River, Sand, Walks and Parks in May

 All four seasons visited us in May. We had a nice stretch of dry, sunny 80+ degree weather, a day or two of super cold winter weather, a long stretch of serious non stop rain, a day or two of very strong wind gusts as well as several 'normal' Spring-y in-between days. The kids and I visited lots of parks and went on tons of walks through the neighborhood. Our wardrobe attire went from swim suits to wool hats to rain boots in a matter of days. Lots of layers always.

The wind was so powerful one day that it took down this huge tree a few houses down from us. The whole neighborhood was without power all day and all the roads were blocked off while the fire department and a team of experts came out to safely cut the tree down and restore the power. It was exciting!

We stopped by the dollar store and spent $4 plus tax on 2 sand buckets with shovels and 2 butterfly/fish catchers and spent the afternoon playing in the sand and river at Hathaway. I love this place.

Wool hat, warmest winter coat she owns, capris, Keen sandals and sucking the sweetness from a clover on a cold mid May afternoon. That's my kid! 

And then there was rain...lots of it. My kids loved puddle stompin'!

May Newsletter

These cute kids love each other so much

Esperanza fell asleep in her own bed on her own free will for the first time recently and slept all night there. She won't do it every night, but every so often she will. Some nights she thinks she wants to sleep on her own, but then after the lights go out, she says she wants to sleep next to me because I'm warm and cozy.

My nephew baby Chance is sitting up all by himself now, at 7 months old

Ezra loves baby Chance

Painting with water colors

The kids, Armando and I went to the Humane Society to visit the dogs and cats the other day. We saw so many cute animals. Wish we could adopt them all...or even one. Maybe one day.

My upside down tomato plant is thriving! The right side up basil plants could use some perking up.

 Esperanza helping with the chickens

 I'm still planning to homeschool Esperanza next year for kindergarten. I overwhelm myself sometimes and check out stacks and stacks of books on the subject from the library. More recently though, I've decided not to do any more research or preparation for awhile. I'll find my balance at some point. It's just kindergarten I keep telling myself.

 Kids trying on my glasses

 Ezra helps me with dishes

Esperanza's school did early fathers day gifts for the dads one day. They made concrete stepping stones. Ezra and I went and helped.

The backyard strawberry patch is full of ripe berries

Strawberries and milk

Our niece Marti's son Emanuel turned 3

Sweet Sadee

The ladies are still kickin' and laying eggs

Pretty sky

Rafa stayed the night one night

I started reading the Lord of the Rings. Lucy tries to take advantage of any quiet time that comes my way, which isn't often.

With the weather getting nicer, I've been creating different frozen treats for the kids. One hit was the mango pops - yogurt, mango, strawberries, honey and vanilla. Yum!

This kids internal bed time clock is very different than what I want it to be. Here he is up well past even my bed time, giggling and playing.