May

Shoot this month is going so fast! 

May is my very favorite month. I feel like it's the gift month - it's a bonus time before we start chipping away at June and July and August. It's the month when the kids are having the best time at school - so many field trips! And their classrooms are like a family, and the weather is amazing, so we are outside until I must force them in around 9pm so that we can eek out some sleep - for tomorrow will be another busy day! 

It's the richest month. Riches are spilling out all over the place - friends, sports, sunshine, flowers, garden - so busy. 

So here is a mish/mash of a blog post of the fabulous things that are going on in May.

These pictures are from a Galbraith run. There are so many cool configurations in the forest. 

We drove to Tennant Lake for a scout activity. These boys sang The Greatest Showman the whole drive. I loved it. 

Our first Padden night was so great! The kids hiked around the lake with NO problem. It surprised us how quickly we made it around. There were no kids that needed held/strolled, there were no kids that screamed bloody murder when a dog came around, there was no whining or fighting or complaining. RARE! Hopefully this is what is in store for the whole summer. They are one year older and one year more capable. 

Evan's spring concert. There he is smack dab in the front and center, cute as can be. 

The other day on a run I noticed a deer out in the bay. Strange! 

What is it doing out there? Hopefully not drinking the water. 

More trail beauty. This is on the top of Ridge trail. 

One day the kids got home from school and it was cooking hot, so we went to the beach. 

This is what I'm talking about - a bonus summer activity, but we aren't dipping into our summer savings fund. This was free summer. 

May is summer with no surcharge.

Andrew refused to wear a swimsuit, but once we got to the beach he decided, oh yeah, I DO want to get wet. So he stripped naked and ran around in the garden of eden without a clue. 

More trail beauty. 

This is Magic Trail near Raptor Ridge. 

We had a soccer award party. I miss these girls. Soccer was fun. 

Another scout activity - hike down to Pt Whitehorn. 

They made an awesome fort with driftwood. 

We love the Dicksons. They play together every single day, so they are very much like cousin status. We hit the lottery of neighbors. 

I went with Evan on a field trip to Western Washington University. 

He was SO excited for this field trip. So excited. 

He could not sleep the night before. He was tossing and turning until about 12:30 when me and Jim went into his room and insisted he settle down and sleep! It's not Christmas eve, it's just a field trip. 

Another Padden night. 

These three rode by a lady who commented "that looks safe". haha. 

Real safe. 

Evan concocted this catchers attire out of shin guards. It cracked me up. 

He loves being catcher. 

I installed droppers in my garden. I love my plants and flowers so much. 

My pumpkin finally sprouted yesterday out of nowhere and I am so happy. 

This driftwood at that beach looks so much like an animal! Right?

I am banging this out as quick as can be because I must get Andrew ready for school and myself ready to go sub in Evan's class for the afternoon. 

Mother's Day Weekend

I am a bit obsessed with my garden/yard right now. All I want to do is plant things and watch things grow.

In general, gardening is a fun activity, right?  But I wonder if I am partly going nuts over it because I have this need and urge to nurture, but my kids are in the stage of life that if I "nurture" them too much, I am doing them a disservice. I have really been working on stepping back and making them do more for themselves and more around the house. It strangely hard for me. But I'm also ready to do less "work" for them. 

In exchange, I go out and water and mulch and stare at all my pretty plants. 

My peonies have lots of buds! I was expecting three years before they flowered, but here we are at year two. 

Here's the thing with peonies: they remind me of Avery because they bloom right around her birthday. I imagine that they are me when I was pregnant with her - bursting at the seams just waiting for her arrival. Any day now, the flowers will be here. 

We added a fairy garden to our yard. Another addiction I work hard at controlling. haha But have you seen all the cute things they have at Joannes? I cannot help myself. I must buy it all. 

(I've added way more stuff since this pic was taken)

My spring garden. Still so sparse and bare. I stare at it for hours. 

Against this fence I have planted flowers that grow tall: larkspur, sunflower, hollyhocks, lavender, zinnias ( and raspberries there on the far left with all kinds of buds ready to turn into real fruit any minute!). 

A few things I have bought starts, and a few I am growing from seed. 

For some reason my little seedlings are my favorite. Here are some daisies that will eventually go near the fairy garden. 

Jim has been working on the fence. If he's gonna do a job, he's gonna do it the most top notch, high quality way possible. 

My hydrangea. 

I stare obsessively. I google how to get the best hydrangea results. I sprinkle Sluggo all around her to keep those pests away. 

Fuchsia. 

I had to look up how to spell them.

The neatest flowers. 

So anyway, this mothers day weekend was fun and full. 

Friday we went out to eat and then played at the park/beach. I thought this beach debris may be a door to a space shuttle pod that splashed down to the ocean after orbit. But then I realized it's more likely a piece from a boat. 

Evan out there, walking to Canada.

Saturday evening after winning our last soccer game of the season, we had a huge barbecue at our house for Lisa's birthday. 

It was fun and all, but I'm never doing it again. Ha. Less people is more anyway. 

My friend/neighbor made this amazing cake. 

Sunday - Mothers Day - was a great day. 

It always is. I love waking up to cards and homemade gifts. 

After church and dinner, me and the boys walked down to the forest to dink around. They were pleasant and I had fun following them around. 

One of the gifts Avery gave me was this necklace with a her thumbprint and a poem: "Thumbody Loves You."

Evan gave me a marigold in a pot: "My love blooms for you".

Andrew gave me a picture with his painted handprints making a sunflower, his picture in the middle: "You are my sunshine".

The other day one of my children took off his bandaid, smelled it, then said "this actually smells pretty good!", then held it up to my nose to smell.