may

I can't believe May is almost over. June means school gets out and summer is creeping in. I am so excited!

Here is our May re-cap. Oh, and I am exhausted, for the record.

Emma is loving tennis. I have pictures of her somewhere, but can't find them.

Baseball. Oh, baseball. It takes up at least 3 of our nights/afternoons a week. Here Spencer is pitching to Tyler while Sadie looks on.

 Let's get a closer look at the back of this cute head. The curls kill me. So jealous.

I went south for Girls Weekend. Here I am with my mom and sister in Solvang. My friends up here have already decided we need a girls trip to Solvang sometime soon.

 Snapped this on our morning walk. Boy oh boy, going on a walk without pushing a stroller and without whining kids who need constant snacks or toys is so refreshing! I could have gone all day.

Paddle boarding might have been my favorite part. My board was not my favorite, but I think I got a good workout...

Sadie started Nursery on Mother's Day. She's not a fan yet.

It was open house at the school. Tyler had hurt his foot so he hobbled around to show us his class. Mr. Schneider really likes him; it's nice when you are the teacher's pet.

 Ms. Weidinger is about to become Mrs. Smith. Emma has enjoyed this year so so much, and her teacher really loves teaching - that is a huge breath of fresh air.

Gualala time came again. The weather was remarkable and it would have been totally perfect, except for... Sadie. She wasn't feeling well (we never did figure it out), and she managed to cry almost the entire time we were there, remarkably.

There was a lot of friend time...

And a LOT of log jumping...

Even Tanner got in on it (he can be bribed, this one).

Spencer jumped off for the first time. Emma was on her 15th jump here.

Tyler spent his time at the river playing with a frog. Or a toad?

We spent Memorial Day at the beach in Santa Cruz. It was gorgeous.

 More baseball...

This one is usually pretty messy when we are at a game.

 We hit 99 degrees during a 3 day heat wave. Yikes...

 These kids love hanging out in the motor home.

I think June will slow down a little. No more Scouts or baseball. Now we can just play!

mother's day

We kind of have a tradition of going to the cemetery on Mother's Day. Our usually empty cemetery is FULL of people, and I love the interaction we sometimes get there. Several years ago when we were there we met a lady who had lost her only little girl a few years earlier. She came to us and said she had seen us on the day of Macie's funeral. This lady was kind but I could tell she was completely devastated still, and she just looked so hopeless. We told her she will get to see her daughter again. I remember Spencer kicking himself that we had no pass along cards or anything to give to her.

On Sunday it was Mother's Day. My 10th Mother's Day. It was also Sadie's first day of nursery. (Here we are doing "Three cheers for Sadie going to nursery!" She wasn't convinced. And she hated it...but that is not what this post is about...)

We got a ping pong table from Debbie (our neighbor) and finally got it set up so we told the kids that playing ping pong will NOT be a regular Sunday activity...but we had to try it out. Everyone is a fan. And I even beat Spencer once.

Then we went to the cemetery. This time we met a nice lady who has a grandson buried in BabyLand, right next to Macie. I like getting to know loved ones of our loved one's neighbors. She also told us her daughter was buried close by, and had died a few years after her son had passed. This lady was there scrubbing bronze headstones, as well as spraying WD-40 to enhance the shine. She sat there looking solemn and it broke my heart.

Sadie and Emma walked around and then it was time to go. Sadie freaked out and wouldn't let me put her in her carseat. So I listened to her and took her back while everyone else waited in the car. She stood by Macie's grave for a little while longer and then didn't object to leaving. She is hard and she frustrates me a lot, but she is a sweetheart and I know she understands quite a bit.

It was a great day for me, as always. I have such a blessed life.