mother's day.

             my homemade gift shrine

my favorite food is jalepenos! love that spelling. and my favorite thing to do is text...uh oh! this boys knows me too well, and at this exact moment I grounded myself from my iPhone.

As soon as the high from my birthday goes away, Mother's day is here. The homemade gifts did not disappoint this year, they filled my window ledge and I had a hard time taking everything down! Brayden woke me up with a plate of mini bagels and a banana, and I had to laugh when I got on the computer later and noticed "brat diet" in the google search bar. Love that he was taking thoughtful precautions since I had told him the day before that I was having some "stomach issues"....ha.

donuts with divas.

I say it every year, when can we go back to Muffins with Mom? It was the (cheaper) "Donuts with Divas" again this year and then I got to go to Kosty's class for a special mothers day song and gift. Kosty's teacher broke both her wrists a few weeks ago and for some reason the sub had gotten lost and wasn't there yet...? The principal was doing an awkward song and dance trying to get the kids to remember their songs and program. It was still cute, but a little strange. Kosty is not one for any sort of chaos so immediately after the program, he told me he didn't "feel good"...I decided to check him out early and spend the day with him. My mom and sister and I were meeting for a mother's day lunch and he was happy to tag along. With every bite of his chicken noodle soup, he said, "MMMMMM! This is THE stuff!" It was a fun day with him and I'm glad he came with. 

mother's day retreat.

My friend Nicole planned a Scottsdale retreat for Mother's Day weekend. We left on Friday afternoon and checked into a Scottsdale resort and then went out to dinner and shopped. We shut down the stores and then went back to our room and stayed up way too late chatting and laughing. Saturday morning was spent sleeping in and lounging by the pool. Then we went shopping and to lunch before heading home to spend mother's day with our families. Such a fun weekend!

Kosty gets these "family project" assignments every so often at school. I have to admit this was the first time the whole family got involved, but thats a shame, cause it turns out we work pretty awesome together  as a team. He was supposed to make a poster or diorama or something about what he wants to be when he grows up. He wants to be an artist. So we made an art gallery. He thought of the curtains and I jokingly said a spotlight would be cool, and Jer rigged one up. He was so cute that night because he kept getting out of bed just to take "one last look" at it. He was pretty proud of this one!

dapper boy.

Brayden hates the way he looks in a suit. And it makes me so sad! He looks so handsome. He looked in the mirror and said it made him look "chubby." Sad, sad. Someday he'll change his mind. Of course he still puts it on whenever I beg because he's that sweet of a boy. 

pinkalicious play.

I got to chaperon Kosty's field trip to the Broadway Dinner Palms. He refused to take even one single picture for me but then later I got an email from another mom who snapped this^ perfectly happy dimply grin with no problem whatsoever. I had two girls and Kosty in my group and it started out so lovely with the one in the first pic, Ava. She wanted to take not one but 50 pics of us in our bus seat together. Told me how happy she was to be in my group and was just as sweet as could be until I asked her to sit on her bottom since she kept standing on the bus. As soon as those words came out of my mouth, she completely turned on me. She started talking back and mimicking me in the most sassy tone. I asked her to stop being sassy and did so with a calm voice. I told her I didn't want her to fall if the bus slammed on the breaks so she needed to sit down. All of a sudden, she was balling and saying I "yelled" at her. And that she wished she never sat by me and that I was so mean. A little shocked, I wanted to clear my name since she was telling everyone this. I reminded her that I asked her to sit and not be sassy in a normal voice, and that there was no yelling involved. She insisted that I yelled and threw a huge fit and got lots of attention from the teacher and other moms. Embarrassing. She kept saying that she didn't want to sit with me and she wished she never had. So, I told her, that's ok. She could sit by someone else on the way back....


They had us line up for a buffet smorgasbord of everything kids like to eat. Chicken nuggets, pizza, hamburgers, hot dogs, macaroni, cookies, cake, jello, and pudding. Then we watched the play--Pinkalicious, which was really cute. Afterwards, we started loading the bus and I made sure that I sat with anyone but Ava. Since she had requested it. About 5 minutes into the ride, she peeks behind over the seat and was sobbing..."BUT I wanted to sit with you!!!!" I couldn't believe my ears. I reminded her about how she said she didn't want to sit by me but she responded, "I was just JOKING!" between sobbing tears. Then she even said something about how I was breaking rules and she had to sit by an adult. I then told her that if she would like, she could sit with me when the bus came to a stop. She wasn't happy about that either. She said once again I was mean and that she wanted me to join her in her seat. I told her that I couldn't since I already had another little girl next to me that actually wanted to sit by me, but that she could join us. She insisted she wanted just me to sit by her and so the other little girl decided to appease her and sit elsewhere so Ava could get her way. When the other girl moved, Ava snapped at her and told her not to. Then that girl started to cry. I told Ava to stop being mean, comforted the other girl, and then all of a sudden Ava is next to me mimicking me and telling me how mean I was. Seriously, I was in the twilight zone and could not wait to get off the bus. I finally HAD IT and said Oh, Ava, there is just nothing that will make you happy. Then I turned and ignored her. About 5 minutes later, she had calmed down and stopped crying and says in a perfectly composed and mature manner, "I'm really sorry. I was really mean to you back there." OH MY GOODNESS, WHAT A ROLLERCOASTER! When we got home I couldn't help but over share the story with jer and the boys who were laughing about the adventure with Ava. I realize not all girls are like that but all I know is I LOVE BOYS. The end.

This was when we were on our 6th straight round of Sorry Sliders. All I wanted to do was hop over the game board and squeeze his cute face. But he would never allow it. Doesn't he know that its pure torture?

This kid. He asked us to roll up his "cash" in a rubber band. He put on this necklace, threw up his hands, and said, "What's up now, Bro?" He can be quite hilarious.