Catching My Breath...

May has been quite the month for our family.

We've had birthday parties, girl scout camp, Mother's Day and a whole bunch of other stuff to keep us busy. I thought it would be easiest just to post a bunch of photos to sum up our month. That's all that you all come here for anyway, right?

This picture is of the lovely Mother's Day dinner that we had. The girls set the table, helped make the dessert (that you will see in a minute), and made some adorable cards for me.

After I chopped up the basil for the pasta, the girls really wanted to plant the rest of it and see if it would grow. It was so cute that I used it as our centerpiece as well, pretty, don't you think? And yes, Maddy is putting jelly on the rosemary-garlic bread. (that's Maddy for you)

My two handsome boys with their fresh haircuts. (they both need another one already!) I am now the official hair cutter in the family. For everyone but myself that is...

I thought I better post one shot of the mom on Mother's day even if we did have the classy 'tub o butter' on the table. (nice)

The incredible brownies that I posted the recipe for last week. Maddy now will ask, "are we making brownies, or those really rich ones." So true Maddy, so true...



Jake decided to take the day off work for his birthday on the 15th, so we had lunch at The Olive Mill. I had never noticed the sign before. I had to take a picture because of the part about unsupervised children. Too funny!
This is a cute little herb garden in front of the mill. I loved the little paths between the rows. I just may steal this idea for my salsa garden!

I sure take a lot of food photos lately, don't I? I guess I just love food! This was the first time we had eaten at the new restaurant at the mill and it was very tasty! We've been there to get gelato or bread before and of course oil, but we will definitely have to back to eat again.

Patrick was so pleased to have his own Jones soda. I love his smug little smile in this photo...cracks me up!

We let the kids play in the fountain a little. It was getting pretty hot and it made them both happy and occupied which in turn helped Jake and I finish our lunches in peace. All good things. And the sign didn't say anything about keeping kids away from the fountain...


The birthday boy. I think this was the first time I have seen Jake actually relax for a while, so I take that as a sign that he liked our impromptu lunch outing.

I'm glad that Maddy can now stop telling everyone that her mom is older than her dad now. Well at least for the next 6 months anyway! She still LOVES to remind me. I'm hoping that she grows out of that soon.


This is the only 'birthday' type shot we got of Jake. I think we had about 3.5 minutes to celebrate before we had to take off to go ice skating with Maddy's Girl Scout troop. So basically a normal night for the five of us. Feels like we have been doing a lot of rushing around lately.

The girls and I on the ice. See that terrified look on Miranda's face? She does that when we go swimming too. I don't get it. She is the wild one in the family, but when she even felt that I was loosening my grip on her she would FREAK OUT. You know, like digging her nails into my arms and screaming. But she actually really loved ice skating. She just didn't want me to let go. At all...


This was Maddy's second time skating, so she warmed up to it pretty quickly. The first few times she didn't want to let go of the edge, but after taking half an hour to go around the rink twice, I decided to practice my backwards skating skills and pull her behind me. She wasn't thrilled about letting go of that ledge at first, but she was a trooper and slowly relaxed.

I switched off taking Miranda and Maddy around the rink while Jake and Patrick played video games in the arcade. Patrick loves all of the race car games and throws huge fits when we pry his little hands off of the steering wheels. Yep, he sure acts like a 2 year old now!

After all of that prior excitement, I had to take a little vacation with my girlfriends to a really nice resort in Paradise Valley. Actually, it was my Mother's Day gift, but I couldn't really be away on that day now could I? So I waited a whole week to go...

Here are my friends Cresta and Lindsey modeling the cozy robes offered at the resort. (don't they look cute?) This is the view from our little patio area behind our room. Nice, huh?

Apparently this pool has music playing underwater, but we were so busy lounging on our rafts, or laying in the sun, that we didn't really spend much time underwater. The pool attendants were great too. They laid our towels out on our chairs and brought us ice water, chilled pineapple and icy-cold washcloths which were heavenly! (it was over a hundred degrees that day) We stayed out there for five hours and I for one felt very pampered...

These are my friends Cresta and Kristy sharing a late dinner with me at Z Tejas in Scottsdale. We didn't leave the pool area until almost 8pm because we were so relaxed, and because we had shared some tasty quesadillas by the pool earlier. (See, there I go talking about food again!)

It was so nice just to take our time and not have to worry about our kids or houses for one night. Thanks to Jake, Rob and Dustin for being willing to give us the chance to take this much needed break!


Well, there is a rundown of most of the major events in May minus Jake quitting his job and getting a new one, the Jetta dying last Monday and us having to buy a new car on Tuesday (before Jake was unemployed), and Maddy having her very last day of school as a first grader. I'll have to post more about girl's camp and these other things later.

Whew! All caught up. Now I can enjoy the last day of the holiday weekend tomorrow. Hope you are all enjoying it too...