The Madness in May

May started off in a complete an utter whirlwind of exhaustion.  The first two weeks were so filled with things that demanded a lot of extra time and added a bit of craziness to the day to day.  Almost a month later it all seems like forever ago ;)  Here is a glance at what kept us hopping.

 

Cubs!  Cubs is always a time consuming event most weeks but I love it at the same time (and yet looking forward to the summer off lol).  This particular week is so worthy of sharing because it was so fun (and the huge added bonus that my lovely assistant was in charge).  We have a disability awareness badge we wanted to earn this year so we combined with the girls for the night and had a disability Olympics!  There was painting with no arms, a little sign language education from an expert in our ward, one armed hockey, blind candy scramble, wheel chair relays and dessert with a variety of disabilities assigned.  Such a fun night. 

With Mother's day coming up I wanted the boys to make something special for their Moms.  String art seemed like a great idea but it did take several hrs to cut, sand and stain the wood ahead of time.

 A few weeks prior I had been asked to help decorate for our stake RS (ladies group) church activity for about 350 women.  We were presented with ideas of an old fashioned picnic theme to go along with the theme of spending time with family and given a variety of tasks.  A small handful of friends and I worked some crazy long hrs pulling it all off.  We don't even want to think about how many hrs were spent on these garlands.

 During it all I was at Cubs explaining the mother's day project and got the phone call that JA and our neighbors (also named JA) were missing and that dozens of neighbors had spent the last 45 mins searching everywhere for them and the police were on their way and I needed to come home.  That 15 min drive home was one of the most stressful ever as I went through all the worst case scenarios in my mind.  As I pulled in the driveway after an hr long search the boys had just been found (long confusing story but half hiding in an unfinished lot/ JA had been told by his friend he wouldn't be his friend anymore if he didn't stay hidden).  You can imagine the lengthy discussions that have taken place since that night.  Worst feeling ever.  I came to discover later that night that not only were all our neighbors searching but a plea had been put out on our community FB page and literally hundreds and hundreds of people had left comments that they were dropping everything to search for our missing boys.  Tears. If I didn't already love this community enough, it grew that much more that night.

These are the completed gifts made with love for their Moms by the Cubs.

 There was a request for tree branches to be used for center pieces for the RS event.  Not a small task when you need 50 center pieces!  My sweet friend took me to her in laws acerage and we spent several hrs cutting the new leafy branches.  WR was in heaven!

 The big event was Saturday at noon so I spent hrs that morning decorating with my friends (sadly missing the first day of soccer with the kids).  This is kind of out of order but later that day one of AL's friends was baptized.  Such a sweet group of girls!

 Here is a peek at the luncheon décor.  It was a huge space but it turned out beautiful!  The sad part was taking it all down just 2 short hrs after we finally got it all up.

 The start of May also saw a historic election.  Our very conservative province voted in an NDP majority government.  I've never felt so torn over an election before.  I'm sure that the NDP will bring in some great perks BUT I also know that those lovely extras all come at a huge cost and if you don't seem to have a budget to support those changes it won't be long before the province sees soaring debt and taxes.  Call me old fashioned but I am more of a save now and buy when you can afford it, pay down your debt kind of girl. 
Check out that sweet bed head ;)

 The next day ironically saw one massive spring storm.

 When life gives you lemons you might as well make lemonade!

 WR and I had the pleasure of watching this girl sing with her choir in their music festival!

 The following Saturday required another full day commitment away from my family (and again no soccer for this mom).  The Cubs took part in a full day Bikeree with a few hundred local Cubs.  This was such a well run event with stations every km or so along the 16 km trail through the river valley.  We couldn't have asked for more perfect weather or better scenery!

The rest of the month slowed down, with more time for projects and time with family!