Mother's Day

I had a great mother's day this year - the kids and matt spoiled me.  One of my favorite things was a little survey Kaden did at school.  His teacher asked him the questions and wrote down what he said:

What I Know About My Mother
1.  How old is your mother? 30
2. How tall is your mother? 7 feet tall
3. How much does your mother weigh? 20 pounds (He told me later - "Yeah I was nice and said you only weigh 20 pounds, but I know that's not true cause I weigh 60!")
4. What color eyes does your mother have? blue just like me
5. what makes your mother laugh? When Lexie runs around crazy
6. What does your mother like to do for fun? When dad has the girls, mom and I go to chick-fillet for lunch and come home and play.
7. What is your mother's favorite food? pizza
8. If your mother could go anywhere on vacation, where would she go? To the beach with her mom (I guess he was listening when I said I love the beach and that Nana loves the beach too!)
9.  What does your mother do after you go to bed? She makes popcorn and watches tv
10. If your mother had $100 what would she buy? A lot of material
11. Does your mother have any brothers and sisters? 4 brothers and 1 sister
12. What is your mother's favorite food to cook? Ramen noodles (Seriously?  I consider myself a pretty good cook and this is what he comes up with? It made me laugh!)
13. What is your mother's favorite color? Red
14. Could your mother add 100+100 in her head? yes
15. How many cartwheels can your mother do? 2
16. What kind of job does your mother have? She takes care of us
17. Can your mother dance? yes
18. What do you do to show your mom you love her? I like to talk with her a lot.

He's such a sweet kiddo!  Love him!

Ballet Recital

Bailey's dance recital was last saturday and she did GREAT!  She remembered the routine and wasn't nervous at all to get up there!  Just another reminder of how big she is getting.

I told her I wanted some pictures - and here's the poses she came up with. :)  Of course Lex had to get in on the action.

A HUGE treat for Bai - she got to wear a little bit of makeup

Getting her medal

Ms. Rachel and the whole class

Bai and two of her best friends - Kristy and Leyanna.

Zucchini Oat Bread

We are already getting zucchini from our garden.  And while I love my normal zucchini bread recipe - I saw this one last summer and wanted to try it.  It has become one of my favorites and my kids love it.  However I asked Matt today how he liked it and he said..."It's ok.  You can tell it's healthy."  Good to know since I've been making it for the last year. 

Anyway....I think it's delicious and wanted to share.

Zucchini Oat Bread

Ingredients:

Nonstick cooking spray
1-1/2 cups sugar
2-1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3 eggs
1 cup applesauce
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups shredded, unpeeled zucchini
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
3/4 cup raisins

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly coat a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan with cooking spray; set aside. Combine 1 tablespoon of the sugar and 1/4 teaspoon of the cinnamon; set aside. Combine flour, oats, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and remaining cinnamon; set aside. In a large mixing bowl beat eggs with electric mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes or until foamy. Add remaining sugar, the applesauce, butter, and vanilla. Gradually add the flour mixture, beating on low speed just until combined. Stir in zucchini, nuts, and raisins. Spoon into prepared pan. Sprinkle with sugar-cinnamon mixture.
2. Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan. Cool completely on rack. Wrap and store several hours before slicing. Makes 16 slices.

**I bake it in two loaves instead of one big one - so it only needs to bake about 45-50 minutes.  So good toasted with a little bit of butter on it!  Yum!

Twirly Skirt and Fabric Flower

For some strange reason I was in the mood to sew today.  The older kiddos were watchin a movie with Dad and Lex was napping - so I decided to make Bai a quick skirt.  I've made lots of variations of skirts for my girls, but I saw this tutorial and wanted to try it.  The only thing I changed was adding the ribbon - I thought it needed something more since my fabric was solid.

I love the way it turned out and Bailey LOVES it - she's pretty easy to please.  Not bad for a skirt made from my scrap pile!

I saw an idea a couple weeks ago on a blog and I can't find it again for the life of me!!!  I wish I could so I could give credit.  Anyway - you just take some silky fabric (yep-that's the technical term), cut out some circles of different sizes, and burn the edges with a lighter til they curl up.  Then just glue them together and stick on a clip!  I love, love, love the way this turned out!  So simple and so stinkin cute!  Luckily I have lots of different scraps of silky fabric - so I'm gonna make a bunch more!

I'm trying to decide if it's too big?  I might make some smaller ones for Lex. . .

It was a fun little saturday afternoon project - what better way to ignore the big stack of dishes in my sink?!!

Mommy to Mom to Mother

MOTHERS

Real Mothers don't eat quiche; They don't have time to make it.

Real Mothers know that their kitchen utensils are probably in the sandbox.

Real Mothers often have sticky floors,filthy ovens and happy kids.

Real Mothers know that dried play dough doesn't come out of carpets.

Real Mothers don't want to know what the vacuum just sucked up.....

Real Mothers sometimes ask 'Why me?'

And get their answer when a little voice says, 'Because I love you best.'

Real Mothers know that a child's growth is not measured by height or years or grade...

It is marked by the progression of Mommy to Mom to Mother....

The Images of Mother

4 YEARS OF AGE - My Mommy can do anything!

8 YEARS OF AGE - My Mom knows a lot! A whole lot!

12 YEARS OF AGE - My Mother doesn't know everything!

14 YEARS OF AGE - My Mother? She wouldn't have a clue.

16 YEARS OF AGE - Mother? She's so five minutes ago.

18 YEARS OF AGE - That old woman? She's way out of date!

25 YEARS OF AGE - Well, she might know a little bit about it!

35 YEARS OF AGE - Before we decide, let's get Mom's opinion.

45 YEARS OF AGE - Wonder what Mom would have thought about it?

65 YEARS OF AGE - Wish I could talk it over with Mom.

The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure she carries, or the way she combs her hair.

The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart,the place where love resides.

The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole, but true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul.

It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows, and the beauty of a woman with passing years only grows!

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Happy Mother's Day to my mom.  She is amazing - she is my role model of how to be a mom.  Hopefully one day I can live up to her great example.


Happy Mother's Day to my MIL - she is such a strong and dedicated person who loyal to her family and will always stick by them.


And Happy Mother's Day to all you other great mom's out there!  I have so many friends that are GREAT mothers and encourage me to be a better person and mom!