Road trip

We went to Little River for their high school graduation. Little River is about one hour away. We decided to take the scenic route home.

Kansas is beautiful!

And definitely not flat.

Three hours later, we got home.

Graduations

This past week was filled with several graduation parties including our niece, Arika's graduation from highschool;
and our nephew, Jared's graduation from 8th grade;

and our grand-daughter, Hannah's graduation from preschool!

Gifts for the teacher and the helper made by "crafty" Hannah.

Congratulations!!
So proud of you all!

Community Life group

This is our community life group from this past year. Most are newly married; several just a year or less. We have been married 35 years this summer so we are the oldees.

We had our last night tonight. (Well, we will do a couple cook-outs this summer too.)

We started in the fall and did Ray VanderLaan's "That the World May Know" series. About the culture of world in Biblical times and gives you insight into the Scriptures.

We ended the year studying this book:

It has been very insightful and fun. A couple in a study we did a few years ago told us it saved their marriage! Not sure how truthful that is, but it does open one's eyes as to how the opposite sex thinks. And we surely do not think the same way! Women tend to think like spaghetti - noodles touch eachother and intersect, and our thoughts and issues all connect to every thought and issue. And when we talk, we go on a journey of spaghetti-ing. Men are like waffles because they process life in "boxes"; they have a sports box, work box, TV box, etc. One box at a time. Sometimes it is hard for them to follow us when we talk. We don't always get to the point of our conversation right away.


I found this shirt and Andrew won it in a game we played.

It has been a great year with this bunch of young folk!

Bikers

We had some bikers come to our house.

No, not those kinds.

These kinds!

Of course they love to come here!

Nana always has treats around for them!

Gearing up to go back home.

Recital

Last night the skies were ugly. Such dark clouds, tornado warnings in the area, torential rain, loud thunder. Jill wasn't sure what to do. She had a recital planned at church at 6:30. We decided to wait until 5:30 and see what happened before canceling. Luckily the warnings were cancelled just then. And the recital went on as planned.

It was Hannah's very first piano recital. She played Mary Had a Little Lamb.

Sophia in awe of her big sister.
Jill's students.

ALL the kids did a fabulous job!!

There were nerves but they all performed great!

Afterwards, there were treats.

Sophia had been disappointed that her name wasn't on the program.

She got to do her own playing afterwards.

And just as we got home it began to pour and also hail.

Mother's Day

Last year for Mother's Day, Jill suggested that we ladies go out for Mother's Day. We went here: It was so much fun, we decided to keep the tradition. Today we went here:

P F Chang!

Jill said we should do this every year - a different restaurant each year.

Sisters

and one brother (who lives in Arkansas)

It has been such a privilege to raise 3 wonderful kids like these!!

I am blessed to be a Mom!

Outings

I had a couple of outings this week. On Wednesday, our Biblestudy had our annual end-of-year outing. Only about half of us could go but what fun we had! We drove to Yoder and had breakfast at Carriage Crossings. Their cinnamon rolls are about 7 inches in diameter and only a little over a buck! What a deal! We ordered one to split then also ordered some other good country cooking like the Yoder sausage, french toast, home-made biscuits..... Carriage Crossing has a fun store and some of these grandmas shopped for next Christmas already!

After a drive through the cute Amish town of Yoder we drove on to Buhler with its darling little shops.

And we had lunch at the Mustard Seed. I was still stuffed from breakfast but who cares!

They set us up in their tea room.

Most of us ordered their special - a turkey sandwich with sprouts on a freshly home-made croissant. And split their home-made peach cobbler. Oh my!

Yesterday I went on another outing - this time with Hannah and Sophia. Their mother is on her own outing....in Green Bay, Wisconsin visiting a friend! We went to the zoo in Wichita. Hannah wanted to see the tigers. We went through that exhibit twice!

They were up and close!

The playground is always a must.

The kids love to read their zoo maps to see where they are.

Fun times! Precious friends and family!