Swamped

This picture pretty much sums up my life for the month of May. I'm flooded with assignments, knee-deep in projects, dripping with school and extracurricular activities, and my mind is in a fog. Someone--please!--get me out of this place!

I won't bother to mention all the stuff we've been doing lately. Let's just say that the in-laws are arriving Friday and I'm expecting the house to be transformed by then. Did I mention Erik's gone for the week? That I'm now a single parent with multiple activities to cover? That I need to have a book ready to show at a conference in two months and all I have is the first 50 pages (which I've rewritten very poorly four times now)? That I've been waking at 3 am every morning terrorized by the thought that we've lost all the paperwork to my son's Boy Scout Eagle Project? That my daughter is obsessed and won't stop talking about puberty (thank you public school!)? And that my youngest is experimenting with new glue compounds so that every loose object in the house ends up joined to something else? My nails are bitten to the quick. My stomach hurts. My lower back twitches. I think I might have lost my mind and be headed for a breakdown.

I need summer vacation as bad as my kids do. Just one week would be enough. Let me sit in the sun with a drink in my hand, near the pool, but far enough away to keep my laptop safe, and I'll be okay. Please, someone . . . get me out of this month.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

As you can see, we are big celebrators, what with our little Hispanic child and all. Funny that he was born in California, and the only blond baby in the hospital nursery. The nurses refered to him as "Surfer Boy" during our entire stay.

Today, he still looks very much the same, but surfing has never been his thing. Lazer Tag is now the game of the day and everybody had a BLAST (or bang or pow or whatever). These weren't his only presents, but take a look at some of our action shots. Afterward we had eclairs because he's always enjoyed being a little different. Happy 8th Birthday, Jason!

Jason's birthday was a fun celebration for the family, but last week was Erik's birthday, and guess what? I was off flying solo in Kentucky. Yeah, I missed my husband's birthday--on purpose. Am I bad, or what? But it wasn't all bad. Knowing I would be gone, I made some advance preparations and the day didn't turn out too shabby. This year I decided that we would celebrate Erik's birthday all week instead of just one day. That way he was able to spend individual time with each family member for a day, and he hardly even noticed I was gone.

Tuesday he attended Bryce's Math Superbowl, Wednesday he took Rachel bowling and bought his own ball, Thursday he needed a rest so he stayed home with Jason, Friday Mykell called, Saturday he went to the movies with all the kids, and that night I was home to complete his week. Everyone got a chance to feel special and there wasn't any of the usual anxiety over what to get Dad for a gift. Personally, I think this was one of my better birthday ideas. It worked out very well. But for those who still think I was awful for leaving, you'll be happy to know that I'll be alone for my birthday too--at another conference--just to make things fair. Aren't I nice?

Happy Birthday Erik and Jason!

What was your happiest birthday?