My posting track record over the past two months:
4 posts in April.
3 posts in May.
Sad.
Sad because this is the only type of journal/diary I keep and album that I scrapbook. The lack of entries is certainly not because life is so boring. It's busy. And by the time I have a few minutes to sit down and type up an entry, I feel a bit overwhelmed and end up promising myself to do it later. And don't. Guess it's the stage of life I'm at.

I would love to post some Mexico photos. But the reality is, I haven't even really had a chance to look at them yet. I have some other little projects I must work on first before I can start on personal stuff. Coming back from a vacation is always a bit rough. Holiday blues anyone? This time was no exception. It could possibly go down in my books as the worst week ever if I would let myself dwell on it. Quite possibly. We all have those times in our lives I know, when things happen that are out of our control and they all seem to happen at once. Why is that?! I really don't want to remember any of the unhappy stuff. And thankfully there were some sweet moments mixed in there so I've decided to dedicate a post to the fun stuff this past week and thereby forgetting the unfun stuff. :)

First up....Max and I (along with our running buddies) ran our first 5K together this past Sunday in Waterloo. (Great Strides - Cystic Fibrosis). Way back at the beginning of March when I decided to seriously buckle down and try out running, this was the race that we signed up to do for our motivation. (Somehow though....we managed to do two 5K races prior to this one so it wasn't a scary thing by the time this date rolled around.) Max signed up to do the 5K just a week or two before. He did awesome. Way better than me. He is a little running machine. He ran about two steps with me at the beginning and then he was gone. I pretty much ate his dust.

Cute little story....He told us that he was running the same pace as one of the couples behind him in this photo. They would pass him. Then he would pass them. Back and forth. And he could hear them say "oh my!" Whenever he would pass them. He thought this was so cute! I think it's cute too, because if there was a little 8 year old passing me like that I'd be saying the same thing!

After the run, we headed to my parents place for the afternoon and evening. Everyone was there and it was a very good, fun, enjoyable time. For sure! We celebrated Vanessa's birthday (a few days early since everyone was around)....hard to believe my little baby sis is 17!

It's a bit more challenging taking pics at my parents new place vs. the farm. Just not the same landscape. It was threatening/starting to rain so we just had a few minutes to snap these and call it good.

Boys.

They are fun. And funny.

Watching cousins play together makes me smile every single time.

Part way through the afternoon, the "we don't know what to do" comments started cropping up. So all the aunts and moms compiled a "treasure hunt" list for them. It had about 20 odd things on it for them to look for outside. Easy things like a pinecone. Hard things like rabbit fur. It kept them busy and entertained. Everyone got to pose with one of the items they found. I find their individual poses so interesting!!

(I **think** this was a JuneBug that Max found. How appropriate!! It's a little pet name for my mama sometimes!)

There are lots of climbable trees at grandma's....

"I can climb higher mom!" is usually what I hear from the Maxter when I'm peering up into a tree to see exactly where he is. I try to calmly tell him that I think he's high enough.

"Can we have apples please??" came the shout from outside one of the windows at the back of the house. So apples were handed out the window. When I looked a few minutes later....all 4 boys were sitting in the nearby field of grass/grain eating their snack.

And finally.... saved the best for last.

There are alot of horse & buggy's that travel past my parents house. Particularly on Sunday's. Sunday morning when they head to church. Sunday morning when they are coming home from church. Late Sunday afternoons when they are either travelling home or to someone else's place. And then late Sunday night when the young people are heading home. I'd pretty much say my parents property is located next to the Mennonite 401! ;-) Generally if you would start counting them you're in the 50 - 60 range....one after another. 

So here we were enjoying the outdoors late on Sunday afternoon when the horse and buggy traffic started up... It was all the young people and couples. It's pretty interesting to watch...

Best of all...were these two sweet little nephews of mine, sitting in the middle of the front lawn by themselves and waving like crazy at all the horse and buggy's. If you're familiar with this type of traffic....getting them to wave back is not the easiest thing. They did not give up however and persevered. As you can see....no reciprocated wave.

These guys were too busy racing to wave back....

A ha!! Success!! They got a wave from these two young bucks.

Overall, these two little boys managed to get a few waves....mostly from buggies with young ladies in them. This one above was the exception. So funny! And if you're wondering. I discretely had my camera beside me....shooting from the hip. So I had no idea if it was focusing or if I was even getting a photo of them until I looked afterwards.

June is always one hectic month. End of school so field trips and special occassions are kicked into high gear. Summer sports in full swing. And just alot of extra busyness. I sat down on Monday morning and made a master calendar for June, July, August & September. It took me all morning. Sure felt good when I was finished adding everything. Good thing I did it too as I came across a few things where we were double booked.

Wednesday Zezza officially turned 17. I picked her up at school during her spare class and we went out for a quick little lunch together at The Robin's Nest. Adorable! And delicious. We both had panini's...

and maybe shared a dessert....although Vanessa's digging in there with both forks so lets assume she ate it all...

And a quick pic of the two of us before I took her back to class where she had to dissect a pigs heart. Happy birthday to her!! ;-)

And yes....I am aware that I look like I could be her mother. And that her friends ask her "Is that your mom???" whenver they see us together.  It makes me feel waaaay old.  LOL!

So that was a few snippets from the past week. Keith has been gone on business all week and will hopefully be getting home late tonight. We've all been sick with head colds. Max is over it. But I'm in the midst it and it stinks this time of year. Tonight we have Max's piano recital. I need to finish making a treat to take for afterwards (chocolate covered strawberries is what will be coming along with us), get ready and head out the door shortly.

Be on the lookout for mercies.

The more we look for them, the more of them we will see.

Blessings brighten when we count them.

~unknown