squeezing in my weekly exercise/walk with my neighbor friends. But since Sunday was Mother's Day, and the semester has finally ended, I gave myself the gift of no work at all yesterday--not a single bit--and it was glorious.

There are a ton of great Mother's Day ideas out there but these four are awesome and need to be shared!

How stunning are these votives from Frugal Family Fun Blog? I love everything Valerie does with her girls but wow these are a fave!

This year we are making mugs for our Grandmas with my son's art work on it and this cake in a mug recipe inside!  Here is the how to.

Start with some fun - not everyday paints. We used some kid friendly craft paints. The reason I said not everyday is because for something special like this you want your child to feel special while making it.

Paint!

Make mom a personalized pendant ! Check out Frugal Family Fun Blog for the how to !

Love these personalized hot pads from Dresses and Messes!

For my first Mother's Day (the first Mother's Day when I had a child out there in the world--my very first Mother's Day I was seven months pregnant), when L. was just 10 months old, my mom sent me a white t-shirt with "Mom" printed on the front. This was an unlikely gift, actually, for both the giver and the recipient (I'm not a t-shirt person), but she'd gotten the T-shirt for free and I was, after all, a "Mom" finally. I still have the shirt. I keep it folded in my drawer and it's moved with me three times now.

Some moms end up doing a lot of the work on Mother's Day, right? But that's no reason not to celebrate yourself and all you do for your family! Just keep it simple and drop some hints to your spouse and kids.

Check out our Mother's Day Weekend Planner for fun and quick ideas like these:

• Mother's Day Crafts Kids Can Make

Treats in our house range from cupcakes, to stickers but today after my son was incredibly patient at a long OB appointment we celebrated with a " Mama and Little Man Date" which consisted of fun coconut fruit smoothies in coconut cups and story time.

I thought this could also be a fun activity for Mother's Day as well.

This is a craft and card all in one!

1. Gather your materials, you will need some coffee filters ( enough to make 5 petals- for us that was 3), water colors, scissors, markers, and 2-3 colors of construction paper. We used tape because I like how smooth it looks, but glue would work too.

My Mother's Day couldn't have started any better than it did--after days of rocky sleep and after hours of instruction by Scott the night before, both kids let me sleep until 8:30. 8:30! This was a wonderful and much-needed change from Saturday morning, when L. woke us up at 5:00 a.m.--worked up we think from anxiety about the babysitter who was coming that morning to watch the kids while Scott and I headed off to our respective college's graduation ceremonies.

My husband looked at the caller ID. “It’s your mother.” I grabbed the phone and stared at it. I wasn’t going to answer. I wasn’t going to answer because I knew she wanted to wish me a happy mother’s day.

But something compelled me to pick up.

“Hello.”

“Lia, happy mother’s day,” she said.

I didn’t want to say it back but I did, “Same to you.”

“Are you getting ready for church?”

“Yes,” I replied.

“Enjoy your day,” she said, before hanging up.