mother's day and other cool stuff

To catch you up on some recent happenings:

Our family can now go on bike rides down the street.

Ella can now read to a captivated Maya. Occasionally she actually does so.

We partook in some seriously needed feet up time at the Manharts: bike riding, tree climbing, grilled supper, chiminea fire and catching up.

And (this one stands alone) grilled nutella berry pizza.  Oh. My. Goodness.  Like a chocolate dough boy.  Need I say more?  I started to size people up to see if I could take them as this beauty disappeared slice by gooey slice.

Well deserved:

Mother's Day isn't the incredible holiday in our house as it is in some.  The whole two mom thing means there is no other adult to orchestrate the Mother's Day indulgences. The girls each did make us something at school (Maya gave us hers Thursday afternoon as soon as we picked her up) and Ella asked if she could pick out a card for us at the grocery store.  Which meant that she wanted me to choose which I liked and also pay for it. 

Maybe we should consider splitting it and having one of us take Mother's and one take Father's Day?  Just a thought.

Ella's riding teacher also prompted her to serve us breakfast in bed and she asked if she could.  We made banana bread Saturday and she and Maya were very excited.

Ella also celebrated Mother's Day with a temper tantrum of epic proportion which made us all vacate the house while she yelled and screamed.  Hey, at least I got some time in the garden on my special day.

We were lucky enough to have both our moms (and Sandi's dad plus 2of the 3 of the our sisters) over to spend a beautiful afternoon out on the patio and by the fire pit visiting, eating, laughing and telling stories.

And, naturally, the only thing I took a picture of on this lovely afternoon was the truly remarkable amount of flatbreads we made for lunch:
(note: not all flatbreads shown)

We made broccoli alfredo, carmelized onion and pineapple, pesto with sunflower seeds and walnuts, pesto with roasted vegetables and goat cheese and the same with pizza cheese instead of goat, plus a  tomato, baby spinach, garlic and feta flatbread.  And yes, a cheese one for the kids.  Because I don't know about you but my kids aren't down with the goat cheese just yet.

Hope everyone had a great mother's day. Perhaps you were lucky enough to not get an emotional outburst the size of Mt. Saint Helen's.  Maybe you were so fortunate to get a poem.

These poems, written by Ella, sets the scales to even again though.

For Sandi:

Mommy I love you.
You are the best.
Mommy you are kind.
Oh Mommy you are the best.
Mommy you are so nice.


For me:

Momma I love you
You are so sweet.
Momma you are helpful.
Oh Momma you are the best.
Momma you are fun.

(So I guess Sandi really is the best AND she's nice whereas I am helpful, second best, but I am also fun.)

As you can see, no big deal having a kid make two because she has two moms.  And who knows maybe she will get to do something cool like build a rocket ship when they make Father's Day cards?

Ella asked me if I would keep mine forever.  Indeed I will.