pattern making and surviving May

I bought these awesome Zig Clean Color Real Brush Watercolor pens for my Make-Along pattern project and they are super fun. They even work well for cheeks! They’re a little less blendy then I imagined they’d look when dry but I think they look very cute. I’m going to try it again on my next doll and dilute a bit more with a Watercolor Brush.

While I’m enjoying working on these new patterns I have my horns hooked in an epic battle with May. May should be my favorite month. Spring is my favorite season and I’m so excited to hit all the nurseries and work on our garden again. I am reborn, but into stress. Soccer tryouts, ExploreMore Day, 100 other school events and parties. I am drowning in special moments. Tossing lunch out the door after Oscar when we realize we forgot before school band that starts up in May to get ready for the parade. My fridge looks like a college ride board the week before Thanksgiving. I bet that reference dates me, ha!  I search every morning through the flurry of handouts trying to remember what snack/treat/costume/gift/form I’m supposed to be sending in that day. There is no time to catch one’s breath, to bask in Spring sunshine. And also a terrible time to be taking on a huge creative project like I am. But I feel the panic to get it done while kids are still in school because I have “free time”. Even though my kids are old enough to entertain themselves and Summer is not the death sentence of work it once was, it’s still a much less productive house June-August. So May is just a ticking time bomb. I have a theory that teachers and schools, in an effort to not lose support for our age-old system of Summers off, try to make school as painful as possible in May so that you’re begging for Summer. Well, I give. Uncle.