Happy Mother's Day?

So I still have my sinus infection, and quite honestly I have never had one this bad before.  That being said, the hubby let me sleep in quite late, picked me up some coffee from Tim Horton's, and then gifted me with a brand new ipod...better model than the one that disappeared. This afternoon my kids had AWANA, and mothers were supposed to come and participate in Mother's Day festivities.  They told our husbands last week, when they went for an early Father's Day celebration and played dodge ball with the kids, that they were going to try and think of something to do to "pamper" the moms.  I showed up in dressy flats, leggings, and a long top, ready for some much needed pampering.  In a matter of moments it became evident that no pampering would be taking place, and we would be subjected to playing dodge ball as well. One hour and thirty minutes of dodge ball to be exact!  Have you ever played one hour and thirty minutes of dodge ball? I mean since you were like eleven?  Let's just say, the dressy flats were discarded, my hair was completely wet, and I was seriously wishing I had put on a few extra layers of deodorant. The main bonus was I got to play this game with my "sister" Julie.We alternately, took each other's children down. There is a small measure of guilt when you wipe out your own kid, until they take you out a few times that is. So she had my back and I had hers. Yes, I felt like crap, but if anyone knows me, I am competitive to the core, and I wasn't going down without a fight. Our first round was played with middle school aged kids, they were tough, and equally as competitive as I am.  They did have a couple rules imposed on them, like they had to throw with the hand that was not dominant.  That helped for a bit, but then I noticed several "forgot" and switched back to their dominant one. I felt it was my duty to point this out to the ref. Besides, mothers are sticklers about following rules, and that was going to be the only way we could take the little buggers down. Julie did hit my eldest in the face, or partially, since she had her arm covering part of her face. She felt appropriately remorseful, HA!, I just told her if she screwed up the newly unbraced teeth she could pay for the next round. :) It was during this round, that one of the moms was evidently suffering from severe flatulence. It was bad enough to penetrate through my horrible sinus infection. It didn't matter where I ran in that gym I was enveloped in the smell, I almost willingly forfeited that round to escape! Amazingly, we finished that round of gameplay tied with the middle schoolers. Next class up was the 3 to 5 year olds.  This time WE had to throw with our less dominant hand and from a kneeling position. Oh yeah, and one of the rules for every game was anyone that hit someone in the head was out. Have you ever tried to play dodge ball with kids that small?  It is nearly impossible NOT to beam them in the head. They are SO close to the floor.  A lesser woman would have flinched at throwing a ball at little kids, but not I.  Several of the moms started off a little reticent, the kiddos looked so innocent and helpless on the court, but I was there to remind them that these were the same kids that threw temper tantrums in the grocery store and made you feel like the WORST MOM EVER when they have their public meltdowns. The only one I couldn't take down in good conscience was the little cutie in glasses that stood right in front the whole time, but the rest were fair game. The last class was full of little cheaters. This was the kindergarten through 2nd grade class.  These are the kids that don't back down to the threat of "scary mom faces". I received the "L" sign from my own kid several times, basically I was being called a "LOSER!" I responded with the "I have my eyes on you" sign. This class featured several promising future lawyers, arguing that they weren't really hit, i.e. the ball bounced first.  "Yeah, it bounced first, off of your foot before it hit your leg!" Seriously, you are going to ARGUE with a mom on Mother's Day? This round involved a lot of finger pointing  (yeah, I am not too proud of that now), and getting kids knocked out of the game on technicalities, like stepping over the line that they weren't supposed to cross, holding more than one ball at a time, etc. Since they wouldn't sit down when they were actually hit, we had to get them out one way or another. I think we ended up tied with the last class as well. All in all, I think we mothers held our own. Despite having a throbbing jaw, and being seriously out of shape, I was simply thrilled I didn't collapse in a heap onto the gym floor.  It is moments like these that I hope my kids know how much I love them, because I wouldn't have done it for any other reason, other than to spend Mother's Day with them. Well, that, and maybe just a small part was to show them that their OLD mom could actually beat them at their own games.