Our First Guest Blogger and A Mothers Day Muffin Recipe

MAY! Oh, boy...that was fast.


Really? I need to check the calendar, gimme a sec....

Yeah, um...it's May.

I have no idea how that happened. I am trying to remember the last time the months have crept up on me quite like they have this year. Maybe it's because we've had such an incredible whirlwind of a year so far. Between Europe, the restaurant, Mikes new assignment at work and fertility craziness, I think this is the first lull in activity we've had (and it's going to be short lived because we have some BIG news coming soon, NO, it's not a baby...yet).

So, for all these reasons I have decided to take a small break. A few weeks to get some stuff in order around here. "Here," meaning around our home and around this blog. I have so many ideas, new blog posts, recipes, crafts and so on, that I want to share with you all. I just need a minute or two to get it all worked out, you deserve my best, don't you know.

I will be leaving you in the very capable hands of four wonderful ladies who will share with you, their very individual passions and know how. Every Thursday this month you will meet one of them and the first up to bat is Angela.

Chris and Angela posing for the camera on our most recent camping trip in the Big Sur area. 

Angela owns a family day care center in Santa Cruz. I met her, and her husband Chris a few years ago through a mutual friend on a camping trip in Yosemite. It's apparent, pretty much immediately, when you meet Angela that she is one of the sweetest people you will ever know. She is incredibly patient (wrangling a dozen "grown ups" for our various camping trips over the years, she HAS to be patient), nurturing and maternal. I love being around her because I instantly feel calm and taken care of. It's an invaluable skill set for dealing with adults and even more so for dealing with children.

Heading out for Half Dome back in 2008, our first camping trip together was a blast! 

The fact that Angela can COOK with a center full of children in the way that she does is amazing. As a former nanny I can tell you, it is so hard not to want to control the children. Reminding yourself that cooking with kids, like most art related activities, is about the process and not the product...well...it's not something that comes very naturally to me. However, cooking touches on so many different developmental areas for children, so it makes perfect sense that Angela would incorporate it into the daily activities of her center. And I am glad she did, because that makes her the perfect person to share this delicious gluten free muffin recipe with us, that you must can make with your kids. Perhaps the husbands and sons out there reading this will be inspired to bake some of these delicious muffins and treat the mothers in their lives to a wonderful breakfast in bed? Eh?

Here's Angela!!