Cinco De Mayo and May, the worst month

Cinco De Mayo was a quiet affair this year.  We had chips and salsa, meat tacos and strawberry daiquiris.  We celebrated with just our family which was not the original plan.  I had much grander ideas but that night there was a ward family history activity and it just felt like it would cut the evening into weird times.  Either way we celebrated and enjoyed our special drink.

Note:  Before this picture was taken as Mark and I were getting the food on the table Lydia and Jared were squabbling about who got which glass which was not festive. Thus Jared is not pictured.

I have recently decided that May has now replaced February as the worst month in my opinion.  This largely has to do with location.  May is when the hot weather and humidity start.  May is when the bugs come back.  May is when the bear comes back and makes messes in our yard and drags our garbage all over the place.  May is when the ticks come back. (Jared has already had 3) May is when we have to really start doing yard work again.  It also means Summer is next and it is hot and miserable.  If I lived somewhere else I might love May but in Virginia I do not.  It also means people are getting ready to move away which is sad.  This year will not be as heartbreaking as last year but still it is happening.  April brings all the pretty flowering trees and they are great but May is just yuck. I know there are positive things but really the negative things outweigh them by a lot. Also its the nicest evenings for the next few months but we are still in school so I don't feel like we can enjoy them to the fullest.

Mark and I have already weeded twice and he has mowed the lawn three times I think.  This year we decided we would attempt to thicken up our front yard a bit.  I saw that there was some rain in the forecast and bought some Lyme to fight the moss growing in our yard and help the acid levels and some grass seed.  We borrowed a seed spreader and got to work.  Using the spreader was  actually some of the funnest yard work I have ever done but that is because I don't have a crazy big yard.  It's definitely not level, which adds a challenge but it was way more fun than anything else we have to do.  Lydia and Jared both helped spread the seed and then the rain did not really come so we broke out the hose and watered it ourselves.  Jared and Lydia have had a blast playing in the water the last three days which has been great for them.  There is some rain the next few days which should help.  I really don't expect a lot to grow but maybe it will happen.

 

If you look behind Lydia you can see a little taste of the jungle that is our yard.  Maybe we will tame it some this year.  Who really knows.  Its so hard to be motivated because everything grows wild on our property but maybe this will be the year...

Jared took his first SOL test on Wednesday.  It was the reading portion and he didn't seem too fazed by it.  When Mark dropped him off at school today though the assistant principal asked him to stop by the office and either talk to her or Dr Saunders before Mark left.  He ended up meeting with Mrs. Shafran and Dr Saunders the principal.  Yesterday as Jared was taking the test his computer messed up.  One of the questions asked him to pick the two answers that worked best and there were no options for him to pick.  Jared told his teacher and she wasn't sure what to do.  He finished the test and that was that.  He mentioned this to us this morning and we didn't really think anything of it until Mark was asked to stop in.  They explained that the state was reviewing his test so they didn't know yet if Jared would be able to take the 2nd part today.  They wanted to see if we were okay with Jared retaking the first portion if he needed to.  While this would not be our preference Mark said it would be fine.  They both know that Mark is a teacher in the district and Dr Saunders commented that whenever he talks to teachers who have kids at the school about testing they either freak out about it or don't really care.  We fall in the latter department.  I am sure this is not true just among teachers.  We want our kids to try and to do well and understand the ideas of testing but are not super stressed about our third grader and these tests.  Mark definitely does not enjoy proctoring the tests at all.  At pick up today I saw the assistant principal and asked her if Jared was able to take the test and she said that he was.  She mentioned that they were not releasing scores to families yet but that he passed.  She actually had him come to her office and proctored the test to him.  She also said he finished in 10 minutes.  I know they want kids to really take their time on the tests (and Mark hates it when kids rush what's the point?  They now have to sit their silently until the time is up and he has to quietly enforce this) and we tried to encourage Jared too but he did not.  I'm glad he did well and wonder if this could have been prevented if computers were not forced down kids throats ever day?  There are multiple sides to everything and pros and cons. Computers vs. paper testing vs. not testing.   I'm just glad he only had to take the test once and that Jared didn't feel anxious about it at all.