First half of May

May 1st

I was able to find a babysitter for Noah and Gracie so that I could go on the Kindergarten field trip with Zayah. It turned out to be a very warm sunny day. The field trip had been rescheduled because the first time it was scheduled in April it had been rained out. I had a group of three boys with one being Zayah. I had a really good time as I took the boys around the Zoo. I made sure to go to all of the exhibits that I thought boys would love like the jaguar, leopards, monkeys, lions, etc.. One of the boys didn't like the snakes and so we bypassed that one. We actually heard the lion roar, saw the elephant do a little show, and Zayah noticed a new family of baby ducks.:) This was the first time I've heard the lion or see the elephant actually working with his trainer picking up tires, a tree trunk, laying down etc... I learned the elephant at our Zoo is Asian so he has a one lobe that is like fingertip at the end of his trunk. African elephants have more than one lobe that acts as fingers. Elephants don't drink through their trunk instead they use it to draw the liquid into their mouths. They eat and drink a lot during one day like about 300 pounds of forage a day, and up to 50 gallons of water. Learning this, as the Zookeepers were telling us, was fascinating to me but we had to move on because the boys are only five and their attention span was weakening. Cool, anyway. We ate lunch together in front of the Africa Live exhibit and it was fun! Seeing Zayah's bright smile all day was worth the trip!

Mother's Day, May 10th

My day started out fabulously because my children woke up early and made a yummy breakfast of my favorites: waffles, sausage, scrambled eggs, yogurt, chocolate milk and a smoothie! Jared had to work and so I know that he wasn't able to help them actually cook it. He did help then by getting what they needed at the store the day before. I was quite surprised and it tasted so good.
They each presented me with cute homemade cards and coupons for me to redeem to do little chores and things around the house. I loved them and I'm posting a picture of a group of all the cards. They wrote wonderful stories and poems on them for me! I've definitely been filled with love and I'm super grateful for having such tenderhearted, wonderfully talented children!
Later that evening, Jared came through in a big way to surprise me for Mother's Day. He made homemade hamburgers, fries and grilled corn on the cob. It was the most mouth-watering meal and delicious! There was no way I could finish eating all of it. We had so much fun having a family dinner that I couldn't have dreamt of a nicer gift than that! Very enjoyable!










Jared also gave me a big beautiful bunch of flowers. So pretty!









Nessa and Hopie helped a lot with Noah today as well so that I could have a little break. It didn't go over as well for Noah because he just wanted his Mommy which made for a cute photo! Thanks to all of my children and my dear husband for all the wonderful things you did for me today. I felt loved. It was a Happy Mother's Day for me!









I hope it was a special day for all women everywhere!

When Jared's not workin', he's cookin'!

“Good painting is like good cooking: it can be tasted, but not explained”

Jared loves to cook! He has made some amazing dinners over the years. Here's one of his specialties - Spaghetti! He loves to eat it and make it. He likes to tell the story of how he could eat spaghetti every day and never grow tired of it because its one of his favorite meals.
Here he's making his special, yummy sauce and I love this tomato-based sauce. He cooks up some hamburger and then adds a can of Barilla or Classico plus another can of tomato sauce - a few more spices especially black pepper and wa-la ~ it's spaghetti sauce. He also made some beautiful herb with light garlic crescent rolls that were awesome!


Here's the link to the Crescent rolls recipe.


----------------
Now playing: John Denver - Annie's Song
via FoxyTunes

Ooooh Sooooo Good - Lemon Tarts

We took a lot of photos during this process of making these mini lemon meringue pies that we've decided to call lemon tarts. Mainly because it's fun to say: "The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts."
I love to cook and my mother, Clara, taught me. It is something I really want to teach my children as well. So, we do these kind of cooking activities a lot. It's fun! My way of relaxing is to cook and I love to share my food with those I really care about. It's how I show my love to others. I enjoy it!
This first picture is of the lemons before we squeezed all the juice out of them.

















Here's little Gracie ("peep, peep") helping me squeeze the lemons with the citrus juicer that mommy bought from Pampered Chef that I actually like.














Here's Cowboy helping to stir and stir then stir again the lemon sauce made from scratch.

Zayah and Gracie helping to cut out all of the pie crusts - also made from scratch.
Finally, its a picture of Zayah, holding the finished product with the meringue and everything.
By the way, these tarts were fabulously yummy!