The Adventures of Two Girls and Their Mama: Milestones in May

The month of May was full of milestones, Lillian's first field trip, the end of kindergarten, and the girls first dance recital just to name a few. Eager for summer, we packed in as much fun in between those milestones as we could. In fact, we had so much fun I am having a difficult time deciding where to begin!

I guess I will start with Lillian's field trip to The Children's Museum. I was the lucky chaperone to a group of four lovely kindergarteners. We began our adventure together by naming our group The Unicorns. This name came in handy when rounding up my herd because I could call out "Unicorns, time to move out!" and my group would trot off to the next room in the Museum. Lillian was excited about this trip not only because she was able to leave campus with her class but because she got to ride on the school bus! We had a great time together and I loved my little unicorns.

A week after the field trip Lillian had her last Kindergarten activity day, Splash Day! It was a nice warm morning, perfect for all the water balloons, squirt guns, bubbles, and mud.

And then, in the blink of an eye kindergarten was over. After months of Lillian crying and begging me to stay home every morning, she finally wanted to go to school and it was over! The kids sang several songs to the parents, we ate cake and said goodbye. Nona came down for the big celebration and that made the day even more special. Lillian misses her teacher, Mrs. Groth, and gives Freya the stink eye when Freya says, "I don't miss her because she will be my teacher soon."

After all our goodbyes Lillian decided we needed to go to The Desert Museum to celebrate. That was our second visit to the museum in May. We went earlier in the month with cousins and had a great time then as well. The new PackRat Play House is a big hit with the kids so we ended both visits with a few hours of packrat play. We also spent time petting the stingrays and digging for fossils. In one of the aviaries, Freya was attacked by a duck. Unfortunately for the duck, her nipping had an undesirable effect on Freya. Rather than running in fear Freya giggled and followed the duck around trying to get her to bite her legs some more!

Nona didn't only come down for kindergarten graduation. She also came to see the girls dance in their first dance recital. Both girls entered dance a semester late but worked hard to catch up. Their hard work paid off in LOTS of flowers!

Lillian danced to the song "Popular" from the musical Wicked and Freya danced to "Fly to Your Heart" from Tinkerbell.

I was the backstage mom for Lillian's dance group and was able to hang out backstage with her until it was time for her to perform. It made the experience all the more joyful.

Both girls can not wait to start dance again in August.

Like I said earlier, we squeezed in as much fun as we could in between all the big events. This year my mother-in-law wanted to go to Madera Canyon for brunch so we packed up and headed up the mountain for a fun morning. Uncle Justin found Canyon Tree Frogs for the girls, we ate, hiked around, and played in what little water was left.

Even Oliver had a good time.

My calling at church is to plan activities for our woman's group, Relief Society. This month I hosted a paint night. I had a great turn out and everyone seemed to have a nice evening. I really enjoyed seeing how each person's painting turned out just a little bit different.

We celebrated Josh's birthday this month. Despite all my efforts to plan tons of excitement to celebrate the day he refused. He just wanted a low key day and some homemade carrot cake. He bought the girls a little pool and we played outside before devouring his cake.

As usual, we spent plenty of time at Papa's house.

This time of year is especially fun at Papa's because there are baby animals EVERYWHERE! One day while cleaning Gigi's stall I found a nestling that had fallen from the rafters. I didn't want to move the little guy because his parents were fluttering all around still looking out for him but I was worried Gigi would accidentally step on him! I ended up moving him over into a corner of her stall where I was fairly certain he would be safe. A day and a half later I returned to find him still hanging out on the floor, now with a few more feathers. I called a wildlife rehabilitator in our area, explained the situation, and then followed her instructions. She said to make him a nest just outside Gigi's stall so his parents could still take care of him but he would be out of danger.

Again, I returned a day and a half later to find he had grown even more! His parents were always fluttering about and would yell at anyone who got too close to the little nest.

Another day and a half later I had to move the little guy into a bucket because he kept leaping out of his nest and I was worried he would get eaten by an animal. Gigi was a great babysitter and often stuck her head out to peer down into the baby's bucket and check on him.

Upon my return a day later he was gone. He had finally figured out how to fly away. It was a fun experience to see him (or her) grow up and leave the nest. The girls and I like to think he is Susie Peppermint's baby.

Speaking of birds, our little chick, Alice, grew a great deal over the past couple of months and her leg is finally healed! I made her this splint and after wearing it for several weeks she was able to keep her leg in the correct position and stand on her own.

Chickens do not like to be alone so we kept the runt from the last batch of chicks we raised so Alice would have a friend. Unfortunately, Una turned out to be a Henry so we switched him out for another chicken at Papa's house.

The new Una fit in well and seems to like hanging out with little girls.

We are glad summer has arrived. Lillian is looking forward to some much-needed rest.

I love having her home with us. It just isn't the same around here when she is gone all day.

Even though we are all happy to have Lillian home, I can't help but miss my one on one time with Freya Lynn.

She is a constant source of entertainment. One day we had to run into Sally's. When she found these hands she decided she just had to have one. She was fascinated by them! She kept telling me she needed one to hang on her wall! I was laughing but she was dead serious.