- We had a cookout to celebrate our final small group of the semester. I summarized my feelings about it on Facebook: "When you're house hunting, you imagine the future in every potential place you walk through. Tonight as we celebrated the end of a great semester of leading couples' small group, I looked around our patio full of strangers-turned-friends and our yard full of kids playing and realized I was experiencing a dream fulfilled. Back before the contract was even signed, we committed to using this house to serve God and our church and I am oh-so-grateful we had the opportunity to do so."
- Luke attended his first official friend's birthday party when his buddy Patrick turned two. He seemed to be a fan, especially of the cake.
- Mother's Day was great. I enjoyed some time off the day before, which was much needed and appreciated. The day of we went to church and then hiked around the Buford Dam down to the Chattahoochee River and back up. We had a picnic lunch near the lake side, then came home and did some yard work and had some of David's yummy hamburgers on the grill for dinner. Luke gave me a Willow Tree angel figurine and Audrey gave me hanging baskets for the porch and pink gardening gloves. So blessed to hold the title of "Mom" to those two.
- Audrey's Pre-K graduation was awesome. I nearly burst with pride at how well she did with her brave singing, especially since she was on the first row! I didn't cry at the event itself (saving all of that for August), but I definitely teared up at seeing how she overcame her struggle of stage fright. We'd been praying for weeks and then that night I took her aside before walking her to her room and prayed over her. After we got home when we were praying before bed she said, "Hey! God DID answer our prayers!" So cool.
- We picked strawberries at a local patch with friends. We ate most of them fresh, but turned some into yummy smoothies.
- One weekend we visited my dad and stepmom's new house and then went to David's parents' home to hang out. We were supposed to do a boat ride, but it was chilly and wet, so we just hung out at their dock then went out to eat.
- Audrey got her glasses towards the end of the month. She handled them like a champ and it didn't take me nearly as long as I thought it would to get used to seeing her in them.
- Of course, the highlight of our month was our Anniversary Trip that I wrote about here.
- My sweet husband turned 33 while we were in MX. We celebrated when we got home, too, with lots of homemade cards and a homemade peach cobbler.
Notable parenting struggles/stories:
- I jotted down some notes on my phone for this month's recap but it's been so long ago that I can't remember what some of them mean. For example, "Luke's sleeping troubles." So apparently, I need to record that the early part of May held some sleeping troubles for our youngest (and therefore, for us) but since I wrote that in a state of sleep-deprivation, I don't really recall what they were. Oh well. I'm sure it's for the best that way.
- Audrey has been struggling with comparing what she has/gets vs. what Luke has/gets since he was about 18 months old. I've lost count of how many times I've reviewed all of the things that she gets to do because she's older that he can't. One day I fixed them a snack and ran down to get something from the basement while they ate it. Suddenly, I hear a very accusatory little voice shout down, "Moooommy! YOU gave Luke four teddy grahams and you only gave me THREE!" (I'd thrown a couple in their regular snack to be NICE.) I took a deep breath, thought for a moment, and then walked upstairs. I took the three Teddy Grahams out of Audrey's bowl, had her follow me to the kitchen, and I promptly dumped them in the trash. We had a long talk about how comparison steals your joy and I explained that if she'd never noticed how many Luke had, she would've been perfectly content with her number. I promised I hadn't meant to give Luke more, but that I just hadn't been paying attention and, by the way, stuff like that was going to happen a lot in life because, newsflash: LIFE ISN'T FAIR. She didn't cry or pitch a fit, she just let that sink in. We're well past a month since it happened and while she still succumbs to comparing every now and then, it's gotten much better! Score one for Mommy.
- Just in case the story above didn't prove what a mean mother I am, we also started using spanking as an occasional punishment for Luke. We began earlier with Audrey, because a) she understood more at a younger age and b) I'm a bigger sucker the second go-round. I know this is a huge hot topic amongst parents so let me assure you it's not something we entered into lightly nor do at the drop of a hat. For perspective, Audrey probably had about 15-20 spankings total from the ages of 2-4 and now averages about one every 6-8 weeks. I expect Luke's number will be slightly higher because, ya know, BOY, but so far the couple he's had have worked wonders.
- Audrey is doing really well with reading, but I have to be careful that the material is still age appropriate. A lot of the early reader first chapter books will have some name calling among the characters or words like "stupid" and "dumb" that I really just don't want her exposed to. Case and point: One night while we were getting ready for bed, she said, "Luke, you're a jerk" and giggled. I gasped, she burst into tears and explained she'd read it in one of her books. We had a talk about what that meant and I assured her she wasn't in trouble because she hadn't known better. It may be prudish and I know public school is going to rock our world, but for now, I'll be previewing Nancy Drew's Clue Crew thoroughly thankyouverymuch.
Cute Quotes from the Kids:
- When leaving Cracker Barrel one night, Luke said happily, "I like to eat. But when I get bigger, I [will] eat salad." ?! Enjoy the carefree pre-salad days now, Buddy!
- I always cheer runners on when we pass them in the car and I guess it rubbed off. When cruising by a jogger, Luke's little fists pumped in the air and he yelled, "GO Runner GO!" :)
- David to Audrey: "Where did you get all of those bug bites?" AJ: "Uh, from bugs."
- Luke has started saying, "Mommy? You so cute!" I'll take it.
So that was May. Sorry if it felt a little disconnected and strung together. Turns out short bullet points aren't really my strong suite, but at least it saved me from having to come up with transitional sentences and paragraph breaks. Maybe June's recap will be better. Maybe.
Until the next time, check out May's pictures here and be sure to view our Anniversary Trip album too if you haven't already by clicking here.
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