Beach Trip

We LOVE going to the beach and hope that this will be the first of many trips this summer (since we only live an hour away). Today we went with 4 of my good friends, together we have 10 kids. It's so nice to go to places like beaches with other moms because we all look out for each others kids.

Aidman loves to made sand angels which is WAY better than snow angel because you are not FREEZING afterwards.

We dug in the sand and made more holes than castles. They are like daddy in this because he ALWAYS tries to dig a GIANT hole when we go to the beach (I'm sure later this summer I'll be able to post pictures to prove my point).

The girls mostly just enjoyed sitting and chatting (little women already!).

It was such a BEAUTIFUL day!!

Mother's Day Brunch

Today I went to a Mother's Day brunch at Aidman's school. I am such a sentimental fool, I could NOT hold back the tears.

Each mom had a table setting.


Aidman painted this beautiful frame. That is such a great picture of him!

Here is the sweet place mat. It says...

Sometimes I might upset you

Because I am so small

And always leave my fingerprints

On Furniture and walls.

But everyday I grow a bit

And soon I'll be so tall

That all those little fingerprints

Will be so hard to recall

So here's a special hand print

Just so that you can say

This is how my fingers looked

When I placed them here today.

The kids served the mommies food.

You can always tell Aidman is concentration because his tongue is sticking out.

Then the kids sang some beautiful songs.

Then the teacher's read aloud an interview of the child about the mama. Here is what Aidman said...

My Perfect Mommy

My Mommy's eyes are blue

And Brown is the color of her hair,

Her favorite food is McDonalds

Which she won't always share!

She has a very loud laugh

Cooking is what she loves to do

I know that giving her a hug

Cheers her when she's feeling blue.

Her special name is Brandy

And purple is her favorite color

God made this special lady just for me

We are perfect for each other.

Then they brought us a gift.

It's a beautiful jewelry box.

With candy inside! It says...

This is a very special box, as you can see.

The reason it's so special it's just for you from me.

It's filled with lots of kisses

as sweet as sweet can be.

Just hold the box close to your heart,

and you'll always think of me.

Yep, I can't event get through with this post without crying. It's just so sweet and I LOVE being a mommy SO much!!

This LONG winded post is week 6 of 52 weeks of capturing mom in pictures at Forever in Blue Jeans.

Zoo Races

"On Your Markit, Get Set, GO!!!" I LOVE watching my kids play when they think no one is around.

Baked Ziti

Tonight we made baked ziti.

The kids mixed the cheese mixture. Cottage or Ricotta cheese, mozzarella, Parmesan cheese, basil, and an egg (I eyeballed everything).

Aidman added the al dente ziti to the pan.

Lyssy added the cheese mix.

Aidman added the cooked Italian sausage.

Lyssy added the pasta sauce. I don't think there's enough flavor in the jarred sauces so I added salt, pepper, garlic, oregano, basil, and parsley to it before she dumped it in the pan.

It will be ready for the 350 degree oven after we add cheese to the top.

We baked it for about 30 minutes. YUMMY!! The kiddos devoured it!

Spooning and tonging are great for fine motor skills. Cooking is a great life skill and really boast self esteem.

Zebra Stripes

I LOVE art work that looks pretty in the end. BUT the way art turns out is NOT always the most important thing for a 3 and 4 year old child. The most important thing IS the PROCESS of making the art, thought and physical. Luckily, most projects end up looking GREAT when the child feels he/she is in control and doing what they feel free to do. I accomplish this mostly by giving them art materials and letting them have at it, other times I ask them what they want to make and how they can do it and then provide everything they need. Then there are times that I have a project in mind, so the get the most of their thought and creativity going, I ask them questions or read books that lead to "my" project. Don't get me wrong, there are times where teacher/mommy led work is very important.

Today I asked the kiddos what a zebra looks like. They of course said it has black and white stripes. So we got out a big piece of paper (the back side of the paper we used last week for yo yo painting) and black and white paint. As you can see, Aidman made one horizontal stripe, he then stood back and said "that's not right", then he made a vertical stripe and decided that's the way a zebra looks. I led them to what we were going to make without telling why or how to do it, they came up with the rest on their own and had a great time doing it.

The kiddos want me to cut it into the shape of a zebra, so we will work on that tomorrow.

Zucchini Bread

For the letter Zz... we made zucchini bread. When the kids saw the zucchini and I told them we were making bread they both let out a loud ewwwwwwwwwwww.

Aidman shredded the zucchini.

Lyssy and AB took turns measuring and mixing the other ingredients.

THIS is why people don't don't want to cook with kids! It's a GIANT mess.

But THIS is the reason they SHOULD cook with kids!! They kept asking for more zucchini muffins! And I LOVE the way Lyssy says zucchini.

Zucchini Bread

3 cups shredded zucchini

1 2/3 cups sugar

2/3 cup vetetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla

4 eggs

3 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cloves

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat oven to 350. Grease 9x5 loaf pan or muffin tins.

Stir together wet ingredients. Mix in dry ingredients.

Bake loaf pan for 50-60 minutes, muffin tins for 25 minutes.

Aidman came to me crying.

Me: "What happened bubby."
Aidman: "The floor smacked me in the face."
Me: trying not to laugh "are you sure the floor smacked you?"
Aidman: still crying "yes, it hit me in the face."

He's got two tiny scratches, but I guess I'll never know what really happened.

Muffin Tin Monday

There is no theme for Muffin Tin Moday this week, which leads to a pretty boring tin here. Sliced cheese, crackers, peanut butter, cucumber, apples, and pineapple yogurt.

Even though I thought it was pretty boring... it was one of the quietest lunches EVER!!! Which means the kiddos must have really liked it. They LOVE using popcicle sticks to spread things.

LOOK...It's ALL gone! They DID like my boring lunch!

Zig Zag Zz

Today we made zig zag Zz's. I cut out the zig zags and the kiddos glued them to the Zz. Look at Lyssy's face, she is trying so hard not to spill the glue.

Zz Week

We are going to have a Zany and Zippy Zz Week!!

Art:
-Zig Zag Zz
-Paint Zebra stripes

Science:
-Plant Zinnias
-Zoo, we can't go because it field trip month and it will be crazy, but the kiddos just went a couple months ago so we will make a book out of the Zoo animal pictures.

Math:
-Ziploc number bags

Cooking:
-Baked Ziti
-Zucchini
-Zoo snack- paint animal crackers with royal icing mixed with food coloring

Movement/Outside:
-Zoom across yard

Social Studies:
-Locate Zepherhills, FL on our map and take a drive there

Bible:
-Zacchaeus

Table Top Toys:
-Zoo Animals
-Rulers and paper
-Gluing together wood shaped to make into magnets

Zz words: (not above)
zero
zipper
zippity
Zimbabwe
Zhob River
Zaire
Zambia
Zorro
Zap
Zephyrosaurus
zone
zither
zipptydeedoda

Rainbow Fish

Tonight we read The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister. Then, we made our own rainbow fish.

I asked Aidman how we could make them and he said that we needed to paint a fish blue, green, and purple and then add glitter (I was thinking tin foil, but his idea was better).

Here Aidman is cutting out his fish, notice the tounge.

Lyssy cut her fish alittle too much, and then asked Mommy to cut one for her.

Then we got started painting.

Daddy even decided to join the fun. He wanted to make a shark instead.

The tounge again.

We were all so proud of our work.

Daddy caught a SHARK!!

And this will be week 5 of my 52 week challenge to get mama in a picture every single week.