In the midst of tax season I attended a fundraiser for the Humane Society of West Michigan. While Mike hoped I would come home with a variety of golf packages from their silent auction, I instead won a kids activity package with passes to nearly every child's dream in Grand Rapids. Immediately following the 15th, Lily and I checked out Gymco for their lunch bunch club which allowed Lily the opportunity to run wild on their gymnastics equipment.
We even got to try a free gym lesson (which she freaked out during the first 5 minutes). This is obviously before she refused to go back into the gym.
Shortly after tax season Lily and I took a random Wednesday to meet one of my best friends and her boys at the GR Children's Museum. Carolyn strategically chose a mid-week day to flex at her job so we ventured downtown first thing in the morning thinking we may have the place to ourselves. Little did we know every elementary school in the county had the same idea we did. The place was madness until about lunch time and then the kiddos really did have the place to themselves.
Teacher Appreciation Week and Mother's Day fell pretty much back to back so Lily and I got creative with some Pinterest inspired gifts. Lily is quite the shopper so it was pretty easy to fill her teacher's gift baskets. I decided to do a manicure-theme gift for both of Lily's teachers and grandmas and Lily was very matter of fact on who got which color nail polish. Over and over again I got to hear how Miss Ashley had to have this color and only Miss Erica would want this color.
I also let Lily loose painting a couple of clay pots (outside in clothes not worth saving). I spray painted them white ahead of time thinking that the colors Lily picked out to use for painting wouldn't go with the brown clay. I should have known that there was no way Lily would have let any brown see the light of day. She took her project very seriously - both the painting as well as the planting. Due to unforeseen rain conditions, planting took place inside on my counter under Grandpa's supervision.
Lily is still very much in the dress yourself phase. She's upped the classiness since now she always wants to look like a princess or a ballerina. While her cowboy boots are always a staple, you can typically find her in anything that will twirl, leg warmers if its a tad cold, and a flop of hair in her face. To run errands on Sunday she donned her Easter dress, leg warmers, and flip flops.
She's still very interested in cooking - while I hope she'll grow up to be a doctor Mike is considering signing her up for Master Chef junior. The kid loves to cook and helps put together dinner nearly every evening. Disregard the adult beverage in her hand - I swear we were making beer bread.
And while I know Lily and Diesel have always had a special bond, lately they've become inseparable. Lily will often ask for Diesel to snuggle her while we read her bedtime story or for Diesel to warm her feet in bed first thing in the morning. Diesel will follow Lily around the house (even if she doesn't have a snack in her hand) and listens to Lily when she makes a request. Although yesterday Lily was so concerned about Diesel eating all of her toys she cleaned the entire living room and put all of her toys where they belonged. Mike and I made mental note to use this tactic next time a clean-up wasn't going as hoped.
We also had the sunroom painted. It's easily one of our favorite rooms in the house but we just hated the knotty pine walls and ceiling. I'd been surfing Pinterest and Houzz sections for cottagey looks and found tons of sunrooms with painted ceilings. Mostly the rooms were white with a pale blue or light sea foam ceiling. Mike was less excited about the idea than I was - when I proposed the idea shortly after we moved in he just shook his head at my crazy idea. At the time I was all about tackling the project myself but after reading articles and articles about painting knotty pine I decided to hire it out - and I don't regret that decision for a second. Mike gave me the green light to move forward with a painted ceiling and you know me...I couldn't pick a pale blue or light sea foam. It's rare that Mike agrees to something considered "wild" in terms of decorating so I took this opportunity to do something crazy. I picked a color Sherwin Williams calls Tantalizing Teal. Don't cringe - our sunroom is now the most amazing room in our entire house...just awaiting carpet and wicker furniture.
Another super important milestone passed recently - Mike's 7th year in remission - although once you pass five they consider you "cured". It's not something we talk about frequently - I've read a lot about survivor's guilt and I think Mike internalizes a lot of that. While Mike turns down a lot of cancer related fundraisers or events, I can typically convince him to attend one a year. He usually chooses the annual American Cancer Society dinner so when the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society annual gala came up, I was surprised he said yes - especially since it was black tie "optional". One of our best friends since childhood accompanied us to the event and although an emotional evening, we had a blast getting a dolled up. I mean - I even got to curl my hair and put on makeup without Lily running wild.
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