A tribute to Moms

A mother of five, ages 15 down to 18 months old, Jen Shaw of Kimball feels grateful for and blessed by the love of her family.

After moving to Kimball in November of 2014 Jen began to raise her family of three with then boyfriend Cory Shaw.

"Cory and I have been married for almost three years now," Shaw said. "He is such an amazing dad and stepdad to the kids," she added.

Her oldest daughter, Katelynn, is 15, Kyle, 13, Kloey, seven, and Karson and Kamryn are 18 months.

One of Shaw's favorite parts of being a mom is watching her children become who they are as individuals. "They are all so different and I love to see them in their own ways with different personalities."

"It is important to remember that you are raising a future generation, not just children," said Shaw. "We, as parents, need to focus on the child as a whole, they will need the ability to become good members of society," she added.

With the busy agenda of an active mom, Jen occasionally finds herself being pulled in one thousand different directions at times, like so many others. Being a stay-at-home mom, Jen has her hands full with their 18 month old twins, Karson and Kamryn.

"I am so thankful I have the help from our family that I do, between my oldest daughter Kate, my mom and my mother in-law I would be lost," Shaw said. "I honestly thought the twins would be a piece of cake, they are the fifth generation set of twins in my family and I figured if everyone else in my family can handle it with such ease I can too... I think I may have overestimated myself," she added giggling with a big bright smile.

"Time management is my biggest challenge. I have three very active kids in sports throughout the year. I have a color-coded calendar; each member of my family has their own color, and without that I don't know what I would do," she said.

With all that it is hard to believe that she is able to find time for herself.

"I make time for myself - it is a must! I am what I call a "selfish mom" meaning that I know for a fact I am not doing anyone any good if I don't get my own space every once in a while," she said.

"I love being able to celebrate my mom on Mother's day, for the majority of the time it was just my mom and me, my dad died when I was 12 and the rest of the family lives far away. She is so important to me and who I am as a mother. She made me the mom that I am today."