Maycember and other Moments

May is always a crazy month as the school year winds down with the concerts, talent shows and graduations to attend. This month was no different.

Started out with unusual cold weather, had to turn the furnace on. :/  On Friday, May 10, I came home from work and wanted to go do something with Eric and/or the kids. No one wanted to do anything outside because it was too cold and nasty outside. I didn't want to default to sitting on the bed and watching a redbox, so someone, I can't remember who because I'm writing this a month late, suggested we make a fort in the livingroom and watch a movie there. That I could get behind. It was a typical and involved everyone's participation.

Eric with the first blanket installation

Our mattress placed for viewing comfort 

Popcorn, pillows and pup hanging out in the fort

We ended up watching a second movie and then having a family fort sleepover. We left the fort up all day Saturday and into the evening on Sunday so some friends could see it. We had our Come Follow Me study in the fort on Sunday as well with the added incentive of swedish fish. Cousins had come up from Tennessee for Mother's day so they were able to enjoy it temporarily as well. 

May 11 - The weather was kind of drippy and because cousins were in town, we didn't go do the service project we had planned. There was some family visiting (although cousins weren't allowed to come into our house) and so I tinkered in the garden. We have a wooden bed frame that we took out of the house because the dog had chewed it up and it had been sitting in the backyard for over a month. I thought it would be fun to make a flower bed out of it, so with everyone kind of doing their own thing, I decided I would move the bed to where I wanted it and then play with excessive amount of 2x4s we had laying in the old garden spot to fill in the gap from the frame to the ground. It wouldn't look pretty, but at least the dirt I would put in it would stay in the bed.

Eric came out, saw what I was doing and then called the Nate and Neta over. He got out the chop saw, Neta and I started pulling out nails and Eric and Nate started cutting slats and screwing them to the frame. 

They placed the slats all around the frame and then we dumped the four construction bags of leaves that had been sitting in our garden dump area into the frame. Then Karen mentioned how she had a 55 gallon barrel of compost dirt she wanted to get rid of by their garage. Eric and the kids wheeled that around and we dumped it. The bed was a perfect Mother's Day gift - everyone helped, it didn't cost anything but time and it was/is useful. I loved it (and didn't get a completed project picture).

I bought two cheap bags of dirt to even out the bed and then planted some cucumbers and marigolds in it.I'm excited to see how things turn out in regards to harvest. I've also planted some corn in three lines around the bed, kind of like walls of a room. We'll see how they grow, especially with all the rain we've had and the not great dirt they were put in. Maybe next year I can find another bed frame and we'll add to our literal raised bed garden. :)

May 18 - just a picture of posterity of my eldest son.

Graigry's favorite thing to do with his hair
when he gets hot and sweaty

May 18 - We haven't got the pool up and running due to lack of funds (that's an excuse for many things in our life) so after a hot day of mowing, I pulled out the slip-n-slide from last year. It allows the kids to get wet, although it is not as fun as the pool.

  

Graigry then brought out a squirt gun.

May 19 - Our dear friends, Logan and Amber Ault, used to live two doors down (where Karen and Scotty now live) and we hadn't seen them for a while, so after church, we drove to Greenwood to say hello. They have three young kids, ages 6 thru 3. We love playing with the kids and vice versa and visiting with the parents. Graigry decided to play with Ronin by doing push ups with him on his back. 

At one point, Graigry had Marek, Gemma and Ronin on his back playing horsey. I wish Graigry was as good with his siblings as he was with other children.

AURORA'S GRADUATION

May 22 - Aurora has been itching for this day for several months now; she was so excited to be done and move on with her life. We headed down to the Murat Theater, also known as the Old National Centre around 5:30 as doors opened at 6 and it was not reserved seating. Here are pictures from that evening's event.

Two events going on that night

Aurora with friend and neighbor Jose Wong

Waiting for graduation to start...so bored!

Aurora with Mr Riley, her choir teacher for 4 years

 

I asked Scotty for a family picture...not as successful as I'd like

With her best friend Xander

With our friends the Wilkinsons

Gage is just a little weird, but we love him

 

Ro and Donnie

Ro with the "Wall of Tall"

 Hard to believe we have two out the door n ow. She's not 18 yet, so she's still living at home, but that is the next look forward step for her - get out of the house! Two months from that date, move to Ball State University for her first year of college. Thankfully, she applied for the 21st Century Scholarship program in 8th grade, and met all the requirements, so tuition is paid. She got an additional scholarship and with her Pell Grant she doesn't have to come up with much money, unless she spends too frivolously between now and then. We'll see....

May 23 - Temple Trip. Finally found a day that all kids at home and parents were available to do baptisms. It was going to happen on the 24th and I had a reservation but then something changed with Ro's schedule so I called to bump out time and then when I got home, Eric was off helping someone and didn't get home until it was almost time for us to be there. We made it, late, but were able to participate in the ordinance for others and enjoy sometime together.

Gotta have a funny pose, even at the temple

If you look close, there is a dark spot on Moroni.
Yep...He got struck by lightning. 

May 25 - This Saturday was a little off. Boys were at a campout and Ro was working. Neta and I were going to go mow with Eric but then he and I had some differing of opinion on something which frustrated him and he went off by himself. I wanted to load mowers in the minivan and meet him where we knew he's be, but then Neta reminded me that often results in Eric getting mad and telling us to go away. To avoid that situation, because Neta has been wanting to swimming for weeks, I took her to the Ellenberger Park Pool.

It was a little cool to go swimming, but that didn't stop Neta. She jumped in and had fun. It took me awhile to convince myself to submerge myself, but I eventually did. As long as I was doing laps or treading water, I kept my heart rate up enough to make the cool water more bearable. She/we swam about an hour and then headed home.

"Come on, Mom! It's fine!"

Going under

My smiling fish

So there is May. Aurora had her last choir concert and Nate and Neta participated in Paramount's talent show, but I obviously didn't take any pictures of those events. They all did a good job and I'm proud that they are willing to share their talents. June will slow down as far as events and then July picks back up with youth camps, conferences, trip to Denver and wedding prep. :)