We finished April with running errands, a 3v3 basketball tournament for our boy (so fun even though Danny wasn’t fully recovered from his last cold), yard work (including finally replacing our dead ash tree), and our first date night at Swaylo’s. Although I know most of my kids are old enough to babysit, a big thank you to my mom for coming over to be with them while we got to eat delicious food and virgin cocktails in a great environment.
May Day was full of Church, opening day for softball, and and a double header for baseball. I accidentally totally confused my Primary class but they should all know how to draw a Star of David now. Good skill for studying the Old Testament this year, right? Please tell me I’m right. Lol. Natalie was super excited to run the bases with Dinger but not happy the professional photographer had her hold the bat incorrectly in order to get a better individual photo. Oh, how I love my 3rd grader. And her teacher won teacher of the year at her school. (Of course I think that the award is much deserved because I am one of the people that nominated her.) Danny’s team lost the first game 10-14 but won the second 9-5 against the same team so to me it’s basically a giant, all afternoon long tie game. There is no where else I would rather be.
Above: loving the cows next to the B.W. baseball fields and below: Danny’s cheering section.
That evening as the boys dealt with sore muscles from sports and yard work, Kate hung out at P’s house, M read (she had the huge goal to read a 500+ page book from Thursday to Sunday & she accomplished that goal!), and Natalie and I worked on her mini society project. She knew she wanted to make bookmarks and worked for a solid two hours getting the prototype made and the first steps done. I was so proud of her. Natalie reported that her hands literally hurt from all the cutting out she did. And that was with mom helping!
Everyday had something special going on the first week of May. On Monday Danny and I stayed after school to watch my special ed kids play in their first Unified basketball games against another middle school. The energy and cheering everyone on was great! On Tuesday it was my turn to watch Danny play baseball. He had one hit to first, one strike out, one walk and two amazing catches in the outfield. The second catch ended the game and us parents were very grateful for that out because it meant we could go home and warm up after some very chilly weather! Our boys were happy to win 12-4.
On Wednesday Danny’s baseball game was canceled due to rain (thank goodness for the rain — we’ve really needed it) but we still had the excitement of Michelle getting her top row of braces on for the beginning of phase two, Grandma helping Natalie with her mini society project with her magical laminator, Natalie’s tutoring, and Activity Days being at our house. Kaylie J. came and helped the girls do a night sky scene and did such a great job. It was so fun have the girls all together around our dinning room table. Some of my other children may not have agreed, since I was so busy cleaning and placing newspaper all over the table that I never made dinner so they ended up eating things like canned chicken noodle soup for dinner. Hey, that’s why I call certain things in my pantry emergency meals.
On Thursday I got to catch a glimpse of Michelle’s dress rehearsal for her last orchestra concert of 6th grade and it reminded me of how lucky I am to work at my kids’ middle school. Grandma came over early to help Natalie finish up her mini society project before attending the amazing spring orchestra concert. I am so proud of Michelle’s hard work and am amazed by all the orchestra teacher has been able to do with her students even with a pandemic affecting the 7th and 8th graders more than the others. Michelle probably wouldn’t want me to mention it but she worked with Ms. A, the assistant orchestra teacher, to be able to play Hallelujah with the 7th graders while a couple of their violas were at a robotics tournament. Ms. F even thanked her by name and let her know she made it into Pops orchestra for next year. We are all thrilled Michelle has been able to meet this goal!
On Friday I got the treat of taking Danny & C. & J. to Get Air. Those three boys in a car together are hilarious. Then, when we walked in, the group of middle school girls ahead of us started giggling at the sight of these boys who are all taller than I am. Sounds like over a dozen middle schoolers met there and had a great time bouncing around until 10pm! While Danny was jumping around, Michelle got to go to the temple with our ward youth and had such a wonderful time. I am grateful for Sister B. being her leader and I can Tell Michelle is too because she came home asking if we could buy her a Mother's Day present.
Saturday held in store plenty of fun for everyone. Michelle and I visited her old school for the May Faire and enjoyed seeing her former classmates & families and enjoying a morning of Waldorf magic. I did have to leave for the main part to pick up Michelle’s recital costume but had arranged in advance for her to stay with the twins’ parents. Meanwhile, Danny got to go to an amazing birthday party that included riding in a limousine to Top Golf! Hubby, Kate & Natalie got to go to Kate’s volleyball game (they won 25-8 & 25-12) and go out to eat at Cafe Rio. That evening Kate also babysat a neighbor and was able to have an influx of cash to spend with friends later.
On Sunday we celebrated my mom's birthday (with fresh fruit for her dessert), my dad's birthday (with cheesecake for his dessert), and Mother's Day (with spice cake that I chose). Hubby did an amazing job planning, shopping, and preparing a wonderful meal for us all to enjoy while I did pretty much nothing all day except supervise Michelle and Natalie making the cake after I taught Primary. (I had originally wanted to take my mom and daughters to the tea house that weekend to celebrate Mother’s Day but it turns out waiting until April 28th was too late to make a reservation.) Michelle made me breakfast in bed and did the dishes & Natalie brought home an amazing coupon book she had made at school. We got to play games like Sorry & Ticket to Ride together. Danny gave me a big hug at the end of the night, wished me a Happy Mother's Day, and thanked me for being his mom. Kate cracked us up at dinner by asking why her grandparents were there. With all the activities we had going on in April and the first week of May I didn't express my gratitude for the mothers in my life very well. Luckily no one complained. At least not to my face. I also did not take a single photo that day but luckily Teresa took a picture of the flowers Hubby bought and sent this to me. I would have lost my mind years ago without her constant help in my life. Happy Mother's Day!
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