May Day! May Day! (the 2009 edition)

It was a full day, this first day of May.

There was the little matter of my baby growing irrevocably up in a heart-wrenchingly tangible way... and the picking out of the teacher gift for the occasion. He chose a very appropriate fun and funky wind chime for her garden (she has a very fun garden), he picked out a card, he picked out a gift bag, he picked out the tissue paper, he dictated the card to me:

Dear Muss Cindi, you are BEYOND AWESOME. I love you and will miss you so, so, so much. You are the best teacher in the whole, whole, white, white world (I wonder what imagery goes through his head when he says that.. probably lots of snow..it's only natural being a child of Ohio...). Love Jonathan" (he wrote the Jonathan himself, complete with the pre-schoolishly endearing backwards "n" and "a"s

Then the (mostly) internal weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth as teacher Cindi and I bemoaned the fact that for the first time in 5 years we would no longer be seeing each other on a twice daily basis...and then numb with the reality of the horror, I drove away for. the. last. time (until I come back next week for the "exit interview")...the agony.

Then the preschool picnic (with accompanying traditional freezing weather and rain-good times, good times..)

Then the soccer game in the rain. Ahhh..bracing.With the promise of more tomorrow-excellent.

(Add in there the going to the gym, four separate trips to the shops, the making of the May Day baskets /misshapen cones with ensuing chaos on the home front, the begging people to vote for me, the obsessing over whether the computer counted the votes, the attempting to express my gratitude to the people who voted for me...whew..it's time for bed man)

Here are the 3 children who took me to the preschool every day for the last 5 years neatly stuffed into a cubby with Muss Cindi. Benj The Outsider was courteously asked to step out of the frame. That's what you get for being 6 when we moved here. Tough break, kid.

And finally, the truly delightful moment of the day... the dropping off of the May day baskets. Where we get to make like we are criminals.

The sun came out to dry up all the rain and eensy weensy kiddies were out there once again...




Stealthy drop offs...because not a soul will be able to figure out your identity, so long as you remain (mostly) unseen as you shriek at your sibling to "hurry up"
and your dad gets the getaway van fired up with 3-5 minutes of you ringing the door-bell..











All in all...a good start to this lovely month. It brings with it: May's flowers, my mom's birthday, my baby's birthday, Mother's Day and our anniversary.

She works hard for the money, May does.

May Day! May Day! 2012 Edition

This is what happens when you have four kids in travel soccer.
May Day baskets get delivered in the dark of night. After games and practice and showers and…and…(yawn)
I particularly like the array of outfits we have going on here. What was the weather like on May 1st 2012 you ask? Who can say? We have sleeveless and ski caps all in the same photo. No one will ever know.. (Finny’s clenched teeth indicate freezing conditions but then there is Ella to dispel that notion..it’s a mystery I tell ya!)

There was no time to make our traditional cones this year, so we cheated a bit. They were assembled with love.

Ok so here is where I tell you that it was not an altogether enthusiastic bunch who embarked upon the adventure this year.  He who must not be named, informed us that he was too old for such shenannigans, and therefore would not be accompanying us. We informed him that he was still younger than we were and thus, indeed he would. There were murmurs of dissent.  It was late. I was tired. So very tired. For a moment I wondered why I persisted with these traditions. Maybe they were getting too old.  Was I forcing something that needed to die a natural death? 
Since He who must not be named was the last to get to the car, he was assigned with the first “drop.” And that is all it took. As he ran back to the car and we attempted our stealthy exit, there were giggles of excitement and good natured teasing….and… we were back.  The kids became a team, He who must not be named, took his rightful place as leader of the pack. It was just as much fun as it ever has been.  And this is why we must persist with traditions. Even when it is too late on a Tuesday night, and so very impractical, and we are too tired, and everyone is resisting us. Because when we follow through and Just Do It, the magic happens.  Doing something nice for other people…and doing it “secretly”.  It’s impossible not to have fun with that.




Ella could hardly stand the suspense of all the close getaways

She thought it was the most fun EVER! As did we all. And this is why we do what we do.
Happy May Friends!
Check out May Day’s from years gone by : May Day 2008 2009 2010 and 2011  (incidentally, the pictures are quite a bit prettier when you take them in daylight

May Day! May Day!

As you may have gathered, I am a great fan of everything Spring related and we enjoy celebrating May Day every year. Here are my tulips saying Good Morning!



And heres my sweet Gabe with a flower for his teacher. Doesn't the lighting just make you happy? That there is May Day Morning lighting my friends.



We have a tradition of making May Day baskets every year.

Finny and Gracie worked hard..



Making a swarm of bees. (I may have contributed a tiny bit.)



This is what they looked like



This evening we had a great time making very secret and anonymous deliveries to our neighbours and friends. Nobody had any idea it was us so stealthy we are...er hem. (I'm sure you are SHOCKED to read this Julie!!)

Watching to see if anyone comes to the door..





Go! Go! Go! Have I mentioned my vague misgivings over how much my kids enjoy the get-away car scenario? They were especially stealthy in their soccer cleats.









Happy May Day everyone!

Start a new tradition this year! May Day baskets!

Happy May Day m’peeps. So here’s the thing. Every year I post my May Day recap a few days after the fact and every year someone says, “oh that’s such a great idea, I wish I’d seen this earlier so we could have done it too”.
So this year I’m posting recaps from days gone by for your inspiration (hopefully) and I’ll post the 2013 recap tomorrow. Sound good? I’m feeling FRIGHTENINGLY efficient as I completed all of our May Day baskets last night. Last. Night! Unprecedented my friends.  Ok so it doesn’t take a genius. Take some pretty, heavy weight crafting paper, roll it into a cone , staple. Fill with whatever you like. We usually put in some candy, some flower seeds and a few blooms with tissue paper for colour and filler. I used raffia for the handles this year, usually it’s ribbon but raffia is cheap and cute.  Just poke holes in the sides of the cone, attach a little label or card and there ya go.  Then go and hang them on the doors of your neighbours and friends. Yay! Fun!

Now the only complication is the delivery thereof as all of my stealthy delivery people are involved in every manner of extra curricular until well after dark. Le Sigh. . I so hate it when they grow up and have their own lives. It’s a real inconvenience to me I tell you. We will have to take it in shifts I suppose..
Alrighty then…for your further inspiration and edification… a few shots of our baskets from years gone by.  As you can tell, they are never in any way elaborate partly because I’m just not that skilled, partly because I am almost always throwing about 20 of them together 30 minutes before we have to deliver them between soccer games and piano lessons…so yeah…what I’m saying is they are doable. So if you want to, you should.  It’s totally worth a little bit of hassle and mess when you are having a ball delivering them. I love this tradition and I love that no matter how busy we have been, we have always forged ahead with it.  Go ahead and make a new tradition. This is a fun one.


This was the year we made chocolate flowers. That was fun and cute.
This year was a fun one.

These bees were our most elaborate. Ah life pre-travel soccer…how sweet you were..

In contrast: Last year. Um yeah. Can I call postpartum when she was a year old? Whatevs. Soccer. Soccer is always my go to excuse.

Hey…so  free to copy and use these labels. Sorry I’m not all fancy to give you a proper download. I don’t really have the time to figure that one out.  Just do it bundu-style and right click like I do.

Sneak peek of today. Finny and Gracie on their way to school (those one’s are for their teachers). It is SUCH a beautiful day! Happy May! Happy May!

Linking to Works For Me Wednesday because fun family traditions work for me :)

May Day! May Day! 2011 Edition

May-Day outtake

Ding-dong ditch. My kids’ favourite thing to do. A bit disturbing. I do love their crazy excited little faces though.




Springtime confetti..






Want to see May Day in 2008 2009 and 2010 ?