May in the time of Covid

May in Utah is really glorious. Not too hot (usually) and things are starting to grow. It's warm enough around Mother's Day to plant a veggie garden. And, we decided, it was time to finally finish the back of our steeply graded backyard bed, so we could mulch without fear of erosion. We took this opportunity of being home every day and weekend to flatten the curve. We built a small retaining wall and pulled the dirt forward, pulling out rocks and weeds.

May is a great time for forced child labor.

Some people had great attitudes.

We pay in Wendy's. And Oreos.

May the 4th, we celebrated with Tyler's special pancakes.

And (BB)8 pretzels.

And we watched Star Wars. Because we're nerds like that.

We ran (for the first time since our half in October) for Ahmaud.Arbery.

We put in edging around our front planter beds.

These were perfect days to ride bikes.

My family showered me with love for Mother's Day.

They regaled me with Mother's Day songs during family church.

Tyler cooked some of my favorite foods.

Sheridan made me a delicious brownie merengue with blackberry cream, pistachios, and hazelnuts. It was so delicious!

And I made everyone take a family walk.

We took lots of walks in May.

Walks are really good when tempers are raging.

Walks are good for the soul.

Research has found that the Japanese practice of "forest bathing" lowers blood pressure, decreases mental distress, and has other long-term positive effects on both physical and mental health.

We were feeling that as we spent time on our river trail.

And it was so nice to watch everything getting greener and greener.

Hooray for forest bathing!

Snuggling is also good for the soul. Experts recommend at least 8 eight second hugs daily.

Sheridan hosted ballroom dance lessons in May. These guys learned cha cha!

Most days, our living room looked something like this. A bin of toys dragged out, and most of the kids playing together.

We baked mini pavlovas with leftover blackberry cream and kiwi drizzle. It was delicious.

In the middle of the month, we circled back to our backyard and had 10 yards of mulch dropped off.

The kids were thrilled.

It looked so beautiful when we'd finally gotten it all spread out!

Then it was time to pick up all the stuff that had been left at school when Covid shut it down unexpectedly.

It was a really weird way to end the school year.

And for Henry, it was the way his elementary school time ended.

To celebrate, Sheridan made this cute cake.

Spoiler! It was a piñata cake!

And we ate yummy grilled food.

There were some tender moment with Jack and Eliza. They really adore one another.

This month, we also shuffled kids around in bedrooms. We split up Amelia and Sheridan (because there was SO MUCH FIGHTING!) and put Cole and Micah in with Amelia.

Actually, Micah's little bed was moved into the closet, as we ascertained whether or not he could handle being in with these kiddos (he was sharing with Jack, who went to bed late enough that they didn't keep each other awake).

Henry moved in with Jack.