May was a BUSY month!

Kelly kept me well nourished (just had to take a picture of this amazing omelette he made)

Our tulips came up beautifully

I even used them as backdrops for a couple of shoots:)

Mothers day

We went to the same chinese buffet we do every year, they take such good care of us.  I think Uncle Al is doing a magic trick.

Ezra played baseball with Kelly assistant coaching, he was on a great team, they went undefeated for the season and then lost in the playoff game:(, but Ezra learned a lot, had some great plays, even got to get into the pitching rotation.

Ezra loved it, and since I love baseball, I loved it too.  I was actually expecting there to be walks and kids hit by pitches, hits because of errors, etc . . . but to my surprise and delight, there was actual baseball play.  Fly balls were caught, batters struck out, and many were thrown out at first!  Ezra even tagged a couple out trying to steal 2nd:)  The thing I didn’t figure on was the length of the game . . . with soccer, it’s 2 – 25 minutes halves and you’re done.  The baseball games were 1 1/2 to 2 hours!  Mari & Tobin are not as excited about baseball as the rest of the family;)

Ezra worked with Tobin on batting, he improved tremendously — and, in case you’re wondering, he is wearing part of his Luigi costume  

Tobin played soccer again, it was a little weird not going to soccer games for Ezra too

And, Mari & I did Girls on the Run, I didn’t run, still nursing a hip problem, but was an assistant coach. After the first session, I quickly remembered that 5th & 6th grade is not my favorite age to work with, I love babies, up to about age 11 and then I want them to be in high school, ugghh, what was I thinking!  So, I prayed, I prayed that God would show me these dramatic, whiny, trying-to-grow-up too fast, a bit self centered pre-teens through His eyes.  Oh, did He come through!  At the next session, they acted exactly the same, but I liked them, wanted to be there for them, wanted to show them Christ’s love in whatever way I could:)  Turns out it also made me realize what a peach our daughter is!  Mari was able to complete the big 5k (running & walking) with no problem.

She also had a vocal concert in May

Grandma & Mari got matching pajamas & mocassins

So proud of Ezra, for his historical figure for their wax museum, he chose Ezra which led to his friend Elijah choosing Elijah, which led to some very interesting Bible conversations!

We went on some field trips

The pool club opened!

And, my Mom & sisters went on our annual “Mom” weekend over Memorial weekend. We enjoyed a couple of lovely sunsets.

Even got them on a semi-real hike this year

LOVE my Mom & sisters!

And, that wraps up our May.

In April we told the kids we got a new pet, this guy visited on several nights.

Marian had a birthday party for a friend who loves acting & other performing things, so we made her some really cool photo booth props

Some fun with friends and our ice cream store opened for the summer!

We had a great Easter weekend, Saturday was spent with my family, the kids played outside

And, we had the annual egg hunt

A sister daughter picture

And to church and Pam & Rob’s house for Kelly’s family Easter celebration.  We raced these cool big balloons

some ball sports for Ez

and balloon animals by Mari

Spring break took us hiking

and to try out a new park inside our favorite village

A super fun swing

Climbing wall

And, a vertical spinning thing–this was crazy, Tobin got practically horizontal with Ezra spinning it!

And, more ice cream

Not sure what happened but Ezra somehow got ice cream all over his face (on his own) which is usually Tobin’s job, anyway, I loved his smile here

Lambs were just born in the barn, these were days old–the cutest things you’ve ever seen!  There was a mama about to give birth and the kids wanted to wait–if I’d have thought she would be delivering soon, we would have stayed but she was walking around eating–still getting her body ready we thought

Marian made Tobin a ninja costume using balloons

And, he needed to dress like a falcon for “2nd grade zoo” day at school.  Some parents get really elaborate with their kids costumes, I’m not one of those parents and this frugal girl is not about to pay for anything.  So, the day before (we did have weeks and I even tried to get him to wear Mari’s old dolphin costume but he had written his report about falcons so I loaned out the dolphin costume to a girl in his class).  Back to the story, the day before, we scrambled trying to figure this out with materials on hand.  I came up with just wearing brown, Tobin remembered that we had yellow soccer socks which I think pulls the whole thing together.  When Sandy made the dolphin costume, she used a hat for the beak, so we taped poster board to a hat and colored eyes on it.  And, then duck taped poster board wings to him (he colored feathers on it).  Not bad for a last minute effort not spending any money;)