may days

Whenever I go to buy new flowers for my gardens, you can almost bet that I will come home with something pink, blue, purple, or yellow. I am drawn to those colors every time. Right now we have several pink flowers blooming in our yard ~ the dianthus by our front porch, always a huge burst of color: The mini dianthus around our maple tree:
and the thrift down by the street (uhh... pretend you don't see the weeds in the picture!):
On May 2nd, Nick's drama team had their last performances of the season at the 9 and 10:30 services at church. The skit was about Jesus and the 10 lepers ~ Nick played Jesus:
Also this month, the kids have been taking swimming lessons twice a week. Ben doesn't like having to dunk his head under water, but enjoys the rest of it:

Of course, both Emm and Nick already know how to swim, but they are both working on improving their technique:

On the 6th, Emmalie and I went to the Spring Dinner at church. I just loved all the bright colors!:
(Not to mention all the delicious salads and other dishes!):
We both enjoyed listening to the speaker talk about organization. She gave us lots of good tips!
For several days last week, Nick was busy working on a history project. Each student in his class had to pick a famous American to research, then write a report about him/her and create a presentation poster, as well as a 3-5 minute speech. I suggested Helen Keller, and Nick decided to go with her. We both have learned a lot about her amazing life:
The completed poster:
The 9th was Mother's Day, and my kiddos spoiled me! :) All 3 brought me breakfast in bed (Eggos AND cereal because Nick and Ben couldn't agree, LOL). Ben gave me this card he'd made in preschool:
along with this adorable magnet:
I received another sweet card from Nick, along with the best Mother's Day gift ever. Inside his card, he wrote:

"Thank you for all the wonderful things you do, Mom.

It's okay. Today, you relax.

Choose one.

I will do...

a) the dishes

b) the laundry

c) help with supper

d) feed Tucker

e) take care of Ben

f) clean

g) weed

h) organize my bed

i) give you a hug

Aww, what the heck, I'll do all the above!"

He was totally serious, and he really did do everything on his list! (And more, too... every time I started to do something, like set the table for a meal, he would come running in saying, "No! I'll do it and you go relax!") I didn't have to lift a finger all day long, thanks to him! :)

Nick cleaned his room really well and organized his bed as mentioned on his card. Those who've never seen his bed wouldn't realize just what a chore that is! He has a loft bed (so it's nearly impossible to make the bed in the first place), and then he keeps most of his (many, many) stuffed animals up there. This is a picture of Nick and his animals... he threw them all down onto the floor so he could make his bed and then rearrange the animals neatly (I'm still not sure HOW he sleeps with all of those up there, LOL!): At the end of the day, Nick said, "Wow, Mom, your job is really hard! I don't know how you do it every day!" It was so nice to be appreciated! :)

That night, George took this picture of me and the kids:
Then I snapped a few of the 4 of us ~ we had a lot of laughs, trying to get one with all of us in the picture!