31 Things I’m Thankful for in May

1. A holiday = 1.5 vacation days for me. Yes, this the #1 item I’m thankful for in May. You can scold me later for being shallow. I’m very thankful for those who have given their life to serving our country too. But I’m fairly certain that most of them are more than happy for everyone to celebrate and extra day off from work too.
2. Time spent with Lance’s mom’s family celebrating the life of his Grandma G.
3. Time spent celebrating family member’s birthdays
4. Me time at the Aveda Institute
5. God’s provision with my brother-in-law’s farming accident
6. Warm weather
7. Kind people at priceline.com who refunded our money after our trip to Kansas City ended up being the same time as Lance’s grandma’s funeral.
8. God providing basic ways to try and explain Grandma G’s death to Lucan.
9. Friend emails
10. My mom, who is kind, generous, unassuming and always teaching me how to be gracious.
11. Naps
12. The May Day basket tradition carried on by a good friend.
13. The start of the newest Bachelorette. (I never said I wasn’t silly)
14. A fun 3 year photo shoot with our talented friend, Katie.
15. Wednesday jeans days at work
16. A FANTASTIC Citrus Lane box this month. After last month’s box, which was a complete FLOP, this was a nice surprise.
17. Masterpiece Theater
18. Garage sale time has begun!
19. Re-reading the Harry Potter series. Sometimes it’s really comforting to re-read something you know that you’ve enjoyed previously. It’s like talking with a friend.
20. Lucan has appeared to have temporarily stopped sneaking into our room in the wee hours of daylight to stand at the foot of our bed and peer creepily at us. I, for one, appreciate not being stared at while I’m sleeping.
21. Cinco de Mayo celebration at work. On May 1. We called it Mexican May Day :)
22. First Saturday Farmers Market (even if the crowds were AWFUL and jam packed)!!
23. Yoga. I know it makes the list most month, but I swear it makes me nicer and calmer.
24. I’ve started this TERRIBLE tradition with Lucan that I set a treat out for him on the console of our SUV when I go to pick him up from daycare. Everyday Lu is “mommy remembered treat for me! Mommy loves me!” So the one time I complete forgot to get him something I got hear this little woebegone voice saying “mommy forgot treat?” Bad mommy. But it’s pretty adorable hearing how excited he gets about a little cookie or some Smarties.
25. A friend’s pregnancy announcement that she’s due with IDENTICAL twin girls!
26. The book “Delicious” by Ruth Riechl. It was fun. I was a little dubious at first, but I ended up really enjoying the foodie book by Editor in Chief of Gourmet magazine and former food critic for the New York Times. That’s cool stuff right there.
27. Duck Derby, free food and inflatables and a tiny pink rubber ducky that Lucan adores.
28. Delectable strawberries
29. Our new senior pastor starting (even if we have yet to hear him preach …)
30. The first blooms of spring: lilacs and peonies. Some of my favorites.
31. Generous friends who loan me things for Lucan’s upcoming birthday party. 

Pretzel monocle.

Look! Glasses! I see you!

Mommy son selfies.

Real glasses from Lucan's May Day basket.

Garden plants we started indoors. Fortunately, they're all out in the garden now. Fingers crossed, they'll actually not die mid-July like most years ...

This is the great Citrus Lane box we got this month. It included: a watering can for Lucan, a snake magnifying glass, a bento style lunch box, foot wipes (which I've used on Lucan a couple of times already and they smell really lovely - grapefruit) and some "healthy" cheddar cheese crackers that Lucan told us he didn't like. So Lance happily ate them and told me they were really tasty. Overall, our May box was a definite win! Good job Citrus Lane.