The Mom Squad: Emma Samms (Holly), Kirsten Storms (Maxie) and Cynthia Watros (Nina)
I Hope That My Child/Children Thinks I Am:
Samms: “Nonjudgmental and supportive.”
Storms: “Strong.”
Watros: “Loving.”
My Kid Would Describe Me As:
Samms: “Enthusiastic and forgiving and maternal.”
Storms: “Well, Harper is right here, so let me ask her. She says sweet and fun and likes yarn too much.”
Watros: “Emma says ‘multifaceted’.”
Best Thing About Motherhood:
Samms: “Well, for me it’s that I just got lucky and I had two amazing children. I have two fabulous, kind, smart, fun people who happen to be my children!”
Storms: “I guess it’s also the thing that makes me the saddest: watching her grow up. Just seeing her personality expand and her interests grow is just an amazing experience, and to be responsible for another human and watch them grow up.”
Watros: “I was so smart to have these girls because they are amazing human beings and I love them so much.”
Most Challenging Thing About Motherhood:
Samms: “How much you love them. You just so desperately want them to be happy because you love them so much, and sometimes — oftentimes — things are out of your control and you can’t fix them for them.”
Storms: “I guess right now I’m going to say organization because that’s what we’re doing today. I try so hard to be present for everything.”
Watros: “I have daughters that are 21, turning 22. It’s about loving them and letting them be their own people because you’re used to teaching them and guiding them and there comes a point where you just have to look at them realistically and who they actually are and who they’re becoming and appreciate the people that they are, not the people that I think they should be.”
Favorite Mother/Child Activity:
Samms: “I feed them!”
Storms: “We like to do arts and crafts together. I love to knit and crochet and do any sort of craft, but Harper is really into drawing and painting. There’s a YouTube channel called Art for Kids Hub and they do drawing lessons and Harper and I will sit down, we’ll get our black Sharpies out and draw every Nintendo Mario character in one sitting.”
Watros: “We’ve always gone to Disneyland, the three of us together, just to spend a couple hours or the day. The three of us going together is what makes it so much fun.”
Ideal Mother’s Day Itinerary:
Samms: “Feeding them [laughs]. When we all lived in the same house, they used to bring me breakfast in bed.”
Storms: “What we usually do is go to brunch and just hang out. And we’ll take a card game or something with us typically and play cards and then come home and do an arts and crafts activity.”
Watros: “I would love to wake up and everyone is just so loving and the girls aren’t bickering about anything with each other. So just complete peace and harmony. Then we’d hike and have a nice lunch and just hug each other a lot and spend a few hours asking each other questions, like, ‘What’s your favorite memory of us?’ and, ‘What do we love about each other?’ ”
Ideal Mother’s Day Gift:
Samms: “I honestly would hate for them to spend their hard-earned money on some gesture like flowers. My children are very good about keeping in touch with me, and those daily texts and phone calls are actually by far the most valuable thing to me.”
Storms: “Harper gives me crystals for every holiday and for my birthday and I have a collection on my big media stand. I think the biggest one I have is a raw amethyst and it’s probably a foot tall. I look forward to getting those every holiday.”
Watros: “I’m a sucker for a poem. If you write me a poem in a card, I’ll keep it forever.”
Favorite TV Mom:
Storms: “The mom on SISTER, SISTER, Brenda, played by Jackée Harry, who is on DAYS now [as Paulina]. Harper I recently got into watching that show and she is hilarious. I want to channel her in some of my parenting for sure.”
Watros: “Carol Brady from THE BRADY BUNCH — but that’s tricky because my family wasn’t like that and I grew up thinking that’s what a family should look like. It made me think something was wrong with my family!”
My Special Mom Skill:
Samms: “Roasted potatoes.”
Storms: “I can carry, like, eight grocery bags on each arm. It comes in handy when you have a backpack on one shoulder, a cello on the other, and stuff from work in one hand. I can carry a lot of stuff.”
Watros: “Patience.”
I Embarrass My Kid When I:
Samms: “Pretty much any technological attempt I make is mortifying. Talking about technology in public embarrasses my daughter, when I refer to something as, ‘The Twitter’ or, ‘The Google.’ ”
Storms: “Do anything these days. The eyeroll just came into effect in our life, by the way. So I do this thing called the ‘spelling robot’ and Harper can’t stand it. When she practices her spelling words, I do it in a robot voice with a little robot dance to help her memorize how to spell. She will scream in the car if I start doing it.”
Watros: “Oh, so many things! I’ll sing really loud or dance in public. I like to show happiness and not that they’re not happy, but it’s mortifying to them!”
Word That Best Describes Motherhood:
Samms: “Your heart. Your heart completely belongs to them.”
Storms: “My first reaction was scary but I would say fulfilling. Being a mom is what I needed in my life and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I’m obsessed with my kid.”
Watros: “It’s heartbreaking and heartwarming and just the most intense love you could ever feel.”
