If you thought our April was busy, wait until you hear about May! Let’s start with another quick set of bullets to give you a glimpse of the treat you’re in for:

• Quick weekend work trip to Puerto Rico for me
• Science Walk at Ella’s school
• Mother’s Day
• Zoe’s amazing Talent Show performance
• My Birthday in Chicago – and Hamilton, thanks to my friend, Tara
• My 20-year work anniversary

Sure seems like May was mostly about me, but not to worry, cute little girl pictures follow, so don’t give up on content just yet!

The first weekend of May I went to Puerto Rico for Aquent’s annual ELITE trip for top performers and their “biggest fans” – a quick trip that included 28 hours of travel time for a two-day event. To get to share in the celebration of our ELITE was worth every minute of travel. My colleague Cheryl and I even got to recognize the winners with a fun presentation, sharing their successes in front of the friend or family member they brought along on the trip.

I feel so lucky to get to work with such kind people – and what a joy to watch the people they care about learn what an impact they make on the lives of others and how valued they are in their roles. Here’s me with Tina, one of our ELITE, where I’m clearly holding a pineapple slushie and a cup of water:

We also took a tour of Bacardi, where I bought Bart (a man who is impossible to surprise or buy things for) a bottle of rum you can only buy at the AT the distillery, which I got to fill up myself, label, seal with wax and record in their official book that tracks all bottles made there. It’s also engraved, and I successfully hid and held onto it for over a MONTH to surprise him for his birthday. SCORE!

(See kids, not all Mom’s gifts to Dad are terrible!)

While I was away, Ella’s school had their Science Walk, an annual event where each preschool classroom has a unique science theme, and along with the teachers (well, mostly the teachers) they decorate the room for display. On the day of the walk, parents and kids get to go through and enjoy every room, and the kids are so proud!

This year Ella’s room had a “Natural Disasters” theme, about which Ella proudly told me:

“Mom, there are 6 natural disasters: Hurricanes, Tornados, Volcanos, Tsunamis, Floods and Thunder Storms.”

Yes, folks, THUNDER storms, but as you may have noticed, one really big one (especially in the great state of California) is missing: EARTHQUAKES. In their defense, I guess it’s hard to visualize an earthquake. But you can’t miss these:

That kid is obviously excited about (and very comfortable in) natural disasters, right?!

I was pampered for Mother’s Day – and given the gift of going to ITALY with my sweet sister (in fact, I’m on a plane to meet her in NY right now!). Ella made a beautiful purple necklace for me (see below), and Zoe picked out a gorgeous labradorite necklace (my favorite stone). I feel very loved :)

And now, prepare to be amazed! And get out the tissues – I can’t watch this without tearing up at how incredible and talented our beautiful daughter Zoe is… For her Talent Show at school, she decided she was going to sing – and what better for a 3rd grader to tackle than ADELE?!

(CLICK FOR VIDEO)

Seriously, I’m totally biased, but I think this kid is really special.

I ended up spending the week of my birthday (21, again!) in Chicago, where my lovely friend Tara drove down from Milwaukee to meet me for dinner and take me to HAMILTON! What a wonderful treat! The folks in our Chicago office also made my birthday special with both a KETO box filled with healthy goodies AND Swirlz cupcakes – because life is all about balance.

Sitting alone in my hotel room before departing for work, I took the following selfie to document this (whatever the real number is) day of my birth.

I flew home ON my birthday and arrived at 11:30 pm to a dark house. I entered through a “streamer curtain” to see lots of balloons and MORE festive pink and purple polka dot streamers decorating our entire living room. There was even a Happy Birthday sign! We celebrated with breakfast cupcakes and dinner out on Friday. I really am a lucky gal!

My last celebration of the month was my 20-year work anniversary at Aquent, and thanks to a generous gift card from the company, we headed out to WP24 to dine in the lounge, the best spot to share with kids. It’s on the 24th floor of the Ritz Carlton in downtown LA, with windows all around. They loved it (and so did I)!

If you know me at all, you’ll know that I am NOT a selfie person, and that this post may well have more pictures of me in one place than anyone has ever seen. But clearly our MAY was an unusual month of celebration! And I have a LOT to be grateful for :)

There are lots more May stories to share, but I’ll just let you enjoy the photos of those and make up your own captions (you’re welcome). I could write a whole post about Zoe’s blue hair, but then, as I tell her every time she wants to do something fun with it, “It’s just hair.” Who knows what she’ll want to do next… I’ll save up the pictures for a “many shades of Zoe” post later!

Hope you’ve enjoyed our MAY FLOWERS!