May Happenings

It's been a little while since I've written, so there's lots to fill you in on, but I will do my best to be brief (whatever that means). We've had lots going on lately and we are now smack in the middle of May, the busiest time of the year in our family.

First off, today we are celebrating 16 years of marriage!! I can't believe I'm even old enough to have gotten married legally and still been married that long! I'm doing lots of reminiscing today - we had such a great wedding day with so many special people involved. I wouldn't change much about that day, other than perhaps my hairstyle. Although my dress looks pretty dated now, I think it was pretty cute back then! I'm pretty thrilled with my choice of husband, too - it's worked out quite well. :)

We celebrated Mother's Day with our great friends Steve and Angie and their kids - they are our family-away-from-family here in Ontario. We've also got a few birthdays coming up - I'm turning 36 and Taya is turning 6! I'm not sure which number is more shocking. It feels like not so long ago that I was big and pregnant with Taya, while celebrating my 30th birthday and our 10th anniversary. Connor turned 9 last month, marking his last year in the single digits. I'm glad Logan is still 4 for a little longer.

We have decided to not renew Taya at her talent agency. It was a fun and interesting time, and it was pretty exciting for her to have two jobs with Canadian Tire. She is often in the flyer, and it's great to page through and see her. She's in there again this week. She has been accepted into the competitive program for gymnastics, so we'll be focusing on that instead.

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you'll know about some of our back yard adventures from last spring and summer. I am thrilled to report absolutely no slithery sightings so far this spring!! Stefan has seen one, but I have not. I know this is probably too good to be true, but I'm enjoying each snake-free day!! Don't get me wrong - I am not rolling around in the grass with my eyes blissfully closed, or walking barefoot through thick bushes, but I am feeling like maybe, just maybe, we can have a snake-free summer! (I know, I'm totally delusional, but just humor me, please!). I always do a careful check when I head onto the grass, because I don't need any *surprises*.

I have spent many hours over the last few weeks digging up a fairly large bed which was totally covered in some kind of ground cover that has ridiculous roots. It is now done and is ready for me to plant my garden!! I really have no idea about planting a garden, and there's a good chance the bunnies will eat my garden, but I'm going to try anyway. I'm hoping we have some success. The kids are very excited to get started.

I've been running a little more regularly these days, and am preparing to do a 5k race in June. I ran the same one last year and am hoping to improve my time this year. The race is to support a local charity that helps survivors of breast cancer, so of course I am running in honor of my mom, and also my aunt, who is a survivor. (Here's a shameless plug if you want to support me!).


Two lessons I've learned recently: 1) Never drink your green smoothie at the computer without a lid on it, or you may run the risk of spilling it all over the keyboard. (True story. I was almost more sad about wasting my precious smoothie than about possible damage to my keyboard! My husband was more worried about possible damage to the keyboard than about my precious smoothie. Huh). 2) Never leave your child at piano lessons without first making sure that he actually goes in the house, because there just might not be lessons that week, and you may have forgotten due to a brain that was operating at levels causing information overflow. (True story. I am truly thankful to the nice woman who stopped and waited with Connor for half an hour while I did my errand. I felt like the worst mother ever. I ALWAYS check to make sure he goes in, but that day, I did not. Don't know why not. A happy ending to this story, but I felt AWFUL for my boy, who couldn't figure out why I just left him there).

This weekend we are off to Leamington for my cousin's wedding reception - can't wait to see relatives and celebrate with everyone! Next week, we are looking forward to the arrival of my in-laws for 10 days. The kids are so excited to see their cousins, and I think the grown-ups are all pretty excited too!


Not sure where the last 5 hours have gone, but it's getting close to school pick-up time, so I'll leave it there for now. Thanks for checking in! Happy May to you!