May is here! The weather has been mostly nice and we’ve gone back to spending afternoons and evenings outside. It is the best best best time of the year! Last Saturday, Xander had his last basketball game until the fall. He grew and learned so much and it was so fun for him to be on a team.
After the basketball game, it was Cinco de Brooks, our neighbors’ annual Cinco de Mayo party. It was rainy but pretty warm. For Christmas, Uncle Danny and Aunt Heather gave the boys a very cool slackline/ninja course, which we finally put up on Saturday. It was great timing, because we were able to enjoy some tacos and margaritas at the party, while all the children played in the rain. They were covered in mud, but had so much fun! Do I think there is a 99% chance my van window will get broken? Yes, I do. But they are really enjoying it and I will continue to add as many camp-like elements to our house and yard as I can.
I recently purchased a cricut, which is a machine that cuts out stickers or stencils. You upload the image, it “prints” but it actually cuts the image out. I have been making stencils to use with my airbrush and I am so excited to experiment.
For weeks (months?) I’ve been noticing that the hand towel in the bathroom ends up on top of the cabinet above the toilet on a regular basis. I just assumed that Augustus (no other subjects were considered) was getting a little crazy after he dried his hands, but since he was washing his hands, I didn’t think much of it. But the other day, the bathroom door was cracked open and I watched him close the toilet lid, climb on top, and deliberately put the towel up there. When he came out of the bathroom, I said, “Augustus! did you put that towel up there on purpose?!” I WISH I had a photo of his face- delight, with such a glint of mischief in his eyes. He is the funniest kid and I want to remember his doing silly things like this forever.
Xander and Augustus only have a few weeks of school left, so we are trying to enjoy every day! Xander and his buddies have been drawing pictures for the kindergarten class, and his teacher texted me pictures of his visit. They even stayed for freeze dance time for old times sake.
Our weeks consist of so much playing outside. So much tightrope walking, no shirts, water guns, playing Survivor, and running wild. I LOVE this time of year! I am very excited for carefree days of summer. Until then, we’re letting them stay up as late as we can but have added black out curtains to their room so they can go to bed when it’s still light outside. Happy Spring!
Wednesday night we had neighborhood happy hour and Kelly made cupcakes in honor of my birthday! Thursday was my birthday and I didn’t take any pictures but it was such a great day! We ordered greek food for dinner and then had birthday cake with half of our neighborhood. Nate and the boys brought me flowers and presents and it was so lovely!
On Friday, 1st grade had their poetry picnic. They have been working on a poetry unit and on Friday, they brought blankets for the lawn, parents got to school early, there was a buffet of snacks, and they read us their poetry on the lawn. It was pretty magical and I was so proud of Xander. He is so smart and so creative and it was so fun to see what he has been working on.
The poetry picnic was the kickoff to an awesome weekend. Every Saturday morning, our neighbor Sean makes pancakes for everyone and then leaves them on the porch for people to help themselves. We have never actually taken him up on it, but it is so lovely and something I want to remember forever. Our neighborhood is the most fabulous place in the world. We are surrounded by an amazing community of friends.
At 10am, we all gathered for the annual Zach Floyd Memorial Bags Tournament. For the record, Zach is not dead. He was there and came in second place in the tournament. But it’s a great name. Xander was on a team this year. We ate donuts and drank mimosas and the kids ran around. Melissa and Eric defended their title and won again!
After the tournament, the boys went to Grandma Debbie’s house for a sleepover. Nate and I met Christine and Derek for a hot double date. We went to Salut and ate so much good food and had foo foo drinks. Then we went to Cafe Latte for fancy dessert. It was fabulous. We need to double date more often.
Today is Mother’s Day and it was basically a perfect day. It was such a simple day, but it was wonderful. One of the best gifts of all is my mom having the boys overnight so I could go out for a fun date and then sleep in this morning. They got up early and went swimming first thing while I was relaxing…. er, well, my version of relaxing…
I told Danny and Heather I wasn’t going to cook or clean before they came over. No pressure. I was planning to RELAX all morning. But I decided to get the shop vac out to clean the filter in my vacuum (which is relaxing). But once I had the shop vac out, I decided to just use it to vacuum the couch (extreme clean!). But then I pulled the oven out to get a spatula that had fallen, and it was a mess, so I used the shop vac to clean back there. And then it was 11:45 and my mom and the boys got home and I realized I had lost track of time. But I was feeling VERY satisfied by all of my projects.
We ordered the most amazing fried chicken and ALL the sides from one of my favorite restaurants and feasted for lunch. The boys got Danny and Heather outside on the slackline and played frisbee for a very long time. It was such a nice day.
Danny, Heather and my mom left, just in time for Sam and Abby to be ready to play. They made signs that said, “will dance for money” and went door to door around the neighborhood to advertise. They danced. They played Survivor- Augustus told me they take their shirts off, designate a place to pee, eat chives from the garden and run around with sticks. It’s so fun to watch them. They played. Nate and I relaxed. I ate leftover cake from last night. Absolutely perfect.
The boys have 3.5 weeks of school left. I am so excited for the summer to be here, even though work gets a little more complicated and our schedules overall get a little bit crazier. Summer scheduling is INSANE. I have a color coded calendar, an excel spreadsheet, and I have put HOURS into planning. I am excited, but there’s still planning to be done. Luckily I have a few more weeks… Also lucky, this week ahead is a pretty normal schedule. Happy May!