Merry Month of May - End of the Year Festivities

Oh mamma I don't know how I'm going to blog about all of this.  May, especially the end of May, is just so packed with delights and stresses and wonderful things and demanding things that it's hard to ....sit down at your computer and write about them.  I'll try.

One festive thing was our annual Arts Showcase at our wonderful elementary school.  I cannot say much about this, but this year has been a stressful one with a change in leadership and some conflicting approaches to events at the school - a massive year of change that brought with it some unpleasant drama.  Despite all that I felt that the Showcase turned out beautifully.  Impressive, fun; a rewarding night after the bazillion hours and ounces of energy that were poured into it.  I'm so grateful to be a part of a school so dedicated to children and art.

Only a week or two after the massive showcase came a very hectic weekend indeed which involved the end-of-year Family Fun Fest Carnival, plus cooking a Korean feast for our Poetry Group the following evening and on top of those two things, an unexpected visit from the St. Georgians.  We haven't had them up in a while and weren't sure we'd get to see them before our big family trip at the end of June and suddenly they just decided it was a great weekend to come up!  I'm so glad they did...I don't like going very long without seeing them.  I wasn't able to give them as much attention as I would have liked since the weekend was already rather over-scheduled, but the time we did get together was super pleasant.  I'm so glad they were able to come to the carnival....where we did not take very many pictures.

On Saturday we spent the morning at the zoo of course, but the best part of the day for me was going to the library.  Every summer our local library puts on a massive summer reading program, complete with a theme each year, great books and prizes, and lots of fun activities.  That Saturday was the kick-off event with a huge party out on the plaza of the main library downtown.  I really really wanted to go - this year's theme is superheroes and I heard about all sorts of fun.  However, by the time it was 2:00 we were all so hot and tired already and just couldn't face the thought of more hours in crowded hot places.  So I convinced my kids that we should stop by one of the smaller branches just to pick up our schedules and sign up for the programs.  What I didn't know what that the small branch was hosting a kick-off party of its own, and it was in a quiet cool basement with very few visitors there -  and there were several really really fun things to do.  I quickly called Peter and had him haul two of his daughters in and we played for at least an hour, maybe more.  There was even a photo booth - total kill.  I counted it as a great moment of serendipity to find that party that was fun, creative and not in the hot sun.

The kids got to make masks and capes and wrist cuffs - I'm serious, the librarian who did all this is amazing.

I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that my Cap got into the scene as well, but I kind of was

Here's Skippidy playing one of the several super-hero games - this one being a diaper tossing game in honor of Captain Underpants.  Also available was an obstacle course to be completed while rolling and steering Professor X's wheelchair.

I'm just sorry I don't have the Photo Booth pix scanned because they were awesome.

I'm noticing I don't really have any pictures of the cousins here!  We really did have some nice times together despite the lack of photographic evidence.

Oh, I did get one photo.  Actually Sheri texted it to me just after she and her family had pulled away in their van on Sunday afternoon.

A WEE BIT of exciting news.  I think they were waiting all weekend to see if we'd say something about Sheri's tiny little bulge...we didn't.  I didn't even notice it!  So that was a bombshell we got...a very happy one.  We're excited!! WHAT IF THEY HAVE A BOY!?!?!  Yea, I know.  They're totally having a girl.  Either way...I'm pretty excited.