I'll start where we last left off…back when life was normal. I'll get to the crazy part later. :)
The beginning of May brought Mother's Day. Matt and the kids spoiled me with a wonderful day in the city. We went to lunch at our favorite tapas restaurant in Lincoln Park, and then walked through the park and the zoo. It was a great day. :) I had gotten brave and given Reese a haircut myself the day before. I think she looks so cute!
The kids rode the carousel at the zoo. It was Charlie's first time, and he didn't know what to expect. His reaction on the ride was so cute.
This was a tomato plant that Reese planted at school for me. :)
Our pretty girl liked Grandma Mary's purple blossoms on her tree when we visited for Mother's Day.
The next weekend was spent catching up on our neglected yard work. Reese and I spend all day shopping for plants, cleaning out and replanting our garden, and replacing all of our perennials that didn't survive the winter. (Well, let's be honest. Our perennials usually stand a 50/50 chance of being an annual with a normal winter, let alone the brutal winter we just endured!) She has become such a good helper, and she loves yard work. This one is a keeper! ;)
Part of our motivation to get our yard looking tip top was that we had been debating putting it on the market. For those of you who don't know, we have been contemplating/dreaming about a move to Florida for quite awhile (the dream started 7-8 years ago when we first visited my sister, and has just gradually grown into a real desire). It has always felt like more of a pipe dream, or something we would never really have the guts to pursue, but in the last 8 months, we started to talk more and more seriously about what it would take to make this happen.
So, as a preliminary first step, I went ahead and took my boards to get my dental hygiene license in Florida. Which is about the time I really started neglecting this blog. :) My free time was pretty consumed with studying and preparation for my exams. Thankfully, I passed all of the necessary exams for licensure and completed that process.
Our next step was figuring out what to do with our house. While we were debating back and forth with a realtor about whether it would be a better decision to try to sell our house in a tough market, or to try to rent it out when we were ready to move, we basically had a buyer find us. She was looking for something that could close quickly (not a short sale), and she wanted something in our neighborhood. She basically begged to see it before we put it on the market. So, we figured it couldn't hurt to let her look, and she came and viewed it on a Friday morning. By that evening, we had a signed contract, and we moved out 15 days later. (WHAAAAT????!!!!!) Although it was a HUGE relief and blessing to be able to sell our home after being so far underwater with the housing market collapse, it was an emotional whirlwind. Things started moving much faster than we anticipated. We had 2 weeks to find a month to month rental and move, while we figured out our next step. But, we got it done.
Funny story. The day our offer came through on the house, Reese and I were baking oatmeal cookies during Charlie's nap. Our realtor called while we were measuring the sugar, and I told Reese to wait while I took the phone call. I walked into the next room to talk on the phone, came back, and found a little girl with a face full of sugar and an empty sugar jar. Luckily, I had just realized that we barely had any brown sugar left, so she didn't eat too much, but what a stinker!
In the meantime of all this craziness, Reese completed her first year of preschool. (Didn't we just drop her off for her first day???) Her last day of school was very emotional, knowing she wouldn't be back next year. Her teacher wrote her a really wonderful end of year report, and we are SO proud of how much she has grown this year--emotionally, socially, and cognitively. AND, she has really started to develop a vision for her future. I mean, she wants to be a person who wears make up when she grows up! Dream big, gal pal!!! ;)
She begged me to do her hair like Elsa's (from Frozen) for the last day of school. Unfortunately, she doesn't have long hair like Elsa, so it was a challenge, but she was very happy with the final result. :)
A couple weeks before the end of school, we each got to spend an evening with Reese at her school for mom's night and dad's night. It was so fun to see what she has been up to.
The weekend after school ended, we went to a Sox game. Brian came with us, and the kids tortured him and drooled food all over him the whole time. I think he was really glad he came. haha
We had a campfire that weekend too. Reese sure loves a toasted marshmallow. :)
I don't remember exactly when these were, but they were some time during May, so they go in this blog. :) We were getting the kids ready for bed one night, and Reese started yelling, "HELP!" from her bedroom. I walked in and found this. And then grabbed my phone to take a picture. And then helped her up. She was mad because she couldn't understand why I was laughing, but once I showed her the picture, she laughed pretty hard herself. :)
One morning, the kids went downstairs a couple minutes ahead of me while I was getting ready for work. I walked downstairs and found them just like this. Reese said she was teaching Charlie his ABCs.
And here's our little goofballs playing dress up.
I think that pretty much sums up the month of May. I'm going to create a separate blog post for June so blogger doesn't tell me I have too many pictures in a post.
Here is Charlie on his first carousel ride. :)
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