Bits and Pieces: May

I have a new nephew! My brother and sister-in-law welcomed Marios to the world at the beginning of the month. I am sad that I won't get to meet him for several months, but excited that my mom and I have a trip planned for January.  In the meantime, I'll have to settle for video chats and pictures. He is a cutie pie.

One of my other cutie pie nephews (I have three now!) has been hanging out with me on a semi-regular basis, along with his sister Josie. I actually feel kind of nostalgic for those baby years while playing with Otto. Then I quickly talk some sense into myself.

Well, here we are almost at the end of another school year. Clare is still going strong at school. I think she will miss her friends and her teacher this summer. We will be busy, though, so hopefully the transition will go smoothly.

Christopher is done with preschool. SOB. His last day was last Friday. I will really miss his sweet teachers. I couldn't have asked for a better first year of school for him. Next year will be great, too, because he'll get to ride the bus with his sister, but I know he'll miss preschool. On his last day I decided to forget my to-do list and get a pedicure. It was the right choice.

We had a year-end picnic for preschool, and I got a chance to talk to a bunch of parents who have older kids at Clare's school. I am slowly getting to know more families at her school, and have joined the PTO for next year. I'll be the treasurer, along with another mom, so I am not totally on my own with it yet.

This month has been busy. I already wrote about our anniversary and Mother's Day. We also had a baptism for my nephew, which included a visit from my parents. We had a neighborhood progressive party, which was fun. Most of my neighbors' kids go to the local Catholic school, so we don't have much interaction with them other than saying hi when we see each other outside. It was nice to have a chance to get to know them a little better.

Other than that it's been the usual: yard work, housework, nights out with friends. Both kids have started soccer, although they both had games rained out over the last week due to the storms.

We spend Memorial Day weekend in Evansville. We left at lunch time on Friday, and were there in time for Friday martinis with Ruth. My mom bought Clare a birthday cake for an early birthday celebration since they'll be in England on her birthday. Clare was pretty thrilled. We traveled to Oostburg (north of Milwaukee) to visit my 90-year-old grandma on Saturday. It was nice to see her, but the kids were a little crazy which made it hard to talk. On Sunday we had a cookout with Aunt Karen and the kids ran through the sprinkler. We drove back on Monday, discovered a broken air conditioner, and decided not to worry about it while we drank beer at my friend Kerry's annual Memorial Day party. When we came back it was magically working again. A Memorial Day miracle!

I leave you with a few Christopher-isms. (Christopher, by the way, has had a growth spurt and I can't get over how long his legs look. Where is my baby??)

Waitress: Where is your bacon?
Christopher: It's in my tummy! And soon it will be poop. (Said while waving his hand around like a magician.)

Priest, during Homily at my parents' church: I can't remember if personae is Latin or Greek.
Christopher: I think it's both.

Next week is the last day of school and Clare's birthday, so it will be a busy week!

On one of the first warm, snow free days. In May. 

Clare wanted to take this selfie. We were at Hidden Falls for some family pictures. 

This picture makes me laugh because it looks like she is falling, but she was just concentrating really hard.

On the last day of preschool.

With his teachers. The goof refused to take a picture without his eyes crossed.

Clare's delicious lemon poppyseed raspberry cake!

Cousins.

Number 12 (and Mother's Day)

I went to see Maureen Campion speak at my ECFE site last week. She discussed marriage and how to make it work, especially with young children. It was really interesting, and I wish Ben had been there, too. (One thing she said that particularly resonated with me was that mothers tend to lose their inner voice, forget who they are, when they have young children. I think this is especially true for me as a SAHM. When people I ask me what I am going to do when the kids go back to school I usually give them a blank look and then say, "Something..." I honestly have no idea.)

Anyway, I felt pretty good about our marriage after hearing Maureen's talk. We have our issues, every couple does, but we were in a good place before we had kids. And that has helped a ton. It also helps that Ben doesn't like to sit still, so he is always busy doing tasks that need to be done around the house. And I can't say enough about how much I appreciate the fact that he does the dishes every night while I collapse on the couch.

Another thing the speaker said was that when asked, women with small children first want to spend time alone, and then with friends, and then with their spouse. (While the man usually wants to spend time with his spouse, even sacrificing sleep.) I have to say this is true for me. As an introvert, I need that alone time and I rarely get it. I also feel refreshed after a night out with friends. Again, points to Ben for never complaining when I tell him I am going out.

That said, I still do want to spend time with Ben, too. Good, right? We were able to go out for our anniversary on Saturday night. We were both a little tired (hungover) from a neighborhood party on Friday night, but that didn't stop us from enjoying whiskey at Young Joni's hidden bar. We also shared a bottle of wine and devoured delicious pizza at Young Joni after our cocktail. It was very nice.

On Mother's Day, I received my usual Mother's Day flowers and a fitbit. I am excited to see if the fitbit helps.  I have been doing a better job exercising, but maybe this will provide even more motivation. We spent the day doing usual Sunday things (Clare and I went to Target together), but we made time for bloody mary's on the deck. (I am realizing this post makes it sound like I am constantly drinking. I'm really not.) Christopher spent a lot of time on his new bike while Clare did cartwheels in the yard. We had Ben's parents over for dinner and Ben grilled chicken kabobs. It was a nice day.

Clare brought this questionnaire home from school. 

Mother's Day snack at Starbucks.

Cheers to 12 years!

Christopher's moment of zen.