Today…

Outside my window: it’s a fairly warm, sunny day. The weekend was kind of cold and dreary and rainy so it’s nice to see the sun out again and things warming up a bit.

I am happy because: I had a fantastic Mothers Day Weekend, got to spend some time at the library this morning and I have yummy leftovers for lunch. Also – we’ll be going to visit family in just a bit over 2 weeks!

I am reading: Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat by Michelle May and Percy Jackson and The Lightening Thief by Rick Riordan. I finished Sweet Life by Mia King this weekend and will likely review it tomorrow. I decided to abandon The Naked Buddha by Adrienne Howley not because I didn’t like it but rather I simply felt I’d gotten everything out of it that I wanted and my reading interests have started to shift and I needed to make room for some new books, which I just ordered from the library.

This weekend we: Had breakfast out for Mothers Day, Dan and the kids got me this great book called Fifty Dangerous Things (you should let your children do), took Dan shopping for dress clothes for the wedding since all his old dress clothes are really too big for him, and made yummy homemade chocolate lava cakes last night (recipe from Sweet Life by Mia King actually). While Dan was shopping for dress clothes, MM and I went to the accessories department to try on fun hats. Major fun was had.

In the kitchen:

• Monday: Lemon Penne and Salad
• Tuesday: Tuna Mac
• Wednesday: Grilled Cheese and Tomato & Salad
• Thursday: Breakfast for Dinner
• Friday: Spaghetti and a Penne a la Betsy Inspired Tomato Sauce (aka Jen doesn’t like spaghetti sauce that doesn’t have white wine in it anymore)

We also: Picked up some lined paper and flash cards because MM seems interested in learning to spell and write words and I wanted to help encourage that – but didn’t want to spend like $20 on a “workbook” that would really only touch on that a little bit. I spent about $5 and plan to show him a card with a word and picture then write the word once on a sheet of paper and let him trace over it and then practice writing it on his own.

Some other links I think you should click:

• 101 Ways to Eat Plain Yogurt (part of an ongoing series) at Fix Me a Snack
• Q & A: How Freely Do You Let Your Kids Play? at Simple Mom
• My PSA For The Day at The McMommy Chronicles
• Encourage Kids To Cook By Hosting a Cooking Themed Birthday Party at Simple Bites
• An Unbirthday Worthy of Your Own Alice (or Jillian or Chloe) at Cool Mom Picks

One last thing I want to tell you about before I go: last night we watched The Blind Side and it was sooooo good. I know there is a lot of hype about this movie and my husband was super hesitant to watch it, worried it would be a downer or boring but it really is so uplifting and funny and just brilliant. You have to see it if you haven’t yet!