It comes as no surprise to longtime readers or people who know me that May is my favorite month. What's not to love about turning the corner on a soggy spring, planting flowers and seeing those first buds and blossoms? Getting outside without a coat or sweater, the wonderful aroma of fresh-mowed lawns and the breeze in your face on a bike or with the convertible top down. Too early for biting bugs to be out and the birds are abundant and happy.

And birthdays ... yes, birthdays. Love birthdays, even when they're not mine, but May happens to be the month of my birth and through the years I've gathered a May basketful of people who share this birth month.

No matter the month of your birth, birthdays are the one thing we all have in common. That special day of the year when we can embrace the simple fact that we're alive and with any luck at all surrounded by family and friends. I'll never tire of celebrating life and the blessings of these past 61 years!

I met the most darling and talented third-grader this week. Natasha DiBiase is one of the finalists (the only one from Idaho!) in the Doodle4Google contest that drew over 125,000 entries nationwide. She's heading for New York later this month, all expenses paid, to learn if her doodle depicting her Best Day Ever will earn her a $30,000 scholarship and a $50,000 technology grant for her school, Lake City Jr. Academy. Heady stuff for a 9-year-old who plans to be a veterinarian.

Go to Google.com and vote for Natasha's entry by this Friday. She's in the K-3 category and you can vote from up to five electronic devices. Let's make another best day ever for Natasha and her school!

The boat launch at Q'emiln Park is closed, which means the Avista flood gates at the Post Falls dam are open for the spring run-off. Which means that it's optimum viewing of the falls from the platform at Falls Park. Perfect weather this week for a picnic in the park!

Mother's Day is this Sunday but in 1952, the holiday fell on May 14. So technically I'm a Mother's Day baby. Happy Mother's Day Mom, from the gift that keeps on giving.

And speaking of Mother's Day, two events for moms that I'm aware of at deadline ... the annual free pancake/eggs/sausage breakfast for mothers hosted and served by the Post Falls Lions on Sunday at the Post Falls Senior Center and American Legion Post 143 in Post Falls will treat moms at their weekly Sunday breakfast buffet on Mothers Day. Public welcome to both events.

Look twice, save a life! There are motorcycles and bicycles on the roadways so let's all take a second look when we're driving.

Happy Main Street birthday today to Matt Barkley, Aaron Calkins, Tiffany Teal, Dave Walker, Lindsey Sales, Jared Raynor and Mary Rednour. Tomorrow Tara Dagastine, Valerie Emery, Bonnie Clark, George Larsen and Carla Noonan are putting on their party hats. Shelly Servick, Don Smock, Shelly Matthews, Pearl Bouchard, David Dickinson, Debra Altman, Margie Adams and Ginger Cutler will celebrate on Friday. Saturday birthdays belong to Anne Hagman, Anthony Skarisky and Sharon Culbreth and on Mother's Day Mary Rawlsky (50!), Allison Cook, Lynette Walsh, Bob Hoskins, Jason Penzkover, Craig Ziegler, Olivia Jacobsen, Wyatt Dickinson and Jon Brewer will celebrate mom and their birthdays. Starting the week out with a party on Monday are Kathy Hlebichuk, Steve Pollard, Tim Cushman, Judy Brooks, Charlie Morris, Eric Keck and Chuck Buck. Sharing my May 14 birthday on Tuesday are Williene Gagnon, Stephanie Davenport, KJ Torgerson, Macy Ducoeur, Mark Hemenway, Rita Preston, Verla Packer, Randy McKahn, Jake Hobbs, Kathy White, Liz Ricciardi, Breanne Ruff, Kimberly Westrick, Kristie Messinger, Caren Easterly, Bill Ohlfs, Linda Green, Katie Bane, Mitch Bevacqua and Averie Barnes. Happy Birthday to us!

Kerri Rankin Thoreson is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and the former publisher of the Post Falls Tribune. She was voted Best Local Writer for 2013 by the readers of the North Idaho Business Journal. Main Street appears every Wednesday in The Press and Kerri is on the air Mondays and Wednesdays on 1080 ESPN AM (KVNI). Find her on Facebook or via email mainstreet@cdapress.com.