Okay, before the long weekend, just a few things to catch up on...

1) Micah's infusions. Micah's now had two infusions and says he feels better than his best when the previous medication was working. Hooray! (We'd been told it might take up to 3 months to know whether it was working, but Micah says he can clearly already tell.) 

Also, we were having some insurance issues with covering the infusions where we've been having them done. Long story. After *many* phone calls to various infusion clinics, our doctor, the insurance company, etc...I'm happy and oh-so-relieved to report that our insurance has authorized coverage at the current clinic now, so we're all good. Whew. Such a pain but so very thankful that the insurance is there. (For what it's worth, a single infusion round costs more than three times more than a month of the previous medications.)

2) Seeing friends. Last weekend, one of my oldest friends came to CO for a work conference and we managed to get together with another friend that we met in college. We had a lovely time hanging out and catching up...

3) Random conversations here lately. Gotta love family dinner time conversations. Topics lately have included...why we call The Netherlands Holland and why the people there are Dutch...the "virginity of olive oil"...the names of the Pokemon professors...and why Asher's knees are weird and Noah's are boring. Yup, really.

4) My job. Okay, um. I quit my job. As it turns out, it just wasn't the right fit for me right now. I learned a lot about myself...about what I am and am not looking for. I don't have a specific plan for what's next but am so appreciative for the experience and thankful to have taken the steps to start. Given the end of the school year, it seemed an appropriate time to make the break.

5) Date lunch. Nothing special to report...just enjoyed our date lunch this week. :)

Okay, that's it for now. May has been a long month and I'm looking forward to the long weekend. Wishing you all a great and relaxing end of the month!

So. Things are starting to get back to "normal" around here. Now that I have a minute, just wanted to share pictures from around Micah's graduation when we had great visits with family...

Above: my mom with five of her 18 grandkids, us with my mom, my brother's family with my mom, and me and Zach with mom on Mother's Day

I mentioned before that my mom and niece flew out from Washington for the graduation. We had some nice time together just visiting and then also getting pedicures and doing some shopping in Old Town. When Zach and his family joined us from Longmont, we also enjoyed visiting and just hanging out...and at one point we played a great game of Mind the Gap, which Mom and I totally won. :)

Mom & Alexis flew home early Monday after graduation and Nathan's parents arrived later that day (they'd been staying up in Estes Park so had been here for the graduation ceremony and party, too). Most of us had work during their visit, but we still managed good time for conversations and pinochle. Plus, we made a quick trip to the Fort Collins Nursery and took advantage of Nancy's gardening know-how to plant a couple new plants in our front yard and do some quick yard tasks. 

We remembered to take some group pictures before John & Nancy headed home on Thursday, too. :)

So thankful for the time with family and appreciate that they were all able to join us. 

Gearing up for a busy weekend here so wanted to catch up a bit before that...

Here, then, are a bunch of things I'm thankful for lately:

1. Starting Micah's new treatment plan. Last Friday, Micah was able to have his first infusion of his new medication. We had to go to the hospital outpatient clinic and were there for about 3 hours. He let me take a picture to send to his 9 year old cousin who was having a bone biopsy at the same time and was a little nervous; they were procedure buddies...

Micah didn't get a fun hospital gown or to hold the needle for a minute, like his cousin. But, he got to order lunch and was pretty stoked about that...

And the best part was that Micah and I had a lovely time just chatting...something to take advantage of with teenage sons, for sure. 

(He'll go back in a couple weeks for an extra initial infusion. Then it will be once a month after that. It takes awhile to build up so he might not know whether it's working for a few months still.)

2. Sidewalk chalk. It's been awhile but my new job has me appreciating simple things like sidewalk chalk...very handy for so many things outside. I taught a little girl how to play hopscotch last week. :)

3. Ramen. So, there's a type of ramen that Noah discovered during college. He likes to add peanut butter to it. Micah and I, though, find it too spicy. We love the smell and the noodles and all, but the spice packet (even when I only add a small part of it, lol) is just too much for us. Recently, I learned that the same brand makes a not spicy type! It's great!

4. New dishwasher top shelf. Relatedly, our new dishwasher has an extra top shelf for utensils and such. We're still getting used to it and sometimes forget to check it but are happy it's there. Now we can run the chopsticks (that we use for ramen) through the dishwasher.

5. Skyline Honeylocust. Remember last fall when we planted our little tree in the front yard? Over the winter, the boys were convinced that it had died. (I remained optimistic, for the record.) It just looked like a stick. I'm happy to report that it's still alive!!

6. Past purging. I'm trying to be thankful for the purging I've done over the years, as the boys outgrew things. Mostly, I totally am. But, lately, with my new job, I have to admit a little bit of regret because I know so many of those things (bins and bins of legos, tubs full of craft stuff, homeschool materials, etc.) would be totally useful to me right now. Sigh. I'm trying to remember that all of my past purging went to similarly good homes and use. 

7. Ladies' night. Always so thankful for ladies' night! Most of my lady boot camp friends and I got together Monday night and had a great time catching up! (It's hard to chat when exercising and trying to breathe, lol.) 

And that's my list for now! Gotta get back to my to do list before Micah's graduation this weekend. More later! :)

This week, I just want to note how thankful I am for my fabulous husband. I so appreciate all that he does for our family, for our boys, and for me...and feel incredibly blessed to have this friend and partner at my side, having known each other more than 31 years. 

Since we don't have any big trips planned this year, we decided to take a couple's weekend and had decided on last weekend for it...before the busyness of May with graduation and house guests and all. Our original plans fell through (due to weather) but we shifted and still got away to Estes Park for a night. It wasn't a whole weekend away someplace new, but we truly enjoyed ourselves...

We stopped at The Dam Store (someplace we've driven past multiple times but never stopped at) and climbed the "tower"...we enjoyed delicious foods at our favorite food places and some new ones...we shopped up and down the main strip...we rode the Mountain Coaster a few times...we appreciated the sunset at Lily Lake...and we thoroughly loved our AirBNB, complete with hot tub. The next day, we checked out and headed down the mountain and stopped at Scheel's to ride the ferris wheel before getting some lunch and reluctantly heading home. We had some downtime then before I went to my first day of work actually working with the kids. That's for a future post. :) 

So. Happy sigh. Love you, Nathan!!