May into June

Spring has always been my favorite time of year.

I love watching the yard burst into bloom.

Most of my best-loved perennials are spring-bloomers.

I love the brilliant colors,

the endless variety

of shapes

 and forms. I even love to go outside early in the morning when the sun is rising to pick weeds.

Now that we're mega-landlords, I get to mow several lawns all summer. You'd think I'd get enough exercise to off-set the copious amounts of ice cream I wish to eat without gaining weight, but nope.....

We visited Grandma's grave on Memorial Day.

Stan designed the headstone, complete with a drawing of the cabin.

Cliff, Dad, Stan, and Konni.

After our visit to the cemetery, we headed to the cabin,

where Grandpa showed us he's still got it.

On our journey to the cabin, Stan casually mentioned a little incident from the night before. He was working at the remodel and accidently got his finger in the path of the nailer. Yep, that nail went all the way through the bone and out the other side. Now *I* thought that warranted a visit to the ER, but Stan confessed he'd pulled that nail out himself and was taking some mystery pills he'd picked up in Mexico to deal with any possible infection. I may have implied that I hoped his finger would turn green and fall off so that he'd stop practicing medicine without a license. So far no luck.

Speaking of remodels, I took all of the cabinet doors from the remodel and brought them home.  I've spent three days trying to rid them of grease and smoke and will spend another year sanding, priming, and painting. Can't wait.

I'm taking a break to see Makayla graduate from Kindergarten this week. She gets a little silly when she's excited.

 Her class sang all the visiting parents/grandparents a little song about moving on.

Should we worry that Makayla is standing with all of the boys?

She's pretty giggly. 

Cute group of future 1st graders.

Makayla getting a way-to-go hug from her teacher, who didn't look old enough to be out of high school, much less teaching. 

Congratulations, Makayla!

Makayla and Hailey, especially Hailey, have been super motivated to learn to ride bikes this year. Hailey tells me she is the only kid her age that can't ride a bike. We've been trying for years to teach Hailey to ride a bike, but she just couldn't get the hang of it. Makayla is riding Hailey's bike because Hailey says it's too embarrassing to be seen with training wheels. 

So Grandma-to-the-rescue gifted the old bike to Makayla and bought Hailey a new bike (and helmet).

I asked the bike shop to remove the pedals on the new bike, and we now have one of those new-fangled balance bikes.

Hailey spent a couple of days getting the hang of balancing without the hassle of also pedaling.

In no time at all, she was ready to pedal, and now is a pro.

 Wahoo! Go Hailey!

This means Hailey and Makayla can bike over from their house to play legos on the lawn at my house. Ain't summer grand?

Unfortunately, Makayla started her summer with a fall off of her scooter. After a few days of discussion (Me: "Nah, I don't think it's broken." Amy: "Did you see how her fingers are swollen?"), Amy decided to take her in. Her break is called a "buckled fracture". I guess I should stop practicing medicine without a license, too.

Swimming lessons were SUPPOSE to start Monday. Makayla has a temporary cast on now. She visits the orthopedic doctor on Tuesday to get a real cast on. 

At least she can still ride her bike, but let's be sure to keep that helmet on.

Summer, here we come!