Holy Smokes!

Seriously, where did the month go? But WHAT A MONTH!!!
This month was packed full of great things. First of all...

SPRING!!! No more frost and for the time being no mosquitoes. I noticed just yesterday that the mosquitoes are starting to get ravenous, but up until now, they have been mostly out of the picture. I have loved the tulips and daffodils, the green grass and the rain. I even managed to get my fish quite happily in their outdoor habitat for the summer and I love how it looks!

 So there it is. We put a planter over the water to give the fish a place to hide out of the sun. They are pretty happy out there !

 So far we haven't caught any unwanted critters. Last year we had a few mice and probably a dozen salamanders visit our water garden. We even had several frogs get caught in there too. The kids loved it!!!

 Of course the flowers that come with spring. Below are Grandpa Leavitt's tulips blooming, just getting ready to turn to a peach color before they are done for the year.

BIRTHDAY'S!!! Well, technically we only have two birthdays in  May to celebrate in our family, but it feels like it has been a month long celebration for lots of reasons! And to top it off, this month was a milestone birthday as our oldest teenager, is no longer a teenager any more - now she will have to grow up.... Actually she is very grown up, what a wonderful and beautiful daughter she is.

PARTY'S!!! Grad all happened on the same weekend, but... there were at least 2 parties in that one weekend. What a fun time we had celebrating a high school graduate. We got to meet new people, and visit with friends and family. It doesn't get much better than that!

Above the dry grad party group in Lethbridge -- Below the guests start to arrive after the banquet.

There was also a great candle party this month! I love those good smells!!!

Of course that is not all, because with the ending of the month we are gearing up for yet another party - a grade nine grad!!! More to come on that...

MOTHERS DAY!!! I have to add mothers day because it was a wonderful day. I love that they give out flowers! I can look at mine any time and feel the joy and awe that I always feel when I see a beautiful flower - which to me is similar to the joy of motherhood. There is nothing as wonderful as watching your children grow and blossom into beautiful flowers. Motherhood is great!!!

 My mothers day flower stand filled with flowers.

 My mothers day calla lilies - yellow and purple (below). I LOVE calla lilies!!! They are so beautiful and unique!

I actually got a wonderful mothers day gift from my husband that appeals to my crafty nature, but for now I'll just share my flowers.

ILLNESS??!!! Yup, that's been there too, but I won't get into it. Two weeks of being sick in a month is more than my fair share. But I am kicking this cold! There is really nothing wonderful or great about actually being sick, but it is wonderful to see my family pull together and take care of the things I can't. I am so blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful people.

RAIN!!! I love the rain (as I already briefly mentioned). I love how things turn so green and all my outdoor watering gets caught up. We've had lots of rain this month and it has been wonderful!!! Those cloudy days made for good picture taking and the house stays cool (sometimes too cool, but I love it!).

ART!!!  I was so lucky! I got to take an art class in Medicine Hat at the college and learn how to make paper. It was a lot of fun, made more fun because of the great company I had of friends who were also taking the class. I didn't take any photos of my papers, but I found a picture that is similar to what I learned to make (below)! I think I made about 30 sheets of paper and I even made some paper shapes using rubber clay molds. When I use them I'll have to do a blog post so you can see the fun things I learned to do. I can't wait to make them into something  - I just have to decide if I'm going to paint of them, stamp of them or what....

Of course the month was filled with more than just the above, I guess that is what made it go so fast! What a joy it is to fill my days with wonderful things! I wonder what June will bring....