Mother's Day Weekend

The best part of Mother's Day is that it is always on a Sunday, so you can celebrate Mother's Day all weekend long! This Mother's Day weekend started off with Kevin letting me sleep in until 9:30 on Saturday and having French Toast & coffee made when I got up. Score!

After breakfast we surprised Claire with a big girl bike that Kevin found on craigslist for $5. SCORE! It is a Disney princess bike, so Claire was ecstatic.

Kate on the other hand, had a total and complete meltdown because Claire got a bike and she didn't. I have never seen Kate have a meltdown like that before. I wish I took video of her or took pictures of her because it was ridiculous. We sent to her room & she stayed there for over 30 minutes crying that she wanted a new bike. She wheeled her current bike to the side yard & said she wanted to give it away and get a new bike like Claire....she doesn't realize that Claire's bike is a junker compared to hers.
*sigh*
Kevin's best friend Brian & 2 of his kids stopped by to play and have lunch and then after lunch Kevin ripped out the overhang in our backyard.

The wood on the overhang was rotting and in REALLY bad shape. It had tons of dry rot. It was time for it to come down! While Kevin ripped it down, the girls napped & I was able to run some errands. By myself! Heavenly!

When I got home, the overhang was gone. It opens up our backyard SO much.
Our plan was to rebuild a new overhang/pergola, but because it opens up the patio so much and gives the girls more room to ride bikes, etc...we might not put a new one up! But, we might need a overhang to give shelter from the afternoon sun, since it gets so hot back there. Decisions, decisions! Not sure what to do!

The girls doing a show for us before bedtime:
For dinner I made PW's Linguine with Clam Sauce...yum, yum, yum.

I made a yummy dinner because we were celebrating the year anniversary of moving into this house! Exactly 1 year ago yesterday, we closed escrow on our house. I am so thankful that God put us in this house, on this court. It has been an amazing year & so many memories have been made. When I think back to the journey & story about how we got this house, it honestly brings tears to my eyes. I am overwhelmed with God's plan and how He orchestrated the whole situation.
We took a picture in front of our house today because that is what we did last year on May 7th (the day we closed escrow & we got the keys to the house)
Last night Kevin and I looked back on pictures of the house when we first bought it and it has been so fun to see all the projects that we have done on the house in the past year.
We are Do it Yourself type people, so this house has definitely been a labor of love for us.
And, also a Money Pit, but we still love it!

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This morning, I had another yummy breakfast waiting for me.
Kevin & Claire went and got doughnuts this morning:

And, Kevin got me these tulips. My Mother's Day present was my garden boxes that he built!

I helped in Kate's Sunday School class this morning and when we got home from church I told her & Claire that what I wanted for Mother's Day was for them to take some pictures with me.

I am always the one taking the pictures and I am rarely in them.

So, for Mother's Day, I wanted Kevin to take a few pictures of me & my girls!
This was the best we could get!

I gave up on getting some with both of them, so we went for getting individual ones with each of them! First up, me and Kate....the little girl who made me a Mother!
My first born....the sweetest little girl I know (excpet for when she doesn't get a craigslist bike, then watch out)
Love this one. Love it so much:
And then there's Claire....
My spirited child....so full of life & spunk.

The one who has challenged me & stretched me the most in her 2.5 years of life. The one who brings so much energy, spunk & pizazz to our lives.

Thank you, Kevin for taking these pictures.
I know how much you "love" taking pictures.....

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For dinner, we went to Chinese food with my sisters, parents & Kevin's parents.
My mom & my girls:

There are no words to describe how amazing my mom is. She is one of my heros, I look up to her in so many ways.
Here is the card I gave my mom, my friend Becky made the card.

Here is the necklace that Kate made me at preschool for Mother's Day:
Kate was so, so, so proud of this necklace. She asked me to wear it to school tomorrow so I can show all my students. You bet I am!

Now we are home....the girls are (finally) asleep and Kevin and I are going to have some chocolate chip cookie pie for dessert....

......and watch Little Fockers.
(Hello, is there anything better $1 movie rentals? Genius!!)

A great end to a great day.
It has been a simple, but lovely weekend.
Hope yours has been lovely as well!

P.S. Thank you to everyone who linked up recipes for my Cupcake Carnival last week. There are so many delicious recipes...check them out here!

Thursday Evenings at the Pool

A few weeks ago, the girls started swimming lessons at a local indoor pool.
We wanted them to have lessons before summer started and our backyard pool is too cold right now, so we signed them up for group lessons at the indoor (heated) pool.
Kate has been asking for swimming lessons since last Fall, so she was ecstatic that she finally got to take them.

Anxiously waiting for their lesson to begin:

Claire's lesson was first. Because she isn't 3 yet, they require a parent to go in the pool with her.

My mom comes to the lessons to hang out with Kate while Claire & I have her lesson.
I was so impressed with how Claire did at the first lesson. They taught her how to hang from the side of the pool & use the edge to move along the side of the pool. And, she learned how to climb out on her own! I couldn't believe how strong Claire was & that she was able to do that.

Claire's favorite part is the water slide they have. She climbs up it & slides down into the water (I am there to catch her, but she goes all the way under water first)

Kate's lesson was right after Claire's. Kate was ecstatic that they had purple goggles:
Kate was beaming the entire lesson, she was so proud of herself.

I was a little nervous for Kate's lesson because I didn't know how she would do, she is very timid around the water. Even though we have a pool in our backyard, she gets nervous in the pool.

But, her teacher was awesome. She made Kate go underwater. Her approach was gentle, but effecitive. I was so impressed. All last summer, Kate refused to get her hair wet in the pool or go underwater, so the fact that she did this in her first lesson was a huge relief for me!

Waiting her turn to swim back across:

Each student got a pink ribbon at the end of class:

So proud of herself!

Because the girls did so well at their first lesson (and it was dinner time), Kevin & I took them to In-n-Out since it is right around the corner from the pool....and we have done this after every lesson so far!

The girls got In-n-Out hats to play with while they waited for our food.

I heart In-n-Out....YUM!

If you haven't had In-n-Out before, you are missing out.

We only eat fast food a few times a year, so this is a real treat!

Although, I think going to In-n-Out after swimming will be the tradition for the rest of the month, since we are only doing swimming lessons for the month of May! And, that also means one less night I have to cook dinner on a school night!

P.S. Be sure to check out some of the amazing Cupcake Recipes posted in my Cupcake Carnival.
The linky will be open for another week, so be sure to add your cupcake recipes!

How does your Garden grow?

One of our {many} backyard projects has been to re-vamp our side yard and put in a garden.

When we bought our house last May, the backyard was in rough shape. Really rough shape.
Kevin has been working so hard the past year getting our backyard taken care of.
Last summer was spent ripping out all the dead & overgrown plants.
This Spring we are planting new things & getting our backyard ready for summer.
Here is what the side yard looked like last May:

It was overgrown with weeds, rocks & plum trees (that didn't produce plums)
The area gets a lot of afternoon sun, so we knew it would be perfect for a garden!
Here is another view:
Kevin ripped out all the plum trees last summer & then a few weeks ago he built me 3 garden boxes (that are each 8 feet by 4 feet)
We still have some work to do around the perimeter of the garden
(finishing up weeding, laying ground cover, putting in a stepping stone pathway & planting an apple tree & lime tree)
Last week I got the garden planted!
Because it is our inaugural year for a garden, I planted TONS of veggies in hopes that some of them will produce! I went a little crazy!
Here are the contents for Garden Box #1:

Here is Garden Box #2:

{I have 2 of each of these tomato plants}

Garden Box #3

This box contains 5 Early Girl Tomato plants. Best tomato EVER.
I will be making ridiculous amounts of Caprese Salad with these tomatoes!

I can't wait for our plants to grow & produce home grown veggies!
I have always wanted a vegetable garden of my own.
Here's hoping I have a green thumb & not a black thumb!
Do you have a veggie garden? Any tips for this rookie gardener?

P.S. Be sure to check out some of the amazing Cupcake Recipes posted in my Cupcake Carnival.
The linky will be open for another week, so be sure to add your cupcake recipes!