Here I am

Well. It's about time I make good on my promise to git bloggin'!

Where do I start? There's so much going on right now. Bear with me...things will be out of order and cover a whole mish mosh of topics. We'll just call it all "delightfully unexpected."

Every year the end of May rolls around and life kicks into extra high gear. I'm not sure why I'm not more prepared. It's the same thing EVERY year. Every year. So why does it seem to always catch me by surprise?  School fieldtrips. Summer sports starting. Gardening and filling planters.  Appreciation luncheons. Watering plants. Appointments here. Appointments there. Getting my walking in. Trying to get my running in. (Trying. That's the key word.) Taking lots of pictures. (Except when my camera needs fixing. Again. Oh yes. THIRD TIME it's in for fixing.) And most importantly....carving out that time to enjoy the nicer weather together as a family.

Today was the last day of piano lessons for the Maxter. He is most delighted to have the summer off from practicing.  This was his first year of piano. I really wasn't sure how it was going to go. We bought an electronic keyboard in September off Kijiji  and decided to give it a whirl. Overall I'd say it was a successful year. I'm not going to say that "piano" is his passion by any means and I don't expect it ever will be. His ultimate goal (or so he says) is to play the guitar and drums. Or any other instrument out there for that matter. Anything but piano. My goal is for him to get in a few years of piano and nail down the basics. Which he can than transfer into all those other instruments out there.  Lucky for me, I have veto power! ha!

A couple of weekends ago, his teacher Susan, held a piano recital for all her students. Max chose "Painting with Pastels". Which, as it turns out, was a song he didn't really like. So I'm still not sure why he chose it. Silly kid!

That same night, we just so happened to have Alex and Tanner staying with us for a sleepover. Lets just say, our pew was a bit of a gongshow during the recital. We are definitely not used to having so many little boys to look after at once. And I came very ill-prepared. I could have at least stocked my purse with snacks and toys. Was. Not. Thinking.  The photo below was taken well before the madness started.

The recital was held in one of the churches here in town. Beautiful, isn't it? I always think there is something so quiet/peaceful/restful/spiritual about those old old old churches....

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G&G Gerber came to see Max play. So did Aunt LeeAnne. G&G sat a few benches behind us in the church. They had a full view of the gongshow going on, on our bench. I think they were glad they didn't have to sit with us. Boys are so cute, aren't they? We sure had a lot of fun!

We finished off the evening by watching a hockey game....don't think it involved the Canucks. But it was an important one...I think it was the game that determined who the Canucks would be playing in the final playoff series? I think. Everyone was pretty intense even though they look like they're all mellow...

Mind you, by this point,  I was busy running up and down stairs and listening for little boys who were supposed to be sleeping. But who were so excited they were having a hard time falling asleep. It's terribly exciting having sleepovers, you know. I well remember those days myself. ;-)

Up next: pics of Mexico.