May Tid Bits

At Brigitta's last track meet she actually had to fight fr her mile. She was in a group of 3 girls just battling the whole way. When the pack passed us, a mom near me loudly cheered for Summer. On the last lap I yelled, "Go Gita! Just beat SUMMER!" Summer's mom frowned and looked around, trying to find the source. I laughed to myself about that for the rest of  the day. 

Both Ireland and Brigitta made high honor roll at the middle school. They were presented with a certificate from their teachers.

Sydney's Girl Scout Troop went horseback riding.

I snagged some hoodies for the girls from Logan International and much to my delight, they quickly became favorites.

Man it was good to come home to them!

I can't remember what it is I needed, but let me tell you, I can be persistent.

Turns out Sydney has become allergic to the SUN! I didn't know that was a thing. For a few days she's break out in a rash after recess and then it seems her skin was used to it and she was fine again.

Liesel was diligently studying Chemistry in the car on the way to school and she looked so adorable. I was so proud of her.

Me: If you start to feel down today, just remind yourself that you are skinny and blonde and beautiful and that should bring you back up a bit.

Liesel: I just kind of feel like Rory Gilmore- who cares if I'm pretty if I fail my finals?

Going through goals with the girls is always interesting. Gita cheerfully checked off the goal of being nice to her sisters... which is odd since she's in the fray a lot. 

Me: Seems that's one of your goals a lot...
Gita: Stooooooop
Brent: Staaaaaaaart

It was Open House at the elementary school so we chatted a bit with Sydney's fantastic teachers.

The 4th Grade Poet's Department- she is truly a Swiftie!

A few days later, we received and email with this picture of Sydney playing some math board games. She said, "Her smile is contagious!"

Sydney's May Concert which was really incredible. Since they wisely recorded it, we weren't just sitting in a sea of iPhone in the air blocking the view. 

The lilacs were out in full bloom! I often take a walk by the Gates and the owner happened to be out. I told him how beautiful they were and he told me to go ahead and take some. I love where I live.

I finished reading The Royal Wardrobe and here are some things I learned:

• Part of the reason the British welcomed a new monarch back after Oliver Cromwell is because they missed celebrating Christmas and watching horse racing.
• One of Charles II's periwigs was made using the pubic hair of his mistress. Blech!
• George III didn't actually wear wigs until the going-out-of-business wig makers asked him to save their trade.
• The unstructured, draped gowns of the regency era were inspired by the newly unearthed sites of Pompeii.
• Princess seams were so named to capture the attention of Princess Alexandra, and they did!
• Queen Elizabeth II coat dresses evolved from her wearing a military uniform during WWII. She looked so sharp and official, they continued the silhouette!

The dew on this field by the golf course was so beautiful on this particular morning!

I pulled out my macaroni necklace for Mother's Day. It's kind of slowly falling apart but I love that thing! Sydney made it for me when she was in preschool.

Me: I'm just worried I'm going to end up like my parents.

Brent: You are NOT your parents!

Also me: Ooooh look, a free couch on the side of the road!

We traded our old, crappy couch for a slightly less crappy one.

After renting a Bissel to clean this up, it looked almost new and is much more my aesthetic.

Liesel mentioned she was the only one who had never met Madeleine in person so we checked flight prices and got her out there lickety split.

Whitney was on the verge of hosting my parents again and I was worried she needed some space before taking that on. I offered to cancel Liesel's flight for a better time but Whitney insisted she come. They had a lot of fun and Whitney even taught Liesel how to drive stick on the Mustang! She asked permission from my dad of course, who was delighted to see another generation acquiring this valuable skill. I'm super proud she picked it up so quickly- some people just never do!

Sibling facetime to discuss my parents. We discovered if you make a heart then a red heart emoji will show up. Aside from selling their house and getting them moved out, that was the main topic of discussion- how to create the red heart emoji- haha!

A little bit of levity in this very dire situation. I swear I will march myself into an assisted living facility rather than worry my kids. Mark my words, I will never do this to them! Mom is painfully thin and seems so unhappy and because my dad is stubborn as the day is long, there's nothing we can do about it.

Well, except pray that is. Brent and I made it to the temple!

Some Trader Joe's flower arrangements I tried out. The berry looking things are actually coffee beans. Turns out I am a sucker for lilies which are beautiful and fragrant. You could smell these from the top of the stairs! 

See how beautiful they are when they fully open? Just stunning!

I'm also a fan of eucalyptus which smells lovely. It leaves a chalky feeling on the hands but I think it's worth it. In my friend Christy's honor, I also picked up some peanut butter cups (and they really are the best although I prefer milk chocolate to dark)

Peonies and hydrangeas! I've found I gravitate towards softer colors.

Liesel and Ireland are at that age where they just want to hang out with their friends at the beach. Ireland was sauntering up the stairs and she looked suddenly so confident and grown up. I asked her to turn around and snapped some photos.

The best part of May? I have a new niece! Meet Zooey:

She is the girl's 26th cousin. In the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding when Toula tries to describe her family to Ian, she goes on a bit of a diatribe about how big and loud everyone is, "You have 2 cousins. I have 27 first cousins, just 27 first cousins alone!" 

We are almost there with 26!

Squatting Squirrels

Brent: Squirrels are not velociraptors
Me: Oh REALLY? Because there's one in our roofline, one in the tree out front, I'm pretty sure a baby one in the hostas and squirrel prints in the concrete on our driveway!!!

The cedar siding of our house was initially a big selling feature but over time we've found some challenges with it. Because it is a natural wood and not plastic, it tends to attract local wildlife. A woodpecker decided to make a home in the eave just above Sydney's bedroom. I tried opening the window and using a pole to stop it. I played owl sounds to try and scare it away. All to no avail. That bird pecked a hole and set up shop. 

Eventually it left but then a pregnant squirrel discovered it and moved in. She had 3 babies who loved peaking out of the hole the woodpecker pecked. 

I made several calls to pest control companies who would ask for a picture and then conveniently not call me back. One friend gave me an ironclad reference and even they stopped returning calls. I get it, that nest is pretty darn high up there, but we couldn't let them just continue to eat into the house. What if they made it into the attic? Or worse, Sydney's room? She could hear them running back and forth above her bed. 

The damage to the house was going to be greater than the cost of repairing it if we didn't do something soon. Brent and I researched renting a lift which was pretty pricey. In the end, we decided to go with scaffolding that we could put together ourselves. Oh man, we had no idea how heavy and cumbersome that would be! Putting that together took a while and it was hard, dirty work. We nearly broke windows as we assembled the scaffolding higher and higher. 

Brent was able to get the corner edge of the ruined eave off pretty handily. The question was how to get a new one back on. Those squirrels had been nibbling and peeing and ruining the wood in there. We sent a picture to my brother-in-law, Doug. He kindly responded with this solution- expressing his wishes he could be here in person to help us out. My gosh I love that man!

I ran around to several hardware stores with the ruined piece of wood looking for a cedar piece to replace it. Meanwhile, Brent and Ireland cleaned out the nest and sprayed some animal deterrent (which could be a human deterrent as well. Nasty!). Around this time, Sydney was getting picked up for a playdate. It just so happens her friend's father works on scaffolding all the time. In no time flat he had it set up and stabilized so Brent could really get in there and do what needed to be done. He climbed around the scaffolding like Spiderman. This is when I finally returned with a replacement piece of cut cedar. Brent repaired it, patched it, and painted it while the mother squirrel squeaked angrily at him from the roofline. Sorry squirrel- you're being evicted.

The final coat of paint went on Sunday morning and we quickly took down the scaffolding and returned it before we hit our 24-hour rental limit. Tired but happy, we accomplished something even the professionals didn't want to touch! We unloaded the scaffolding a little wiser for the wear.

Trees

 During lockdown I began the habit of walking my neighborhood. I prefer to do this early in the morning when everything is still quite. People haven't let their dogs out just yet and I can mentally settle into the day ahead. Over time I've noticed the trees more and more and started to name them. They kind of feel like old friends at this point. Let me introduce you to the trees of my neighborhood.

The NBA Flop Tree

The 3 Widows

The Phantom of the Opera Masquerade Tree

The Smooth Criminal:

The "I Now Pronounce You Husband and Wife" Trees

The Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!

I wonder if these old trees consider me a friend who passes by and checks on them now and again.

Ireland's Middle School Graduation

 Our girl graduated with some distinctions: 

• Honor Roll
• High Honor Roll
• National Junior Honor Society
• Science Olympian participant

Working hard at her grades isn't just something Ireland does, it's part of who she is. She's very proud of the fact she is a "nerd" and she has many friends with the same mindset.

I have a feeling Ireland is going to go far in this ole life!

She graduated alongside her friend Brianna, whose family we happened to sit by at the ceremony. 

The principal noted that these kids came into middle school having just come out of pandemic lockdowns. It's so crazy to think about that now and what a long-lasting effect it has had on everyone. We are super proud of our girl and her perseverance. On to high school!