more from may

Well, I made it through the week, despite not feeling very well. We had a lot going on, so I was really glad that I was able to attend all the special events! :)

On the 17th, Nick took a sleeping bag and duffel bag to school. That morning, he and the rest of the 6th graders rode a bus up to East Troy, WI, to a YMCA camp there for "Sixth Grade Camp". They were there until the 19th, and had a lot of fun exploring the great outdoors! :) Here's Nick, all ready to go:
The evening of the 18th was Benjamin's preschool graduation ceremony! The little grads were all so cute!! Here's Ben with his buddies Adam and Jasper:
The whole class:
The kids sang several songs for us:
And then received their preschool diplomas:
Then they sang one last song, The Kindergarten Song. :)
Ben with his teachers after the ceremony:
Ben and Emm:
Ben and his proud parents. :)
The glad grad!
On the 19th, George left work early and the two of us drove into the city. We had an early supper at Bernie's Pub and Grill:

Which was right across the street from Wrigley Field:
And about 2 blocks from Metro, where we headed after supper:
The Airborne Toxic Event put on an AWESOME show! (As always!) I took a whole ton of pictures... here are a few....

Steven: Anna:
Mikel. :)
Mikel, Daren, and Noah:
Noah:
Noah and Anna:
Daren:
Mikel, down in the crowd. He also body surfed right over us!
Anna and Noah:
Mikel, again:
The 20th was Ben's last day of preschool. He decorated these flower pots, then helped me plant the pansies in them, and then made cards to give to his teachers:
The kids spent their regular class time at the park, for a picnic and playtime:


Ben misses all his buddies already!

On Sunday we went to church. Emmalie played handbells at two services, and then afterwards, we attended the end-of-the-Sunday-School-year event. We had hotdogs, chips and brownies, then the boys played some carnival games:
All 3 went in the bouncy house for awhile:
And we all watched a cute puppet show:

There was a prize drawing after that, and Ben won the basket he'd had his eye on ~ it was full of toys! :)

When we got home, George and the boys decided to start on our vegetable garden. We'd planned to do it several weeks ago, but I haven't been feeling up to it. It's not real big, but it's a start!
More of my flowers are in bloom now. :) Here are some ajuga plants in the backyard:
Columbine, also in the backyard:
Dianthus along our front porch:
The lobelia plant I bought to hang on the front porch:
Mini dianthus around our maple tree:
Pansies on the porch railing:

And some thrift in our garden by the street:
Now we're getting ready to have some company over the weekend! Looking forward to seeing Mom and Dad again! :)

may flowers and more....

It's the middle of May already... how did that happen? I've been enjoying all the May flowers. My bleeding heart plant is finally in full bloom: We have lots of forget-me-nots:
And carpet phlox:
My tulips have been blooming, too. This one was bent over, so it was hard to get a good photo:



These double tulips are my favorites:
Speaking of flowers, on May 5th, Emmalie and I attended the Floral Fiesta WELCA Spring Dinner at church. Someone had made these pretty tissue flowers for every table:
There were almost 100 women at the dinner:
There was so much yummy food!
And then Joyce Grattoni from Tablescapes entertained us by showing us how to create beautiful tables for special occasions:
A Cinco de Mayo table:
A tropical table:
At the end of the dinner, different items were raffled off, and Emm won four margarita glasses with gerbera daisies in them! The 8th was Mother's Day, and my kiddos presented me with breakfast in bed that morning. Ben gave me this flower magnet he made at school (after tracing his hand):
George and the kids also gave me some dark chocolate, yum:
And this pretty fern for the backyard:
Then the 5 of us went to Brookfield Zoo. We had not been there in two years, so it was fun to see it again!

We enjoyed the new Bear Grotto:


And all the other animals, too!

"Wild" goslings with their parents:

We had tickets to Stingray Bay, and got to pet some stingrays. That was Ben's favorite part, and he is still talking about it! :)





After several attempts, we finally got a decent Mother's Day photo of me and the kids. (I wasn't feeling the best, though, and it kinda shows.)
On the 14th, George, Nick, and I attended the school district's "2nd Annual Healthly Lifestyle and Wellness Gala and Award Ceremony". Apparently there was some confusion, and we never received the invitation we were supposed to get, but someone called 2 days before to tell me about it and see if we were going. Luckily, we didn't have anything going on that evening, and we were able to find a babysitter for Ben at the last moment (Emm already had plans).

Nick was invited to the gala because he'd won the Healthy Lifestyle and Wellness Rap Lyrics Contest in the fall. We are so proud of him! :)

The gala turned out to be a very fancy affair, much fancier than we'd expected. We were treated to an orchestra performance and hors d'oeuvres at the reception, and then a delicious meal complete with entertainment like a Chinese dragon parade and salsa dancing. It was an international theme, and there were several photo ops set up, including this American exhibit: and this South African exhibit:
Nick was presented with this award after the dinner:
I didn't get a picture of him actually receiving it, because George and I had to go up with Nick. There were two professional photographers there all evening, so hopefully at some point we will have access to the photos they took.

This is another big week at our house... Nick has 6th Grade Camp this week, Ben graduates from preschool, George and I have tickets to see The Airborne Toxic Event, and then there is a special end-of-the-school-year event at church. I just hope that I'll be feeling well enough to enjoy all of it ~ I'm still dealing with some health issues and will be having some tests done this week, as well....