We traveled to Iowa over Mother’s Day and enjoyed our time with grandparents–even great-grandparents! My mom’s folks were up for an overnight stay, Merri’s mom had come up with Uncle Paul, and we even got to see Aunt Suzy and Uncle Randy and Stacey! What a treat! We left our older three boys with Gma Merri and Gpa Greg for a few days after that. They had a wonderful time…too wonderful! Always hard for them to leave. Gma Kathy and Gpa Dan came up to Sioux Falls on Friday so that Mark and I could go to a homeschooling conference here in town. (Well, we also went out to eat, and met friends, and so on, but the main reason we needed babysitters was for the conference, really.) :-) We celebrated 11 years together on Saturday!

test test test

We had some friends over on Thursday night, and their children and our children decided to spend some time playing in the dirt in the flower barrel. They were all pretty filthy! The flower barrel has since been planted with pansies. :-)

test

Will continues to amaze me with his Magna Doodle drawings. He also enjoys taking pictures, though our camera can get persnickety sometimes.

test test test

Liam likes to pick and arrange flowers for me! We have lots of things that are flowering right now, although the lilacs came off of a bush in the cemetery. Not for sure about the ethics of that one. :-)

test

And last but not least…

test

Lias says hi. :-)