Five on Friday.

1. I had an awesome "Mom Moment" in the Dollar Tree last weekend. James and I were wandering through the store (his first time there) and he had the "gimmies." He kept saying, "I want this, and this, and this." I'd said yes to a few things - a pirate costume set for him and Will because they have a pirate day at camp this summer - but for the most part I was saying no. He'd started saying, "But I can buy it with my money." As we walked past a grass skirt (you know...the Hawaiian kind), he said he NEEDED that (seriously?) and I mentioned that if he bought it with his money that would be FOUR times wiping off the table or FOUR times of sorting the laundry (because we currently pay $0.25/chore). A woman who was a bit older than me was walking near us as this conversation took place. She caught my eye and as I sort of rolled my eyes about James and his "needs" she gave me a thumbs-up and said, "Good job!"Y'all, I almost cried right there in the store. So often (especially in public) I feel like I am NOT doing a good job. It was SO nice to have that affirmation from someone else that what I was doing was the right thing. Whew! Motherhood is so tough sometimes, but that was awesome.

2. I went searching for our favorite go-to "Taco Tuesday" recipe and realized I didn't have it anywhere on the blog. SO. I'm going to remedy that right this minute. Here, in all it's easy glory, is Crockpot Chicken Tacos.

Ingredients:

* Frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts (3-4)

* 1 cup salsa

* 1 can black beans

* 1 can pinto beans

* 1 can enchilada sauce

Place frozen chicken in crockpot and cover with other ingredients. Cook on high 3-4 hours or until chicken shreds. You can also throw frozen fajita veggies in for the last hour or so if you like that kind of thing. SO easy and my family loves it. I have to pick all the beans out for James {he's a wimpy eater}, but he doesn't complain that they're in there WITH everything else. We serve on flour tortillas with cheese, Cholula, sour cream, and guac! Mmmmm!

3. I finally got around to renting and watching Saving Mr. Banks this week and I LOVED IT. Y'all know I'm sort of a Disney nut anyway, so the "real story" behind things is fascinating to me. The movie was SO great. I felt so sad for P.L. Travers the whole time, though. Have you seen it? What do you think? I may wind up purchasing the DVD. :)

4. Mother's Day is Sunday and while it DID sort of sneak up on me, I pulled it all off and got what I needed to get. I also bought gifts for myself. Ha! We have a busy Mother's Day weekend. I'm going on a date with my biggest boy on Saturday night and I'm SO excited about it. We're having family pictures made with Mom on Sunday. And then I have big plans to take a NAP. That's what I want for Mother's Day. Guilt-free lounging.

Guess where we were last year on Mother's Day? Take me back!!! James was smitten with Minnie, huh? I asked him what Disney Princess I should be the other day and he said either Ariel or Merida. Think he has a thing for redheads???

5. I'm on the hunt for new running shoes. My favorite pair is so worn out that they're rubbing blisters on me so I switched to an old pair and I have had sore legs all week. Shin splits and IT band pain and that just won't do. SO. I've been looking around at different shoes. I'm leaning toward an Asics Cumulus. I have narrow feet with a high arch. Let me know if you have other suggestions. If we have time on Saturday I'm going to go by the running store and have them look at my feet and help, but if not I'm on my own (we don't have anything like that in town...unless I just don't know about it). I keep hearing great things about Asics, though.