May

May was definitely the longest month we've had so far. In addition to the many play dates and trips to the park, finishing up school, and normal chores, our calendar was full all month long:

Feed missionaries

Cub scouts

Father's and Son's camp out

D&D potluck at our house

Broken refrigerator for a week costing $320 to get fixed

Ladies who Lunch potluck at Mindy's

RS evening activity

Ward ice cream social and silent auction

Primary temple trip

Mother's day

Dad's book club

Mercy's parent teacher conference

Mercy's ear infection

Matthew and the boys camping/fishing at Fenton Lake

Cleaning the church

Aiden's baptism

End of school parties for all three kids

Mom's book club

The stomach flu

Swim clinic for the boys

Mighty turkey hunter's potluck at the Brown's

In between the craziness, Matthew and I managed to find the time to get the pool set up and even got some more work done on the shed. Matthew's new calling in the stake YM presidency had him at meetings down at the stake center a couple times, as well as at a stake youth activity on a Wednesday evening and youth baptisms on a Saturday evening. On top of all that, he's had some big project deadlines looming and instead of our hoped for camping trip over the long Memorial Day weekend, he went into work on his Friday off, Saturday, and Monday. He is exhausted! I substituted in primary twice this month, attended a girls camp meeting down at the stake center, and helped clean the Temple. I also volunteered in Abraham's class, tried out an adult ballet class, and delivered lots and lots of chicken nuggets.

Hyrum finished up the school year with a report on bobcats. He kind of lost focus and enthusiasm towards the end and struggled to get his work done. His grades were mostly 2's and 3's (on a scale of 1-4) with mostly satisfactory effort. He has really enjoyed fishing with dad so much this month.

Abraham finished up the school year with a report and diorama on squirrels. He worked hard up to the end and got all 3's and 4's on his report card with excellent effort in all areas. He also finished up a month of being grounded from screen time for hitting at school. During that time he worked at his piano lessons to earn a Learn to Draw Ninjago book.

Mercy had a fairly unhealthy month, suffering from a cold, an ear infection, and the stomach bug. She was a remarkably good sport through it all though and bounced back quickly. As always, she capitalized on every opportunity to play at the Jolley's and is excited to have the brothers home as playmates all summer.

Mission Prep:

I made it to the Temple twice this month, once to clean and once for a session. At the beginning of the month we used our Fast to pray about what I needed to do to make my headaches stop. I'd been getting migraine like headaches nearly every afternoon and it was becoming debilitating. During our fast, Matthew and I both felt like I needed to severely cut sugar out of my diet. I started that very day avoiding as much processed and added sugar as possible. That's meant no family night treats, no dessert at the RS activity or on Mother's day, no sugar on my hot cereal or in the pancake batter, and no handfuls of chocolate chips when the kids are driving me batty, etc. It was a bit hard the first week, and I still got headaches, but since about day 5 or 6, the cravings substantially subsided and the headaches have almost entirely gone away. I've also lost nearly two pounds, even though my exercising has decreased due to so much going on, and my mood is noticeably cheerier. Matthew and the kids have been so supportive and I'm grateful to them for being the final push I needed to make this relatively simple change in my life. 

Meals:

Smoked frozen pizza

Pancakes

Pork Carnitas

  Chili dogs

Egg salad sandwiches

French Toast

Popcorn chicken (several times with various side dishes)

Hamburgers

Homemade pepperoni pizza

Chicken salad sandwiches

Savory crepes with ham, Gruyere, and fried egg

Walmart fried chicken

Pork and vegetable lo mein

Homemade smoked trout pizza

Fish tacos

Homemade macaroni and cheese (another fail)

Orange chicken