May Days

I was a bit of a blog slacker in May. Here is a look at our month.

We've spent a lot of time digging in the dirt outside our house, enjoying the beautiful weather.

Got to know the neighbors a bit better. This dinner was held at a non-kid house, and I don't think our host expected all the lovely fingerprints we would leave behind.

Mother's Day was great, as always. Josh made me this card. He wrote all the words himself with Matt's help spelling, and we've never seen him draw people this well before.

Josh and I made these little cards to send to his grandmas. I went through some magazines with him, reading different words and letting him choose which ones to cut out. That explains the words like "Nutra Sonic" and "Don't Forget". He also insisted on the bench, the credit card, and the almond milk.

This is how I unwind lately. My "evening glass of wine" is made by mixing grape juice, Fresca, and ice in a fancy glass. I think it has a similar calming affect.

The library opened an awesome new play room that was perfect for my kids. Where was this in the winter when we needed indoor entertainment? Sadly, they shut it down until August.

Josh saw the Lego table, and rather than building something awesome, he chose to organize the blocks into colors. He's funny that way. Don't know where he gets it. Maybe from his mother, who used to take all the towels out of her grandma's closet to refold and reorganize them by size and color. At age three. Dunno.

Josh is really learning to handle the computer well independently. He sits here during Jude's nap time or my piano lessons and plays game after game. Usually I don't even have to turn it on for him. I love how he looks like a little college student here.

On Memorial Day, we went to a picnic with church friends. Josh was fascinated watching the big boys fish in this pond. 

This is Nicole, the sweetest little eight-year-old babysitter you could ask for. She buddied up with Jude and helped him practice walking on the grass. Such a little mother hen!

Josh has been playing soccer every week and getting so good at listening. He loves to follow the rules of the game. Below, you can see how he refuses to leave his spot on the center circle while everyone else takes a water break. Because that's just where you're supposed to go after a score!

After every game, the parents and siblings stand up to make a tunnel for players to run through. I love his proud little grin here after being the first one out.

Jude is turning into a real person. He's starting to communicate better, and I think it just frustrates him when I don't understand or don't let him do what he wants. So we've had a lot of this face as he struggles to free himself from my fun-sucking death grip.

He climbs everything these days. Including our dangerous riding lawn mower at every opportunity.

 He's also developing a pretty good sense of humor.

I get it! Diaperhead! Hilarious.

We've seen more of cute little Luke lately. We got to have him for a sleepover last month while his parents and family went away for a big race. It was nonstop fun for these two!

Sometimes my husband takes phone pictures of me. I try to make sure I look really mature and put-together in them.

Josh's baby step toward eating more vegetables = picking green beans apart and eating the tiny beans inside the pods

Jude's food repertoire is expanding as well. Here he is eating a chicken nugget! Hooray for protein!

Matt and I had the chance to go shopping in Detroit after we went to the temple one Saturday. It was strictly for business reasons, but it was so fun! I got to pick out a nice suit for him and some other fun stuff. And as everyone knows:

(Thank you Pinterest.)

Matt has been traveling for work, and that basically means dressing up so you can go eat ridiculous food with company money. Oh yeah, and sit in a few meetings. But really it's about the food. You don't even want to know how big this steak was....Okay you got me, thirty-eight ounces! And he ate it all! He obviously doesn't want to live to see me as an old wrinkly lady.

And lastly, some dorky pictures of my big boys playing with the camera phone. They are ridiculous. I love it.