[day 130 ... may 10]

Cory and his classmates made these darling Mother's Day cards. So sweet!

[day 129 ... may 9]

The fabulous Little School Art Festival was today, and what a glorious day for it! The weather was wonderful, the booths included a fun combination of old favorites like cookie-decorating and tie-dye t-shirts and new fun like creating a pet rock and making paper - two activities Cory just loved. This picture shows him taking care of his pet rock in its special little house.

We also enjoyed the traditional puppet show, written and performed each year by Nancy the librarian and teacher Stephen. This year they included an entertaining twist on "The Three Little Pigs" that included Swine Flu references - hilarious.

Cory's art in the art show included this amazing recreation of Wally from the movie. Looked so realistic! He did an incredible job with him. The version in the classroom included a creation of Eva as well. Wouldn't want Wally to be lonely!

[day 128 ... may 8]

Yesterday was Cory's birthday and today he opened presents at home and then had his party with friends at Jump Planet, a local bouncy-house place. It was a teachers' work day so the kids had the day off from school. Worked out perfectly.
He loved the time at Jump Planet, running around with his friends and playing on the inflatable slides and in the bouncy houses. His friends Rachel and Addy, Theo, Allison, and Charlie all came, along with older siblings (Theo's brother Spencer and Allison's brother Colin), which worked out well for Niall.

Jump Planet is fabulously organized for birthday parties and made it so easy for me. We might do all our birthday parties there, as long as the kids keeping enjoying it so much!

[day 127 ... may 7]

Guess who turned FIVE today? My sweet youngest boy. Really can't believe it was five years ago that he arrived, a week early no less. (He apparently didn't get the message that I needed that extra week to prepare!) I took this photo when his teacher asked him if he felt different today because now he was five. He paused, grinned, and said, "Kind of." :-)

Here he is at home in his spot at the table, having his customary breakfast of cereal and soy milk and "reading" the weather report in the paper. He had Honey Nut Cheerios for breakfast for years (just like his mom), but now he's on a Rice Crispies kick. Very happy, as you can see, that it is his birthday at last.

[day 126 ... may 6]

Just how things are arranged in my bathroom on a typical day. Toothpaste handy, everything lined up just so. I can find my glass of water in the dark instantly - it's always in just the same place.

You don't see a whole lot of counter space, true, but everything is in its place.

[day 125 ... may 5]

Today was the second day of layoffs at work. Fortunately, my group wasn't hit this time, unlike the batch in January, when five people from WM UA were let go and a number of others from the former MDM group.

But it's still difficult, knowing that people you've worked with might be gone now, and just the general atmosphere of malaise - what this awful economic climate is doing to even successful companies with a lot of cash and assets. Just very scary...

[day 124 ... may 4]

The tree pollen this spring has been unbelievable. I come out to the car in the morning, and the windshield has so much pollen on it, I have to clean it off with the windshield wipers and cleaner. It coats everything on the deck with a layer of yellow-green, despite repeated cleanings. Apparently people's allergies are really acting up too, though thankfully not mine. I'll be very glad when these pollen-laden weeks are finally over.

[day 123 ... may 3]

Finally took Niall to the doctor this morning as his cough is persisting and it was pretty clearly yet another sinus infection causing the problem. I'm so grateful that Pediatric Associates has weekend appointments in their Bellevue office. It's so much nicer taking a sick kiddo to see a pediatrician at an appointed time rather than hanging out at an Urgent Care center waiting to see whoever is on duty. Now Niall is on antibiotics and is already doing better. They work fast!

Tynor's friend Chloe from school came over to visit in the afternoon. She wanted to see his drum set and just hang out, and later they made vegan chocolate chip cookies. There were a few leftover and Niall loved them, but it was entertaining listening to Tynor and Chloe "co-baking" in the kitchen. I wasn't quite sure how they were going to turn out, but all's well that ends well.

[day 122 ... may 2]

We started our deck garden today, at last! One of Cory's friends at school gave out pea seeds and a tiny pot for her birthday, and the peas we planted several weeks back were falling over in their little pot. So we seized the moment and transplanted them into one of the big pots on the deck, and planted more peas while we were at it.

Cory also found some dried radish seed pods from the one radish we let go to seed last year (an experiment that Niall wanted to try), so he planted a few of those in another pot as well.

And coincidentally, Mrs. Wheat from next door stopped by in the morning with some leftover pumpkin seeds (they had just planted theirs) so we popped those into the ground too, along with some green beans from last year. We're on our way!

[day 121 ... may 1]

Today was the annual May Day parade at Little School, an event that used to be held on Grandparents' Day until that event was canceled (much to my continuing sorrow). In previous years, parents have been discouraged (and even outright banned) from being on campus during the parade because it was "just for the children" and "parking would be a nightmare."

But this year the school finally came to its senses and encouraged us to attend if we liked. Perhaps 40 parents came, parking worked out fine, and the kids loved having an audience.

[day 120 ... april 30]

My bulletin board at work shows much more of my home life than my work life, but I guess that's not a bad thing. I have plenty of "work life" strewn about the rest of the office. :-)