Life with the Magic Number: May Days 2015

Here's a glimpse of what our May Days looked like

(Ok, so maybe some of this is late April... )

How we take walks these cool afternoons...

Rudy played in his first season of Spring Soccer through the YMCA. Definitely a step up from Happy Feet, but still toddler soccer..

Rudy's biggest fan and cheerleader

Ben's just happy to go for the snacks...

Just a couple of dogs...

Papa Ray's birthday! We don't pass up any opportunity for cake and singing!

And speaking of birthdays, a birthday party at Ergadoozy with Rudy's classmates... fun afternoon!

Benners... so happy to finally get his hands on my coffee cup (usually how I feel in the early morning hours)!

Oh just being the best baby ever, feeding himself lunch...

And I'm officially old... I couldn't resist taking pictures of the flowering plants we planted...

The Davlin's joined us for a trip to the Firehouse one rainy Sunday morning...

It was pretty entertaining listening to Rudy show his friends around and explain everything, as if he ran the show..

I get some pretty great pics from Gran when she is watching the kids. I love getting little messages of what they are up to... Here's a couple of them spending the evening at Gran and Papa's - sunbathing after running through the sprinkler and watering the garden... two of their favorite things!

Avery made her first visit to a nail salon. A friend of mine and I went for her birthday and at the last minute I decided to bring Avery along with me. She loved it. She was so quite and nervous at first, but did a great job. When they finished she looked happily at her hands and said, "I can't wait to show my Daddy." The workers around us and I couldn't believe how darn cute she sounded!

And in case I ever forget... this is what it looks like to change sheets on our bed...

...full involvement from all three helpers!

So sweet! (when they are sleeping) :)

Just Benners and I at the store, a real treat for the both of us!

Lovin' the park swings! :)

Who is that?!

Oh, it's just Avery..phew!

Look at that sweet boy...

A morning at the Old Capital Art Fair with Gran... we enjoyed painting and shopping in the "kid only" tent

and Ben enjoyed his veggie straws

Since the Art Fair was downtown and Dad was working, we made a quick stop to say hi and of course, climb through the fire truck..

My favorite time of the month of May... DERBY DAY!!

We had a fun day prepping for our Derby Party the next day... with the help of Gran, Julia and Uncle Kurt the Great

Watching the Run for the Roses requires lots of pretty roses to decorate

Before the tables were LOADED with food

Dressed in our best :)

Bubbers :)

Cousins!…although missing quite a few :(

It's all the Sames to me!

(and again, I am obviously old because I was so happy the dogwood was in bloom that weekend AND it was in the background of these pictures)

Who could resist those "awesome pants"?! (the actual brand name of them)

What a fun, memorable party!!

Ok, so Mother's Day may be taking over as my favorite time of May... especially when you have the best kids and husband ever who treat you so well :)

The artwork on the right Rudy made me and when he handed it to me he proudly said, "Here Mom. This says, 'Happy Mudder's Day. I wuv you. I like drawing pictures for you for Mudder's Day because I wuv you.'" *swoon*

Rudy's "last" day of Tu/Th pre-K

I say "last" day because it was the last day I would be home before the end of the year. John and I were headed to Anguilla for a few nights and would miss the last day. But if I had to be anywhere else, Anguilla wasn't so bad!

With our trip quickly approaching, I made up an elaborate story (that sort of got away from me.. oops)... let me back up...

I explained to the kids that we would be going far, far away for a few days. I could see the nerves in their eyes... so, off the cuff, I told them they could pick out a stuffed animal and that I had a special potion that would make the animal magic… the way it would work was that if they gave their animal a hug, Mom and Dad would be able to feel it from far, far away. So if they missed us and needed a hug, they could squeeze their animal tight and we would feel it. Awesome, right? This is where it gets weird.. the morning we were set to leave, the kids were anxious to use the potion. I had NOTHING in mind for the potion.. like seriously, what the hell was I going to do to create this magic?! I was pacing around the kitchen trying to come up with something when I saw the sugar packets... I quickly dumped a few of those in a baggie with 3 beads, told the kids the animals had to be placed in this special box and that we had to add the beads and sprinkle the magic potion on them... (Avery said, "It looks like sugar.." and John chimed in under his breath, "Avery is calling bullshit.") After the potion was added, they had to be placed in a dark closet ..so in the pantry they went along with my phone that I had set the alarm for 1 minute later with a very "magical" sounding tune. I wish I had video of the look on their eyes when they heard the "magic" working.. we rushed in to gave it a try... Sure enough, John and I could feel the hugs! The magic potion worked!!

Our view from our room when we arrived... with no filter... heaven

where we had breakfast each morning

Dinner out our first night...

Me and the beautiful bride

Anguilla was UNREAL. I loved everything about it and would go again in a heartbeat. I loved the island, the resort, the people, the adventures (like a boat ride to a giant sand-bar and snorkeling in the sea). The wedding was beautiful and absolutely perfect. John and I had such a great time and didn't realize how much we needed that time together until we were there.

While we loved being away, we looked forward to pictures of the kids and hearing about what they were up to...

looks about right :)

Fun at the bookstore!

Rudy's actual last day - fieldtrip to Baskin Robbins for a celebratory ice cream treat!

…As much as I love Anguilla, I was very ready to get home to them!

More of my beautiful blooming flowers.. and even more beautiful Avery :)

John took Rudy to see Pete play the Sliders one evening after Rudy's game... this is the text I got from him...

Not much makes Rudy as happy as baseball! And knowing a player, getting special treatment from the team ("Mom! Pete's friends gave me knucks!"), getting to run the bases... it was all so exciting!

I decided to make an effort to visit more parks... and to be brave enough to take all three by myself. My first attempt was at Southwind Park. Here we are eating lunch on the bench and looking for ducks...

...not playing on the playground because, as you can see, we would have been swallowed in that crowd! When we first got there, it was just us and a few other small kids and their moms... perfect. Within about 15 minutes, 7... SEVEN... bus loads of kids were dropped off. Apparently it was an end of year fieldtrip to the park...

We decided to spend a morning at the mall next, take a week off the park circuit after that one :)

Making Ben laugh... what an awesome game! The kids spent a good week trying to be the first to get Ben to laugh every time we got in the car... it was a smile-filled week for us all!

"Uh-oh!" - as if that was on accident... Ben's favorite mealtime game

When I have three at the park, I'm lucky if I snap any pictures! But I did get this one, per Avery's request..

I've been working out at the gym more regularly and been lucky enough to meet some other moms who are there a lot of the same times/days as us... one day while running together, we started talking about activities with the kids and she told me about their plan for the week - painting with cars and learning different tracks one day, then a car wash the next... how fun! I gathered up supplies and we did the same!

The calm before the storm of a mess...

At first, Rudy and Avery followed instructions and were so entertained and curious about what tracks each car would make...

I especially loved the idea of this project because it could involve Bubbers. He LOVES playing with cars, frequently making a "Vroom, vroom" sound as he wheels cars around the house...