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Family is truly one of God's greatest blessings.  May is the month where the weather improves and the sun shines.  It's the month where I start to shed the long sleeved shirts and jeans.  It's also Mother's Day and my birthday.  On Friday night Mike and I hosted John and Judy and family.  The picture above isn't great but we had 13 people for dinner.  After dinner we retreated to the patio where we laughed together some more.  I truly love hosting a big crowd in my home.  My boys were there, along with their girlfriends.  Kim and family also came with John's brother, Steve.  It was a great night.  

John is back from another winter in Florida and when he came home he brought his fiancee, Judy.  John met Judy at the dog park and Judy has taking a liking to not only John but his deranged dog, Morgan.  I say that with kindness.  John's dog is just not very friendly - just saying.  Anyway I am very happy for John and I really like Judy.  She is full of energy and I truly believe John's very best years are ahead of him.  I am looking forward to spending more time with them as the years go by.   

Meet Hannah.  Jay has been seeing Hannah since early March.  In fact their first date was on my mom's birthday, March 2.  They are a sweet couple and Jay is really happy.  

Rylan brought me flowers for Mother's Day.  She recently moved into her own apartment.  

 Speaking of Mother's Day.  Jay and Hannah got me a basket of goodies - a bouquet of flowers, chocolate, a new mug and a candle.  It was so thoughtful.  As I told Hannah I appreciated not only the gifts but the display of how it was wrapped up.  Usually the boys just throw my gifts at me in the amazon package it came in.  It's wonderful having these young women in our family.  

For my birthday I had lunch with mom and Kim and Mike and I went out for pizza that evening.  It was a nice, relaxing day - just the way I like it.  Physically I'm 5 lbs heavier this year and menopause is not a fun experience.  My most annoying symptoms is the brain fog.  I can remember nothing.  If I don't write it down, forget about it.  The other symptom that is really bad is the night sweats.  Poor Mike.  He is sleeping in a wind tunnel.  Every night I put my cooling pad on full blast.  I also sleep with the windows open this time of year and some nights I even have the ceiling fan on.  By morning our room can feel like a frozen tundra.  I still wake up with a sweaty night shirt and Mike has icicles hanging from his nose.  What I love about this season of my life is the relationship I have with my adult sons.  Sure there are challenges with trying to detach myself from them in terms of the fact that they are both adults but still live with us.  They are both good decision makers so for the most part I try to stay in my lane and only offer them input when they ask.  I'm not perfect but I try.  I am looking forward to having more time with Mike, traveling more and hopefully as the years go by the boys will expand our family.  What is hard right now is my body.  Nothing looks or feels the same.  The 5 lbs I've put on feels like 15 lbs.  Even my hair (my greatest feature in my opinion) doesn't look the same.  It's unruly.  Eating protein is my 2nd full time job these days and heaven forbid if I step out and eat too many carbs (like I did this weekend).  I will put weight on just thinking about cards.  My friend, Laura, got me a weighted vest for my birthday which I love but that's where I am at this point in my life - religiously eating protein, trying to tame my hair, washing my pillows and night shirts on a daily basis and walking with a weighted vest to help with muscle and bone density.  The struggle is real.