Mother's Day Weekend

I had such a lovely Mother's Day weekend.

The weather was beyond gorgeous. The days were filled with relaxation and just laid back family time - most of it outdoors. And I spent Saturday evening with my mom and sister. Couldn't ask for a better weekend!

The only downfall was my quickly declining state of health from about nap time to bed time on Sunday. I still enjoyed the day, but by bed time, I was feeling awful... and that persisted for the next few days. I'm still on the mend, actually. These sinus things usually last for a couple weeks, it seems.

Back to the lovely weekend...

On Friday, when I picked the kids up from our sitter's, they had a gift for me that Lisa helped them make that week. An ocean-scene, paper weight with "fish" made of the kids' thumb prints! Isn't that cute? :) I love it! And it looks so pretty in my kitchen window with the light coming through it.

Saturday morning - making breakfast in my pj's. Sophie has been doing this leg-hugging thing to me a lot lately and I secretly love it. :) So Will is just mimicking her and Craig snapped a picture.

Saturday we spent the day outside: playing in the dandelions across the street, taking a bike ride, playing in the yard. In the afternoon, Will and I ran to the library to exchange books and then we made tacos for dinner that night.

Then in the evening, after the kids went to bed, I headed over for a little girl time with MY mommy.

It was wonderful.

A little of this...

a little of this...

(that's a hot pepper jelly over cream cheese with crackers, by the way)

some of these...

while we played this...

an exchange of these...

and an application of this to my toes, which haven't seen color since last summer!

Kickin' up these...

while we watched almost 14 minutes of this (until pausing it to talk about something and never pressing play again)...

Oh, and Casey was there and kicking back with us too. She just hates feet and refused to be a part of our feet pictures.

We talked and talked and talked... and drank wine. ;) No face time with the camera for mom or I because we were looking comfy rather than cute for our evening at home. Casey looked cute because she just came from dinner with her in-laws. Way to make us feel bad, Case. New rule for girls' night: no looking hot unless we're going somewhere. Got it? I think I went home somewhere between 1 and 2 a.m. feeling very fulfilled and soul-nourished with girl time. I have the best mom and sister ever!

Sunday morning, I slept in and Craig brought me breakfast. We went to Schedel's as I had hoped and the weather was sooooo gorgeous! (Pictures coming soon!) The kids got down for a late nap and Craig and I washed (and he waxed) both our cars. The kids have been AMAZING nappers on weekends for the past month or so! At least three hours for both of them every single weekend day. One day recently, it was four hours for Will and almost four for Sophie! And they're still sleeping normally at night. I think with all the colds going around and how active they are, their little bodies just need that lately. And I am so appreciative!

Also on Mother's Day, I made myself a little vase full of paper lilies with this idea from Family Fun. I just traced the kids hands on white card stock for the petals and made the flowers later while they slept. We have a giant bag of multi-colored straws for our smoothies, so I had everything I needed on hand.

Now I have a beautiful Mother's Day display in my kitchen window that makes me happy every time I see it.

This is, by far, my favorite hand print craft we've ever done. Aren't they so cute? They're going to stay up for A LONG time, I think. :)

Craig brought me the tulips from a family member's house (not sure whose?).

And I got some of the nicest cards this year!!! Thank you for making me feel so special, mom and Casey and Stella!

After nap time, Craig took Will to go visit his mom for awhile, while Sophie put on her apron and helped me make Lemon Chicken and Asparagus Pasta for dinner.

We also made a pan of Fruit & Chocolate Dream Bars with apricot preserves and dark chocolate chips. Yum! I've already posted both of these recipes on my dinner posts in the past, but I'll repost them when I get around to writing last week's dinner post. ;)

The recipe calls for a 9" square baker, but I make them in a 13x9 because they are soooo rich and I like these bars a little thinner for that reason.

After dinner and bath, the kids got to bed and Craig and I sat down to watch a movie together. I have been SO in the mood for movies lately!

My prayers were many this weekend for all the blessings in my life. I am a very lucky mommy and I don't take that for granted!