May Highlights

May was full of small, eventful highlights.  Fun moments, and lots of work when the fun was not being had.  Our home is getting ready for a baby at the end of June, so Mike and I are bombarded with each others "honey-dos" before the baby arrives.  However, here are some of the more fun things that happened....

Mike scrounged up an old playhouse someone wanted to get rid of.  Once we clean it up and secure everything, the kids will have a blast in it!  It was very heavy though.  Our neighborhood is awesome - within minutes of coming home with this huge hunk of wood, we had about 10 men help carrying it to our backyard, as you can see for yourself.  It quickly got its name as the "Princess Castle", and has stuck ever since.  Thanks everyone, for all the time and muscle it took to get this huge thing here!

Mike and Peter also went on a fishing trip with one of our neighbors and his grandson.  They had a blast.  Peter came home talking a mile a minute about his fish and what they did. With the help of Mike and our great neighbor, Peter claimed he caught 3 fish!  That's pretty exciting.
The same weekend, my sister Michelle came up to visit.  Michelle, Elsie, Kimball and I had a terrific evening as well.  We ate popcorn, chocolate, and watched Cinderella.  When Peter came home from fishing, it was straight to his 2nd to last soccer game.  By the end of the day, Peter was pretty wiped out!
Michelle came to get away from the pressures of school, but I'm afraid I just added to her stress during her stay.  I realized while she was here that I had a bigger project ahead of me than I realized, as I was supposed to come up with a mother's day gift for the primary children that Sunday.  Sweet Michelle stayed up way too late (or should I say early) helping me cut out little flowers for a card craft for each child in our ward to give their mother.  But oh, I'm not sure what I would have done without her!  She was definitely a life saver that weekend.  She bailed me out with the craft, subbed playing the piano in primary, helped get my kids ready for church in the morning when 1 of the 3 children was having a melt down, and was my stabilizer all Sunday.  Thanks Michelle!  (I still feel awful about your tires though!)

Peter also finished up another season of soccer.  We were all so excited at the last game.  All season long he had wanted to score a goal, as is the dream of every kid that plays soccer.  It was an awesome play.  Peter was playing defender and happened to dribble the ball all the way down the field, maneuvering around other kids and everything.  Then came the goal kick.  It was a bit slow, and right towards the goalie.  However, the stars were aligned, and by some stroke of luck, the goalie forgot to stop the ball in front of the goal line.  Hence, Peter scored a point for the team.  YEAAAA!

Here is another random picture that was taken a couple weeks ago.  Elsie and Peter were playing outside for about 10 minuets by themselves.  When Mike stepped out to check on them, he saw the picture to the right.  Peter was so proud, and Elsie seemed to think she was a princess in a parade.  However, it was disconcerting as a parent.  Instances like these I'm so grateful my children are alive and functioning.

Last but not least, there was the solar eclipse we watched from our backyard.  It was a blast playing with our shadows and watching the moon pass over the sun as it did.  The lighting was so weird.  Our neighbor brought over his welding helmet and we all took a short peak at the sun as it was being covered over.  It was great.  What made it even greater was all the family that happened to stop by during the event, so we were able to share it.    I had a niece that was starving the whole time, and I felt bad for keeping her, but she was even a good sport!  The pictures are of the girls playing with their shadows.  It was fun because there was lighting coming from 2 different directions, making warped shadows.  Meanwhile, the kids entertained themselves with grandpa (or rather ON grandpa).  So, that was our May.  Now wish up luck for the month of June, we'll need it!