When it comes to being a mom, Mariska can’t help but feel like the luckiest lady on earth. “Our family is so perfect, or at least perfect for me,” she gushed to  in 2018. “Together we’re just this whole, happy, joyful, chaotic, crazy unit. I’ve never known anything that was more right.”

Aside from making beautiful memories with her little ones over the years, the  alum is grateful to have learned so much from her children. “The thing that’s made me a better parent is my kids. Because they taught me to really listen,” Mariska marveled, crediting Peter for being her biggest supporter.

“My husband is my North Star, and my kids are my teachers,” she continued. “Peter and I, we’re so different that it’s been amazing how we complement each other. He knows everything I don’t.”

Mariska is especially thankful to have Peter by her side as she’s juggled motherhood and her long-running role on  for the past two decades. Though the California native is proud to be a working mom, Mariska knows it’s sometimes difficult to balance all her responsibilities.

“I get jealous that other people get to take August to school and pick him up. It’s hard for me to go to his school and not know all the parents,” she once said to . “They all know one another and it’s a community. I can’t always be a part of that.”

Because Mariska knows “you can’t have everything,” she’s making sure to relish what she already has.

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