Tonsils, bookshelves, family and friends!

The month of May began full-speed ahead with our sweet George having to get his tonsils removed.  The poor fella had to deal with a terribly swollen tonsil (not due to illness or allergies, so a bit concerning) for a few weeks before the doctor said we needed to get them out!  He showed such courage and fortitude in leading up to surgery and even had trouble sleeping the night before, because he was so excited!  He woke up at 5am...all smiles!

While this picture might be the most pitiful of all, the tears were actually only because he didn't want to have to take his sweat pants off to wear the hospital gown!  

Soon, Josh had him smiling by making voices to go along with the pain scale faces on the white board in the room!  :-) 

By the time they were ready to wheel him back, he was all smiles again!  He was ready!

But the tears returned as he came out of the anesthesia...my poor boy!  It was a great thing to have those tonsils out, because the doctor discovered one of them (the less swollen one) was so diseased, it crumpled and fell apart as he tried to remove it.  Yikes!

The first few days were really easy...TOO easy!  The treats and presents from Grammy and lots of cuddles from Mom kept him smiling. 

But then the fifth night came, and we were in the trenches trying to get the terrible pain under control. 

One of the best parts of that chaotic week was having my Dad here!  My sister Raleigh and her 4-year old son Logan came for a part of the time, too, so it was a lot of fun for the boys.  Dad came with a truck loaded full of power tools and got to work building a beautiful built-in book case for us!  I couldn't have been happier!!  

Once the shelves were done, he graciously stayed a few days longer to hang out with the other three boys as my attention was focused on George.  They enjoyed every bit of it!

The time with Logan and Raleigh was so fun!  We played water balloon baseball, spent hours and hours outdoors and on their last night here, they had a cousin dance party!  It was hilarious! 

We used to have a tire swing in our front yard, but the tire broke.  While we are waiting to replace it, the boys have discovered that a rope with a loop in it is just as fun...maybe MORE fun!  Especially when Papa pulls you up so high!

Papa decided it looked too fun not to try himself!  Oh my....

May has brought many of our favorite birds back to our yard...and many migrating ones just stopping through.  Some of our favorites are these Gambel's quails....one of whom thought our hammock might be a good perching spot!  

And our black-chinned humming birds!  (Though two of them have already died after hitting our windows...so sad!)

This weekend we had the third annual visit from our friends Rachel, Tanya and Joseph from Las Vegas!  They come up at some point each summer to enjoy cooler weather, a trip to the woods and a time to talk about all things Jesus and homeschooling!

George is almost completely healed and is doing great and we are ready to get back on track with finishing our homeschool year, welcome more family and friends in the coming weeks and get ready to enjoy summer!