Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all of my fellow Mamas. Thank you for your words of encouragement this past year and your helpful Mommy tips. You are always there to offer me a word of encouragement and give me the best advice. I appreciate you more than you could ever know!

To my own Mama: Thank you for being the most wonderful Mom in the entire world. I can't imagine my life without you. You are also an amazing Grandmother. You did such a good job watching J while we were in Mexico. I know he misses you like crazy.

To those of you who are missing your Moms today: My thoughts and prayers are with you. A good friend lost her Mom this past week and my heart breaks thinking about her today. I know that your Moms are watching down from you from heaven and so proud of each of you. Stay strong and hugs to you all!

To those of you struggling to become a Mom: I have not walked in your shoes, and I do not pretend to know how you feel today. But, know that I've thought of you often today. I will keep you in my prayers and I hope that you are blessed very soon with a child to call your own.

I hope you all had a Happy Mother's Day no matter what your situation. I hope you were able to hug your Mom or talk to her in some way. If you are a Mom, I hope you were spoiled rotten!

My boys gave me two great cards, some beautiful white lilies and took me to brunch. I also received some cute Tory Burch flip flops, some champagne truffles and my best gift of all...my husband let me sleep until 10:30am!!!

Oh Mexico...

Weight Watchers Crock Pot Recipe-Lasagna

Made this the other night. It's very good and we had TONS of leftovers!

POINTS® value

8
Servings
6
Preparation Time
20 min
Cooking Time
360 min
Level of Difficulty
Easy


No need to cook the noodles first or stay home while it bakes. Just let it sit a few minutes before serving so it can firm up a bit.



Ingredients

* 1 pound(s) uncooked lean ground beef (with 7% fat)

* 1 small onion(s), chopped

* 1 medium garlic clove(s), minced

* 28 oz canned crushed tomatoes

* 15 oz canned tomato sauce

* 1 tsp table salt

* 1 tsp dried oregano

* 1/2 tsp dried basil

* 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste

* 1 cup(s) part-skim ricotta cheese

* 1 1/2 cup(s) part-skim mozzarella cheese, shredded, divided

* 6 item(s) dry lasagna noodles, no-cook

* 1/2 cup(s) shredded Parmesan cheese, strong-flavored like Romano or Parmigiano Reggiano



Instructions
* Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add beef, onion and garlic; cook, stirring frequently, breaking up meat with a wooden spoon as it cooks, about 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, salt, oregano, basil and red pepper flakes; simmer 5 minutes to allow flavors to blend.
* Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, stir together ricotta cheese and 1 cup of mozzarella cheese.

* Spoon 1/3 of beef mixture into a 5-quart slow cooker. Break 3 lasagna sheets in half and arrange over beef mixture; top with half of ricotta mixture. Repeat with another layer and finish with remaining 1/3 of beef mixture.
* Cover slow cooker and cook on low setting for 4 to 6 hours. Remove cover; turn off heat and season to taste, if desired.
* In a small bowl, combine remaining 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese; sprinkle over beef mixture. Cover and set aside until cheese melts and lasagna firms up, about 10 minutes. Yields 1/6th of dish per serving.


Notes
To boost your vegetable intake, add a can of zucchini in tomato sauce to the meat mixture. You can also add 2 cups of sliced shiitake mushrooms to the beef mixture.

What to Pack for Beach Vacation?

Here's some of the things I don't want to forget to pack for our beach vacation. Do you have any other suggestions?
Things to pack:
sunscreen
lipbalm
ipod and ear phones and charger
phone charger
camera and charger (we just orderedthis one for my new "diaper bag" camera and to take on the trip so we didn't have to lug our big one to Mexico)
flip and extra batteries
dollar bills for tips
books (I ordered this one and this one) and magazines
swimsuits (I just got this top and this bottom in navy and this one in brown)
coverups
sundresses
shorts and shirts
flip flops
sunglasses
huggies (for keeping those beers cold)


Things to do:
copies of passports
emergency authorization and insurance card to give to grandparents as well as contact numbers
call banks and let them know we'll be out of country

Just in Case:
immodium
motrin
aloe
nyquil/dayquil

Would love any other good travel tips you might have!!

Beach Book aka Pink Book Recomendations?

A and I are heading to Mexico on Saturday! Wow! Baby J and I leave on Wednesday to head to my parent's in Alabama. I will meet A in Atlanta on Saturday to fly to Mexico with him. Sweet Baby J will stay with my Mom and Dad for FIVE nights. I have only left him once for one night his entire life, so I'm a nervous wreck. I know he'll be fine with my parents and I know, even more, that my sweet husband and I need some time "off" for rest and relaxation. I have to admit 5 mornings of sleeping in are sounding pretty appealing right now.

I haven't read a book (besides ones that are child related) really since before J was born and I need some good pink books. Pink books are what my friend Sarah calls, good and easy beach reads because most of them are pink! I love it! So what are your recomendations? I can't wait to hear them.

I also mentioned in the previous post that I need some drink recomendations. Mama can't wait to celebrate on the beach! What's your favorite beach drink?

Sunshine Paperie Sippy Cup Label Giveaway Winner

Congrats to:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

26 Timestamp: 2010-04-17 23:32:36 UTC

CONGRATS Pooh!

Please email me at magnoliasmarriageandmanhattan@gmail.com and I'll get you all set up!

Thanks again to everyone that entered. If you would like to buy your own labels (or anything else) then Sunshine Paperie has very generously offered to give MMM readers a 15% off discount with the code MMM15. The discount is good for anything on their site except for Tiny prints.

Questions for you and Questions for me!

Over the past few weeks a few of you have emailed me or left me questions in the comments so I figured I would answer those here and also open the floor to any other questions you might have for me!

1) Where did you get Baby J's Easter basket?

I bought J's basket from this store: http://www.meandmommytobe.com/products/personalized-easter-baskets/.  We love the basket and got so many compliments on it.

Here's the post I did on it last year on sear: http://magnoliasmarriageandmanhattan.blogspot.com/2009/03/easter-basket-hunting-for-baby-j.html

I even have a pic of him IN it from last year! They grow up so fast. I hope they stay in business a long time so they can do my future kids baskets...in 10 years or so. =)

2) Where did you find all of your Red Wagon party decor? Especially the mini wagons? I bought the stuff from all over, but the mini wagons and a lot of the paper products came from my1stbirthday.com

Here are the mini wagons: http://www.1stbirthdayparty.com/radio-flyer-snack-dish.html

and here is kit you can buy: http://www.1stbirthdayparty.com/red-wagon-kit.html

3) Did you ever find a white sweater for Baby J?

I did! Thanks for all of your help. I bought mine from the Kangaroo Pouch in Atlanta. That is where I got J's Easter Outfit, so they sent me one too!

I also have a few questions for y'all!

1) Can anyone recommend a great pool float for 15 month old?


2)What sunscreen do you use on your little one?

3) Favorite mixed drink and favorite tropical drink? We leave for Mexico in a few days and I'm going to try them all! Ha, Ha!

4) What are you getting your Mom for mother's day?

Happy Friday!