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Chad took Molly with him to buy a Mother's Day gift for me. I was shocked at how well she did at not spoiling the surprise. Chad had to keep reminding her, "Sssh, it's a surprise," when she said things like, "Daddy hided your present in his car." I eventually learned that he took her to the "computer store" and she played a Dora game on the kid computers, which made me even more impressed that she didn't spoil the surprise of where they went!

Molly painted cards for her grandmothers. She was so excited to give one to Grams and was again reminded, "Sssh, it's a surprise."

I made mint chocolate soufflés for our Mother's Day lunch. I was surprised at how well they turn out for my first attempt, and they were even on the healthier side since it was a Cooking Light recipe!

Molly had her first soccer practice this weekend. Now that she's 3, she's old enough to join the Jr. Striker Program.

Coach Mark did a great job with the kids.

One of the first lessons was to stand up quickly when you fall down, though I think the kids enjoyed the falling down more than standing up.

Molly even learned a couple of tricks. She learned to switch feet on the ball, as well as to kick the ball behind herself before turning around (as pictured here).

Here's Molly racing down the field. Go Molly go!

Molly did surprisingly well dribbling the ball. At the beginning, all the kids just kicked their ball and ran after it. Then Coach Mark told them to use small kicks and Molly got the hang of it really quickly.

Molly had a great time at her first soccer practice, and is looking forward to next week when we'll be outside (this week was in the soccer dome). Between playing tennis last week and soccer this week, she's becoming quite an athlete.

My mom has recently started sewing again. (Having three granddaughters was great motivation!) So, when I saw this tutorial for a wild flower pincushion, I decided to make one for her for Mother's Day. It turned out a bit bigger than I thought it was going to be, but still super cute! Molly kept asking to play with the flower pillow for G'mom.

I'm linking up to Made by You Mondays at Skip to my Lou so you can see what others have been busy crafting.

Our V week began with some pretty violets in a vase. This is what you get when you bribe a 3 year old with a treat if she'll smile for a picture!

We did a science project this week - the old school baking soda and vinegar volcano. Molly loved it! We did it at least 4 times.

We listened to Bob & Larry's Sunday Morning Songs all week and watched VeggieTales: Minnesota Cuke & The Search for Noah's Umbrella.

For our stART project (A Story + Art = A Great stART), we read The Surprise Garden. The story follows three young gardeners as they plant surprise seeds and anxiously await to see what vegetables have grown.

Molly then used vegetables as stamps to make a veggie print. She used a red onion, green pepper, squash, carrot, and celery. All the different shapes and textures were fun to paint with.

You can check out what other moms are doing with their tots at 1+1+1=1.

I played tennis with Dad. I was sad before tennis, but then tennis made me happy. We played on tennis courts number 3 and 4. Daddy throwed the ball to me, and I swinged my tennis racquet and hit the ball.

I bounced the ball into the air with a tennis racquet.

I threw the ball to Daddy and he swinged his tennis racquet.

And I throwed the ball into the air.

I runned and picked up all the balls. I weared my tennis shoes. I drank water from my pink water bottle. It was fun.

We made an R for rabbit. At dinner that night, Molly was asked what letter she made. She responded with "R," and then when asked what animal it was she excitedly answered, "A bunny!"

This project took a few days to complete. Molly didn't quite grasp the idea of coloring the entire rainbow arch the correct color. She just wanted to color the number. She eventually came back to it and at least got half the rainbow colored.

Molly worked on her fine motor skills by lacing beads on to pipe cleaners,

then we arched them to make our own bead rainbow!

We met some friends at Rita's Italian Ice for a sweet treat during R week. Allison's Italian ice must not have been enough; looks like she wants a taste of Molly's custard too!

We ended our week working on some math skills. First we did rainbow clip counting,

then worked on rainbow size sorting. Molly did really well comparing the sizes of the rainbows so we could put them in order.

This week I also hosted a playdate to make felt flower hair clips so that we were all ready to show our pretty May flowers! These girls sure do love each other!

You can check out what other moms are doing with their tots at 1+1+1=1.

I hosted a playdate to make felt flower hair clips so that we were all ready to show our pretty May flowers! Each of the kids made two and then were off to play. I saw that Molly was still at the table and realized that she was glueing the rest of the flowers together all by herself!

This is what happens when you ask three year olds to hug to pose for a picture!

The big kids were sweet to make hair clips for their little sisters too.

Leah was taking a nap during most of the playdate, so I had the girls model their new hair clips together.

Molly has proudly worn her flower hair clips for days now. We've even found them in bed with her!

Edit: This project is super easy! Cut two different size flowers out of contrasting felt. Stack the flowers and sew a button on top. I had the kids glue the pieces together so they had more to do than just pick out colors. Then hot glue on to your choice of clip. Happy crafting!