Muffins for Moms and Mother's Day

How lucky am I that I was able to spend two special mornings with two of my very favorite people?!  They spoil me.  They give me a headache.  They love me.  I'll always love them.

On Thursday morning Sterling's class had something special prepared for the moms.  We had muffins, grapes, and water.  They sang songs to us, standing right in front of us. How cute!  We made a fun craft together, a bookmark.  And we chatted.

She wrote 'MOM'

As I was leaving to get back to work, she handed me this adorable coffee mug.  Her classroom theme was 'You Are My Sunshine.'

and her hand print on the other side.  So cute!  I still need to bake it before using it since it wasn't 'set' beforehand.  I don't want her hand print to wash away.

After school Thursday, both kids have the same PDO teacher (just on different days), and she brought these cute bookmarks in from the kids.  LOVE them!  They must be trying to tell me something this year.  Read more!

Sterling also did a questionnaire.  I think most of it is pretty accurate, ha!  I think its funny that she said 'she is special because she makes dinner' Ha!  This girl NEVER eats dinner.  But, yes, I do make dinner at least 5 nights a week, lol!

Friday morning came and Xander was super excited because it was his turn to have a special morning with mom.  Sterling was so upset because it was asked that siblings stay home (if possible, and it was!) so we could spend special time with just our preschooler.  Xander's theme was 'You Are My Sunshine' also.  They did the same songs as Sterling's class, but it was still sweet and special.

Upon entering his classroom, he came to get me and seated me in our spot.  Then we sat and waited for his instructions to serve me.  I mean, how sweet.  My 5 year old, bringing me my muffin and grapes.  Taking my trash to the garbage.  Just serving me.  I felt special.  He LOVED it too!

I love this boy!

The most awesome plate I've ever seen. Him and I outside playing.

"I Love You Mommy"

I also received a necklace

"Thumb body loves you"

We made a fun craft and then headed home to pick up Sissy and Daddy for dance practice.

It was such a fun two mornings enjoying my kiddos.  

On Saturday morning Nick had to work at 6, so it was just the kids and I all day.  We headed out to Bed Bath and Beyond to grab a new vacuum because one of ours decided it didn't want to suck up anything.  I decided on the Dyson Cinetic Animal + Allergy.   Holy awesome!  This vacuum is powerful.  I vacuumed the whole house Saturday.

Sunday morning I woke up to two rays of sunshine shouting "Happy Mother's Day, mommy!"  It was so sweet.  But, oh so early!  (Nick worked from 6-6 again)

Xander really wanted to make me oatmeal for breakfast in bed.  But I told him I had my breakfast planned for two weeks and that he could make that instead.  So he did.  I planned Cinnabon pull aparts.  So, I gave him a muffin tin, wrappers, I opended the tube of dough and told him what to do.  He did all of it!  (Minus in and out of the oven of course)

Sterling helped him, but she also made me my coffee. Two cups actually.  She's that good.  

Breakfast was awesome.  Thanks, kids!

Silly faces to end a fun day

These two.  They make my heart explode with joy and happiness.  They are more than I ever dreamed.  Their captions fit perfectly.  I love them so big!

(I should've separated these into two posts, but by the time I got going, it was too late)

Did you have a good Mother's Day (or week)?

Hello Sunshine

We've finally had sunny weather since Monday, so we decided to hit the trail at the lake.  It was beautiful out.  Xander and I went one way and Sterling and Nick went the opposite.  It was fun to meet up, supposed to be in the middle, but I guess Sterling was a bit side tracked on their walk.  She hates walking!

Xander and I had a great time.  I let him explore, have fun, and talk my head off.  He has a lot to say!  As he says.."I know everything, so that's why I know everything!"  Ha!  This boy is a hoot!

We saw a snake and he was worried it was going to bite me because I was too close.  It was a baby one, so I told him to not worry so much.  We saw turtles. We walked down to the water to see if the alligator were in the water.  Because he knows everything and alligators are in the waters of Nebraska. Oh, how I love him and his great mind!

He was so sweet.  He held my hand.  Grabbed my leg and hugged it real tight.  As I tried to walk.  He often wondered where Sissy and Daddy were. He loved walking/running the 3.2 miles.

His favorite part was running as fast as he could to the next bench so he could have a longer break.  He could have just walked and wouldn't have been so tired.  Hard headed little fella.

We met up with Sissy and Daddy and decided to make funny faces during a pit stop.  Nick made the remainder of the walk stressful.  He was constantly bickering at the kids to stay on the side by the grass.  The trail wasn't packed, so I didn't worry about it much.  When someone got close, we'd move to the side.  But Nick, he was constantly harping on them.  He's worried about them being ran over.  I am too, but I also want them to explore the environment.  It's good for them.

After getting home, Sterling needed to put her feet up.  She's not walker. But, we're going to work on that.

While Sterling had her feet up, I got busy making my weekly meal prep.  First up was this pasta salad.  I've been craving a cold pasta salad, but can't find one that I might like.  So I bought all my favorite veggies, salami, and cheese  and mixed it with rotini pasta.  I wanted to use my Olive Garden (OG) dressing I had, but wasn't sure how it would taste.  After mixing the ingredients, I took out one of each and mixed it with some dressing (as a test sample before mixing all of it) and my mouth died.  It was SO good.  I tossed in the dressing and stirred.  After eating some, I divided it up in containers for the week.  I took some to work yesterday and had a party in my mouth, ha!  If I didn't like the OG dressing, I was just going to make it with ranch dressing.  But I'm so glad I liked the OG dressing because it's much lighter!

After making my salad, I whipped up some chicken fajitas and peppers.  This was not photo worthy, but it was so good too!  I eat mine with just black beans, no tortillas.  My sister has been raving about sheet pan fajitas, so I had to give it a try.  I'm so glad I did! Thanks, sis!

I see a lot of cooking in our new house.  The kitchen will be larger and I'll actually have space for prep work.  So excited for the possibilities!

Thanks for stopping by!

Weekend Whatnots

We had a pretty good Friday.  I had Alexander to school on time, a first in a long while!  After we dropped him off, Sterling and I headed to our weekly Sam's run.  She loves to sit on the Gatorade with her feet hanging over.  Such a ham!  We ran out to base to look at the BX for some makeup so I wouldn't have to go to Dillard's, but they didn't have what I was looking for.  On the way out of the store, sweet Sterling asked if we could go have a mommy and me muffin.  We headed to Scooters so I could have some coffee too.  She loves the blueberry muffin and orange juice.

After picking up Alexander, we headed out for our weekly dance practice.  The parents were allowed in to observe during the last 10 minutes.  I thought I recorded some of it, but I guess I snapped two pictures instead, lol!  Just two practices left before her big debut.

Then Nick had a great idea to have the kids kiss my cheeks.  In case he needs the picture for an upcoming project for Mother's Day.  Ha!  We'll see if they do anything or not.  Otherwise, I got a funny picture, lol!

Saturday was planned as "get all the homework done" day.  I was successful in getting mine all done (a day early too!).  Woohoo!!  But, Nick still has to record a 5 minute file for his project.  I'm now done until August 22nd!

In between parts of my homework, I'd have comedian Sterling entertaining me.  Maybe it was easier to get done because she lightened the mood?!  She has so much sass!

Last weekend we signed a lease for our new home.  I'm excited for my kitchen!  I'm not loving all the colors they have going on in the house, but I'll make it work.  The home is perfect for us.  AND...it's in a school district of 9 out of 10!  I don't have to homeschool Alexander!  I would have if we couldn't find a home in a good school district, but I'm super excited (as is he) that he gets to go to Kindergarten at a school.  His new school is on YouTube, so he's been loving watching all the fun stuff they do.  He's so excited!

Talking about Alexander, he's been so difficult to parent lately.  I feel like nothing works to get him to listen.  So, I've been reading this again.  The only thing I can say to get him to do the right thing is "do you want another day of your gadgets gone?!"  This works, but if he never gets them back, I'm not sure it will work much longer.  He's just a hard headed little fella.

I like the statement in the book about the grocery cart in the supermarket having a crooked wheel.  This puts raising kids into perspective.  Do they ever, have crooked wheels!

I'm hoping now that I'm done with school work until mid August, that I can slow done and "play" with the kids more.  Maybe they (Xander mostly) needs more one on one attention?!

On Sunday Sterling woke up excited to play with mommy.  She loves it when you play with her.  It's her most favorite thing ever and her love language.

We first played with her princesses.

We then moved on to playing with baby dolls.  I held this doll and was her auntie while she was the mommy feeding her.

After we played for an hour, I started getting some real work done.  It's spring clean up days here, the last day, so I wanted to make sure to get some of the bigger stuff to the dump before we move.  

Feeling accomplished here.  We started going through our closets/drawers/toys today.  Not anywhere near done, but it's a good start.  I went through my closet/drawers and emptied out 1 large bag.  Nick started working on his and got rid of 1/2 of large bag and then the kids didn't want half of a bag full of stuffed animals.  And one full bag of trash.  The Open Door Mission is having a truck in our area on Saturday, so we want to utilize this service as well. We have SO much crap that we just don't ever where.  Like tags are still on shirts from 12 years ago.  Not even joking.  I wish I was!

This week is purge week!

Have a great day