Obama surprises three moms with Mother's Day phone calls

WASHINGTON, May 11 (UPI) -- President Barack Obama spent part of Mother's Day weekend surprising three moms from around the country with phone calls from the White House.

"Hi. This is Barack Obama. Your President," Obama says in a video released Sunday.

The three moms chosen had recently written to Obama, but they had a little trouble believing the voice on the other line was really the president.

"No way," one mom said.

"Way," Obama replied.

"I know how tough it is to raise kids and do right by them," Obama said. "If it hadn't been for my mother I certainly wouldn't be here doing the most important work there is."

Stephanie Tarr, of Golden Valley, Minn., told My Fox Twin Cities that her conversation with Obama was the "best gift ever."

Tarr said she spoke to the president for "four to five minutes" with her husband and younger son on speaker phone.

"I will remember it for every Mother's Day," Tarr said.