May 2025

Do you wanna know what these random items are in the shopping basket? Well it all started the previous Friday. This day happened to be a Tuesday. I had told Millie that I was no longer going to wake her up in the mornings because she treated me horribly, and it usually ended with her telling me she hated me.

So on this special Tuesday morning, I reminded her twice that her alarm had gone off, and I came downstairs, but she didn’t get up. So at 6:45, when they normally leave for school, I told Jack to leave. I also left. I had no lunch, I didn’t have my coffee, and I really wasn’t prepared to leave for the school day because I normally don’t have to leave until 8 o’clock.  However, I had to prove a point. 

She called my neighbor and my neighbor said she would take her to school. I explained to Elise the situation and she had a good talk with Millie. I’m happy to report. I no longer had an issue with her getting out of bed and going to school.

Sometimes you get a good idea and you bring your buddies over to shave heads.

And Carter, the boy to the far right really stepped out of his comfort zone to shave his head. We were also proud of him!

The carnage

Our kids make us proud every day, especially when they get academic awards that are tagged to their sports awards.

My niece, Emily, made a surprise visit in the middle of May. Her dream job has always been to be the dance coach at Mountain View high school. The job became available and she applied. Then she came out for an interview. A couple weeks later, they offered her the job. I don’t know if they’re gonna move from Dallas, Texas to Gilbert, Arizona, but they might. They are young and have no obligations so now is the time to do it.

And they got to see one of Jack’s volleyball games.

Stuart finally joined the 50s club. Even though we had gone to Seattle as a surprise for him, claiming it was for his 50th birthday, this party was actually the first thing that was scheduled. He was surprised!

Heidi, to my left, and Yvette, to my right, are the girls’ volleyball moms. 

His birthday was such a fun night! The food was amazing! My boss, and friend, Kristi’s mom Patty made all the food. 

We had quite the spread. 

Stuart’s 50th surprise party was so much fun. My friend Chris had this cake made for him. So perfect!

Remember that time she didn’t want to play soccer but they won the championship? This girl!

The semi finals didn’t end the way we hoped, but the boys played hard. 

We love you, Long Beach! Millie had a tournament and she played really well. They didn’t win a 🏅 but her play has improved so much!

Ice cream is always a must on vacation or on any day!

My girl volleyball crew! We cruised around the bay. It was so much fun.

Millie has grown so much this year. Most of these girls will go on and play for 15U next year, but hoping some of these friendships last a lifetime. 

Does Jack have a friend who lives on a ski lake? Yep! Living his best life!

Also, we trusted Jack to stay home over Memorial Day weekend on his own. We got back from Long Beach, just Millie and myself, we had dropped Stuart at LAX to fly to the UK to see his family for two weeks. The next morning Jack said to me, ‘Mom, I was a bit scared by all noises at night. And then I did wonder where the extra paper plates were. I had to use real plates.’ I love how he thinks a plate fairy just comes around and refills that shit. He did tell me that the weekend by himself made him realize how much I actually do around the house. Ha!

Did our anniversary number hit three times at the casino on Friday when I went with my boss? Yep! Did I come home with any money? Nope. It was still a lot of fun! The month of May has flown by! The summer will as well because we are all volleyball, all of the time until July 28, and then boy’s club starts and girl’s club starts. So really, we are just all volleyball all the time until Spring 2030, at least. Fun!