Celebrations, Endings, and Beginnings

Over this past month we have had activities and events that signal an end to the year. There are always a lot of mixed emotions for me come May because so many things are going on with our family. For starters, Mother's Day and Matt and my anniversary are in May. Both always prove to be pretty sentimental holidays in my book (see why HERE) and this year they were only separated by three days. Someone pass me a tissue!

In addition to those holidays, I also got to share Mother's Day this year with Luke! Our little spitfire finally turned 4 years old (he's been 3 and a half FOREVER in his eyes) and we had a week long celebration that started with a homemade cake on Sunday ...

And ended with his party at the park on Friday. Matt was kind enough to lug our basketball hoop to the park (Luke's only request) and by the end of the day we had some very hot and sweaty kids on our hands! It was a fun day for him and a nice time to be able to celebrate with his sweet friends from preschool.

May also brought lots of endings to our family. Sam finished up his soccer season with his undefeated team (they don't keep score, but I did) and found out that several members of his team will be attending the same elementary school as him next year. The girls finished their ballet classes and got to have their first shot at dancing on the stage. It was a rousing success and they are already excited for the fall classes to begin.

We also got to celebrate the end of Peyton, Sam, and Adah's time at their preschool. They've been at this school for three years and have loved every minute of their time there. They have had the best teachers, made great friends, and been prepared to step into the big world of kindergarten next year. I am not ready for them to go, but at least we have one more year there as Luke moves upstairs to the big kids' classrooms in the fall.

As always, all of these celebrations and endings mark the start of new beginnings and adventures. Elementary school, sports teams, loose teeth and many other milestones are looming in our future. I'm thankful for the buffer that summer provides to all of these new things. We get to spend a few months swimming, going to camp, jumping in the waves, visiting the Mouse, and just having fun before all of the newness begins. Those big kid days are just around the corner, but I'm going to soak up summer this year and make sure September doesn't come too quickly!