Where did May go?

Ok, laugh that my last post was about April breezing by - but, May, goodness! I have a love/hate relationship with the month of May...

Love it...
because school is almost over

Hate it....
because school is almsot over

Love it...
Beacuse it is my anniversary and we try to do something fun

Hate it...
Because it is our anniversary and we have to plan, get the kids oovered, pack, blah blah, blah

Love it...
Because there is all the end of the year school parties & fun stuff

Hate it...
Because there is all the end of the year school parties & fun stuff

Love it...
Because my Movex job gets busy.

Hate it...
Because my Movex job gets busy.

Love it...
Because it is Mother's Day and that is sweet.

Hate it...
Because it is Mother's Day and I KNOW it is such a difficult day for my infertile friends, those who have lost babies, lost mommies and all that. A tough day.

See - I'm totally messed up!

so, moving on...
The B's had their final year at Lake Mag preschool. They had such a wonderful year - amazing teacher, sweet friends, learned to read, and on and on and on. It is like a safe little cocoon over there. I tell them all the time that I call them the Stepford Wife Teachers & Admin because they are so friendly. They really are a Godly bunch of ladies that love the kiddos and do great with them. It is sad to see the end of the preschool era. Andrew is at big boy elementary school already, so wow, just like that, it is over. I don't know that I want to think about it too much! Blink.

Here is Blake's "graduation" photo...


And here is Brantley...


We are in the home stretch for Andrew being done with school. I'm an end of the year party mom, so I'll have some fun pictures to post later this week. He gets funnier by the day and his talking is getting clearer and clearer. He can communicate well, thank goodness. Potty training (this is for you, Paige) is still in progress! :) He poops on the potty at swim lessons - but not at home. We all find this random, but we'll take it. Once he gets home from school, he is good about being in his big boy pants (something I have to work on with his sitters when I'm working) - and will go if you take him. Slow and steady wins the race on this one, I'm afraid. The boot camp approach sounded lovely on paper - and worked with the others, but this one, like everything else he does, will be done on his time-table (with blatant disregard to mine!). There is a great spiritual lesson there, I am sure!

And, our home-school year is over. Let me just say, that I LOVED the time with Jeffrey. We got to hang. He learned a ton. It was really good for our relationship. He trusts us. We like each other. We love each other. He talks openly with me about the pre-teen life. He's had "the talk." He's turned 10. It's been a big year. Was it perfect? no. Did I get done everything I had hoped and dreamed? no. Was it hard as heck? yes. And, I am glad he is going back to school next year. I'll miss him - hanging out with him - but I won't miss the lesson plans and having to be teacher all the time too. I'm gladly removing that hat - and putting the mom hat back on. Deep down, I think he is a little happy about it - but let me warn you - if you ask him, the response to going back to school is not so positive!

So, wrapping up a lot of stuff this month.

Jeff & I had our 17 year anniversary. We slipped away to Siesta Key for the weekend a few weeks ago. It was bliss. He is wonderful - a wonderful man and a wonderful father. We only have a few photos fromt the weekend. My favorite was of us chilling in our beach chairs - surfing the internet on our iphones. Jeff took a picture of our feet - and all you see is our feet inter-twined together with the blue ocean and beaches stretched out before them. It felt like it summed up the last 17 years. Our legs might look like hell - and we have some ugly scars - but sunny skies and blue ocean is still in front of us - and our feet are still together - so, all good. ;) I'm too lazy to upload the photo off my phone, sorry. Surf over to FB if you haven't seen it!

We're off to Disney at the end of the week. I worked a zillion hours last week and am ready for a few days to decompress. We're camping which makes us all happy. It is STAR WARS weekend at Disney so all the men in my life are fired up about that. We're usually good about unplugging and really enjoying the kids and playing hard when we go. I'm ready for a dose of fun!

So, now you are all caught up! Have a blessed week.

I'll leave you with some of things I overhear as the twins (and Andrew trying to join in) were hollering as they wrestled earlier this eveing...a day in the life of a boy mom...
"Let's FIGHT!" (met with laughs, roaring and a clearing of furniture from the area)
"Mom - can we fight naked? Then I can put my butt in his face?" (permission denied)
followed by sound effects of explosions, gun fight, and noies I cannot imitate or explain. It all seemed rather, well, dangerous to me. Jeff was sitting on the other sofa. He didn't even flinch. I felt like I needed to leave the room.
"Should I be concerned about this?" I ask. (imagine sounds of flesh hitting flesh - spin moves and kick moves being executed around furniture and glass doors)
"Only if someone gets hurt." (from Jeff). oh, ok.

Where did April go???

So, here we are at May 3rd - and April was surely a blur of activity. I hate busy - you know the, "hey, how are you?" - promptly answered by, "busy."

Busy?? Busy doing what? For whom?? Why???

But, alas, we are all busy - so I feel like we have to be so prayerfully careful WHAT we are busy doing. Or I am afraid we are going to wake up one morning - old -
kids gone - and we will wonder what happened.

It is a stuggle for sure - especially with work and four kids, but something to consider and think about.

I guess that lately, as my twins have hit SIX years old, that I think about it more. My dear sweet hubbie told me at dinner this weekend that I looked great - not a day over 25 years old. (The man is GOOD). I think it was the sun - we had spent the day playing with the kids - in the pool - at home - a fun, happy day. We were feeling tan and content - a nice place to be.

At church, our pastor is preaching about "waht is you had 30 days to live?" At home, we have friends in crisis around us - friends whose marriages are falling apart, friends who have lost their jobs, friends who are losing their homes, and the list goes on. On the news, we get swine flu and economic disaster. It is a strange time - and as I read this - a strange post! There are so many levels of things going on - that I guess I don't know where to start...and that is where I'm at.

So, in bullet points -
- kids are good - everyone healthy. Andrew is taking swimming lessons and is still working on potty training. I had to pull him out of a friend's hot tub today which took five years off my life, but he took a breath as he slipped off the edge (thank you swim lessons) which bought me enough time to get in and fish him out. (in my new shorts, oh, well). Bless him, he came out sputtering and telling us that he was both scared and sorry.

The B's turned six last week - separate post with pics to follow. They are getting BIG fast. They get sweeter by the day (although sometime whiney) - but get funnier and smarter. Brantley declared "we have the technology" when he needed to erase something off his book report today. They conspired against Jeff before church this am. He went into their closet to get some shirts out and the two turkeys had been hiding in there waiting to scare him. They did. So, minus five years (ok, maybe one year) off his life today too.

Jeffrey is in the home stretch of home-schooling. (thank you, Lord, we are almost done). We have had a great year, but are both ready for summer and no lesson plans. I am ready to go back to being mom - and taking off the full-time teacher hat. Home-schooling is not for the faint-of-heart and will take more time and energy than you think.

So there is the "busy" month in review - ha-ha. Pictures to come soon.

Happy May!