The new trendy word this year I have been hearing a lot is May-cember. Meaning that May is crazy busy and packed full of end of the school year stuff and it feels like December because so much is going on. It is true, its a busy month. I find the word a little obnoxious though. I feel like it will perpetuate the craziness and people will start making things bigger and more elaborate to live up to the word. I am a little grumpy and cynical today though so maybe it’s just my negative attitude. We have had plenty going on this month though. I have put some of it in other posts but there are a few things I think are worth mentioning that I haven’t yet.
Ryan and I celebrated our 17th anniversary. Wow. It seems like forever and 5 minutes at the same time. The kids spent the night at their cousins and Ryan and I went downtown and stayed at a fancy hotel in the Power and Light District. We ate at a fancy steak house, and walked around afterwards for a bit. We found a place called Insomnia Cookie. They had giant delicious cookies that were served warm and they were open and delivered until 3AM. AAAhhh! I have never met a cookie I didn’t like so I tried a few. They were YUMMY! It was a fun little find but probably good that they are far enough away from my house that I can’t just pop in whenever I have a cookie craving.
The last time we had family pictures taken was four years ago. I have never gone that long between pictures but I really love the ones we have up now. I have been saying every Spring and Fall for the past two years that we needed to get new ones so I finally made myself make an appointment. Part of the reason I was postponing was because I was going to ‘lose 10 pounds first’ but mostly because it is a lot of work to get clean, coordinating outfits that fit everyone and haircuts, schedules, and the weather to all cooperate. It finally got done though. Instead of losing 10 pounds I gained 10 more, we had to reschedule once for rain, and Allison got a giant purple popsicle stain on her yellow shirt hid from me until we got there because she wasn’t supposed to eat it in the first place, but thanks to photo shop, we still got them done. I haven’t seen them yet, I am anxious for them to come!
I have been working on a few projects, or encouraging Ryan to work on a few projects around the house that we have wanted done for a while. It is nice to be getting a few of them checked off. Ryan put a screen door on our back porch which is awesome. I love being able to leave the door open and get fresh air with no bugs. Assuming everything lives I finally have the rock beds planted we put in last year and everything replaced that died last year and our front yard is done and can just grow and be pretty. Sherri helped me figure out the back yard while she was here so I can start on that…next year. I decorated our bathroom and master bedroom. We have a nice, pretty, relaxing space for Ryan and I to go hide in when we want to now. I also completed phase one of two in our garage re-organization. I designed some custom shelves that would hold and organize all the sports stuff in our garage. Ryan was willing to build them but I was not willing to wait until he had time to do it so I did it. It took me longer to do it, but it got done sooner that way and I was pretty impressed with myself. Power tools make me nervous but I got over it and used drills, saws and all kinds of power tools to get it done. The next thing I am currently working on is putting a new sink in our main floor half bath. It has a pedestal sink in it now which is completely useless and drives me crazy. I ordered an unfinished cabinet and I am sanding and staining it to match the rest of our cabinetry, then Ryan will put it in. Oh, we got our house tested for Radon as well and it measured at unsafe levels so we had a Radon pump put in. Ryan is convinced and I am on the fence that the whole Radon thing is a farce but we got a pump anyway. They left a PVC eye sore up the entire side of our house when they put it in. Ryan was not happy. The next day I climbed up to the very top of our 30′ ladder while Matthew held it with enough focus that made me feel only slightly more secure then if he wasn’t there at all but he promised to call 911 if I fell. I painted it all the same color as our house. Ryan hasn’t said anything since so it worked well enough that he doesn’t notice it anymore.
Matthew finished up 6th grade! He said it was the fastest year of school he has had so far. He also admitted that it school ‘isn’t that bad’. He had Field Day too but I didn’t make it to his so I don’t have pictures. He said it was a good time though. He always enjoys when he gets to test his speed skills. He is looking forward to not having to ride the bus for 45 minutes next year because he will be at the new middle school by our house. He picked art, cooking class, engineering and I can’t remember the last elective for next year. I was impressed with his variety when he showed me.
I did make it to his award ceremony. He was on the Principals Straight ‘A’s’ Honor Roll and was also recognized for participating in Mathletes and being the representative several times for their school for the events throughout the year. He is such a good boy. He just takes care of what he needs to have done and does a good job and is a good person. I am glad I get to be his mom.
Continental Math 
Principal Honor Roll 
Good job Matthew!