Open House and Dining Group

Our family went to the open house at Joy's school this evening.

Joy has really loved her first grade teacher, Mrs. Steben.

Joy showed us her desk, with some of the projects she has worked on . . .

. . . and the bean plants her class grew in recent weeks (Joy is rather pleased that hers is one of the tallest).  We also checked out one of the kindergarten classrooms, so Daniel could see what's ahead for him next year.  He seemed to find it all underwhelming, but I'm sure he'll have fun in fall.

On a different note, last year I started a dining group with a few friends from church.  We took turns choosing a different restaurant to eat at, and I've looked forward to enjoying good food and conversation with Danielle, Rhonda, and Tory each month.  Rhonda is about to move to a different city, so we're not sure if we'll all keep meeting, but either way I'll be grateful for the memories.

The Proverbial Mother's Day

We celebrated Mother's Day at my parents' home this afternoon.

The kids played Lawn Darts with Papa . . .

. . . Anna tried on Uncle Rob's motorcycle helmet (she thinks he's a pretty fun guy) . . .

. . . and in the evening Papa led the men in attendance in reading from Proverbs 31 and commenting on how the verses remind them of the women in our family.  It was sweet to hear their thoughts, and I would have loved to hear Phillip's, too, but he had to sing in a choir concert for a class he is taking.  He did buy me a lovely bouquet of flowers, though.

Eggs and More Eggs

Sometime before Easter, I planned a family activity where I printed outlines of big Easter eggs on white paper, we each colored in an egg, then I cut them out and stuck them to our front door as holiday decorations.  The five top eggs in this photo are the result of that activity.

The bottom six eggs are the result of Anna being utterly captivated by that project, and asking me to repeat it with her over and over, even though Easter was weeks ago.  You never know what little thing will catch a child's fancy.

A Send-off Party

There are a lot of student families in our ward, and many of them will graduate this month and move on to new homes in new towns. Today a bunch of us gathered at the park to give the graduates a big goodbye party.

There was a pinata (use the Force, Joy) . . .

. . . and Anna nearly ate her weight in potluck chips . . .

. . . then we tossed around our Frisbee (which we subsequently left at the park--sigh).

At one point someone called all the departing families together for a group picture, and I wasn't sure whether we should be in it or not.  We think we'll be done with school this summer, but even if that happens Phillip may get a job in this area and we might stay in the very same apartment building we've lived in for our entire marriage.  I chose to join the photo group, just in case.  We'll see what the next few months hold.