Come What May

May.

This has been an insane month, if that wasn't already obvious from the abundance of posts you've seen in the last few weeks.

May always is a tornado of social events, end-of-the-year school stuff, Girl Scouts, and whatever hell else our family has going on, so the fact we had practically had every day and evening of every weekend booked didn't shock anyone.  It's the end of the year gauntlet, and by now we're all used to running it.

We had plenty of other random stuff happen to us between those previously-discussed, noteworthy events, so I'm going to leave you now with a somewhat lengthy post about all the other randomness that befell the Hough's this May.

Behold. . .

Alayna's Girl Scout troop organized a Garage Sale to benefit Guatemalan children (somehow.)  So here we have members of the troop decorating a sign in our basement, to display while they host the garage sale over at the Davis residence.

Morning of the Garage Sale. . .

Of course the Cannonball is doing this. . .

This one has been hanging out in my beer fridge for years.  Finally got around to it towards the beginning of the month.  Not bad, but probably not worth the wait.

We didn't have any ice cream when Alayna wanted dessert, so she improvised.  Frozen whipped cream, blueberries, and chocolate syrup.  So she took a pic with Kris' phone and somehow wrote on the picture (something she's fond of doing.)  Absolutely disgusting.

Noticed this in the side yard, between our driveway and the neighbors' house.  Showed it to a few friends and they all said the same thing:  probably skunks, digging for grubs.  I hadn't treated the yard for bugs this year (d'oh), but fortunately after a couple weeks this disappeared.  I'm hoping they ate 'em all, but that's probably not all that realistic.  I hate yard maintenance.

Hanging out at the Collier residence one evening, Alayna took Kris' phone and snapped this.  Can't say I disagree with her.

The girls' Mother's Day card for Kris this year. . .

Kris let the girls dress up in some of her old bridesmaid dresses one afternoon.  They got a HUGE kick out of this.

And of course this spilled over into wearing a bunch of Kris' other clothes.  And make-up.  Whatever.

I had to get a new Driver's License last month, and my new one finally came in the mail this month.  Believe it or not, the one on the LEFT is the newer one.  About ten pounds lighter, more tan, and - what can I say - significantly younger.  I'm like Benjamin Button.

Watson has been sitting on the couch like this lately. . .

Our dog has problems.

The things my kids are willing to do for money these days. . .

Kris and Abby's Girl Scout troop (or Alayna's, I don't know) had some random outing at that one Chippewa Nature Center across town one night, during the school week.  Not sure what the point was, as - per usual - I was not at all involved with any of this.

Out on a hike on the trails.

Checkin' out some chicks.

Contemplating the mysteries of life.

Came back from a Sick Day and found this nonsense left by a sub on my desk.  I was not happy.  Mt. Dew is disgusting.

I had high hopes for this one right here.  I was super disappointed.

Mr. Buff.  The legend continues.  One of my students got a hold of some spray paint.  Figures.

The culminating event of Fifth Grade in an IB-sanctioned school is Exhibition:  a middle-school level research project that requires students to form groups and research a problem the world is facing and come up with a solution to remedy it.  They have to cite their sources, create a series of visuals, and present their findings to parents, teachers, and their fellow students in an evening showcase.

Alayna and her good friend, Christina, along with this kid here (I forget his name) that they sit at a table with in their classroom, selected Endangered Species as their focus problem. . .

They took turns presenting their background information, statistics, and their proposed solution for saving Endangered animals. . .

They had a few different solutions for addressing this problem, namely fighting pollution and deforestation, combating Climate Change (good luck in a Republican administration, kids), protecting water sources, and - of course - donating to non-profits like the World Wildlife Fund.

Alayna, who, as you all know, is a supporter of the WWF, brought in a bunch of the notecards, pictures, and stuffed animals she's earned by donating to the organization over the years. . .

After their presentation, they took audience questions, and called on various adults - and fellow students - in attendance to address each and every question.

They did a really good job with this - we were pretty proud of Alayna's hard work.  Of course, it helped having a topic she was super passionate about.

Bought a few dresses for Alayna for her upcoming Fifth Grade Graduation ceremony.  That'll be Friday, June 7th, but unfortunately Yours Truly will be down in Cedar Point while this is happening, so here's hoping Kris gets some good pictures and video that I can later share with all of you. . .

- Brian