the minutiae of may

Checking in on my blog after a prolonged absence, and I see the last post was 1st May.  We're now at the 22nd!  How and where did those 21 days go?  The minutiae of May have swept me along these past couple of weeks. 

Sun has shone, therefore lots more outside playtime for the kids, with their friends popping in and out of my kitchen on the search for ice pops, watermelon and asking to take bikes, scooters and balls out of the garage.  I love that their friends are happy to come in and out of my house, always on the look out for an extra 5 minutes playtime any time of the day they can manage.  Our neighborhood is perfect for this.  Kids all matching in age ranges and parents sending text messages to let each other know when the little girls have arrived in their back yard.  This is something I always wanted for my kids.  My son arrives home from school with a couple of other boys in tow.  They stop for some screen time or like this week, a street water fight!  I feed them some cookies and fruit and send them on their way home for homework time.  My son was very 'excluded' by the neighborhood kids when he was younger in the Netherlands and it was sad to see and for us to explain why, so I rarely say no to one of his (their) friends stopping by these days.

Gotta make these Blueberry Cheesecake Frozen Yogurt Sandwiches over the summer days.  They look wonderful don't they.

We got totally wrapped up in all the games of our NBA Trailblazers basketball team in the playoffs.  Edge of the sofa kind of stuff, screaming at the TV (my 5 yr old said "Do you know that they can't hear you?!").  The highs and lows and final loss.  I didn't realize I could get so 'into' a game and actually remember the players names!  So looking forward to next season.

Finally, we are having garage clear out, the long overdue Spring clean that should have been done at least three Springs ago!  We have boxes that have travelled from the UK to the Netherlands, then to the US, then back to the Netherlands and back again to the US.  Many of these are folders and books and hours of work and study done by my Huzz for his PhD.  I think he has finally decided that he'll never get any use out of them again and much of it can go into the recycling.  And on my part, finally letting go of the baby/toddler stuff that I've been reluctant to pass on.  Such cute wooden toys, in particular a little wooden cow and balance bike hat my Ruby would scoot around the house on when she was 2 years old.  The bike seat that my kiddso would sit and wave to everyone from as we cycled around town in the Low Lands.  A whole load of stuff has now been listed on Craigslist and two items sold immediately.   Extra summer spending money!  Discovering a huge box of photographs - yes real photographs along with the developed films in packets!  Now that was a trip down memory lane!  

Chauffeuring my son to his judo or rugby training has now been replaced with chauffeuring to his Physiotherapy sessions!  His knees are slowly getting better but sadly the rugby season came to an end without him getting any more plays.  Still, his team won the Plate and we all got to celebrate together with a pizza night out.  Reminding him to do his home exercise has been added to the list of stuff I have to remind him to do!  Boys at 11 years old seem to have huge memory loss when it comes to almost anything except how to play Minecraft and where the nearest snack is!

I'm trying out a new gym.  Four sessions of yoga this week and my stiff back is already feeling more relaxed and flexible.  I think a mix of running outdoors a couple of times a week and then a few yoga sessions will help me sleep and rest better.

It's good to be checking in again and even more so that I'm doing it on my repaired MacBook that no longer has a wonky screen with stripes going up and down!


Happy Thursday.

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