May Favorites

No matter how hard I try, I just can't categorize every photo into it's nice own little story. Some of my pictures are extremely random, but have a unique story that I always want to remember.

Like this one...

The month of May I introduced my kids to a few new things, including lollipops. Lily's had her share of these treats, so to combat her sweet tooth, Michal creatively came up with vegetables-on-a-stick and called them lollipops. And it worked! A little girl who once wouldn't ever eat tomatoes or radishes, now enjoys them - but they have to be on a stick - and they have to be called "lollipops."

Popcorn was another food that I introduced to Marco. I had never before thought of giving him popcorn (to keep them contained in one room for longer than five minutes), but he loved it and they sat still (and shared!) whenever Mommy brought out a bowl of popcorn!

And lastly, this was the very first time that I caved and bought the kids donuts for the first time. And to make matters worse... I bought it so that it could be their dinner! I don't remember what happened that day... but I do remember it being a hard day and when I didn't want to deal with dinner we drove down to the neighborhood market Wal-Mart and made our sole purchase of a bag of donuts. And of course, I was the meanest mom ever for making Lily take a picture (so I could remember this) instead of opening up the donuts immediately upon returning home!

 Whenever it's wet outside, the kids find a way to get away from me to splash and jump in the puddles. Marco takes it a step further and sits down in the water, ensuring a fun mess for Mommy to clean up. (Notice how curly Lily's hair is).

It never gets old, spying on Lily in nursery. I love watching her learn. This particular day they were learning the song, "In the Leafy Treetops." I learned the song:

1. In the leafy treetops the birds sing good-morning,

2. "How do you do?" they say, "How do you do today?"

3. In the pretty garden the flowers are nodding,

4. They're first to see the sun, they must tell everyone.

But apparently, that's backwards - or - it's been changed to become backwards since I was in primary. Now, the second and fourth lines are switched.

But on this particular day, I heard them singing MY version and it made me love her nursery leader even more!

Walks are our favorite outing... even when we have to share a stroller because Daddy is too lazy to pump the tires on the double stroller. (In his defense, it was a super short walk to the end of the road and back - about a half a mile).

Marco and Lily are starting to play together better. And I'm starting to catch glimpses of them loving each other. And it makes me so, so, so grateful and happy that I decided to have more than one child.

Marco has started cuddling more. This boy is not, and has never been, a "cuddler" - until recently. It's rare, and it's short, but I'll take any snuggles or hugs I can get from him!

Babcia Ania told, and showed, Lily a dress that she was sending to her in the mail. We all thought it would make her excited and she would be a good girl in anticipation of the dress arriving. We were wrong. She was a good girl - that part didn't change, but she wanted the dress immediately. She called Babcia about a dozen times over the next hour so she could see the dress - and once she was done FaceTiming her, Lily wanted to go to the Post Office to pick up the dress. So we went to a closed Post Office to explain to Lily that we had to wait a couple of days for the Post Office to reopen - but Lily was determined and decided we needed to go pick up the dress from the airport, before it actually made it's way to the Post Office. So off to the airport we went. We explained the situation to several workers at the ticket counter and they "played along" in telling Lily that her dress didn't come on any of the airplanes today, but that instead some crayons did. They all gave her hugs, treats, and toys (crayons + coloring books). And Lily felt pretty dang special. I'm glad that I took the 40 minute trip out to the airport so that she could feel important instead of frustrated that her dress hadn't come yet.

We were invited to a pool party with a soccer club that we deliberately didn't join for the Spring. (I had a lot on my plate, and just couldn't muster this extra outing during Marco's nap time once a week). But I did justify joining them for their final "practice" of the "season" which so-happened to be a pool party. It was such a success because Lily learned to swim on her own at this party. And I was able to leave Marco with someone so that I could attend and spend all of my attention on making sure Lily was learning how to swim properly.

Daddy and I made an effort to take the kids on the swings a few times a week. We have a dinky little swing set in our neighborhood that is about 2,000 FitBit steps away. But, it gets the kids energy out before bedtime and they are in love with the swings. Sometimes the struggle is real when trying to pry them away from the swings to go home, but most of the time they are good kids when they realize we get to come back the next day... if they are good!

We purchased sand to go in our sandbox we got for free. Marco loved it! Even when he got sand in his eyes, he wasn't complaining!

And we put together a see-saw that someone gave us. The kids love it, especially Lily - until she realizes that she's doing all the work and then she gives up. But that usually takes a while.

We were invited over for dinner at the Maki's home. And Lily thought it would be cute to not only use all their stickers, but place them all over her body, looking like she just got tattooed by an amateur artist!

We were also invited over for dinner at the Acosta's home, and instead of Lily getting into things - Marco made such a mess by playing in the dirt and forcing us to strip him down so that he was clean enough to eat dinner with the rest of us!

On our daily walks we run into the craziest things - like massive turtles trying to cross the road (he was actually fast - don't let those fable stories trick you!) and garbage trucks!

And on one of our walks, we happened to find a scooter with a sign on it saying "free" in addition to a few other things that we picked up (including an electric smoker BBQ grill, and a hammock (which we got rid of because it was gross)).

And last, but not least, we had an enjoyable, "cool" time chilling at the pool with Titus and Case! So good of a time, that I came home and went through boxes until I found a kiddie pool that Uncle Sam had gotten for Lily two years ago for Christmas. I came home and blew it up right away and vowed to myself that going into the kiddie pool was now a new daily requirement that was going to become as sacred as walks. (Let's see if I can keep my commitments!)

Overall, May was a great, great month! I had lots of fun seeing others, going places, and getting the kids to try new things! I loved May - but hopefully the rest of the summer will be just as great!