May Happenings...

Weird candy-cane-striped tan lines from mowing with my jacket sleeves pushed up. Didn't you know that this is totally the "in" thing right now?!🤣

A special photo sent to me by one of my friends in Ethiopia. Her sign says, "I love you and miss you." 💗

A fun little gift box that I ordered from Darci's business, All The Day Long. It included a t-shirt, a sticker, and 2 beautiful cookies that were almost too pretty to eat. 

A special Mother's Day breakfast from my girlies:

 A golden evening moment:

A pretty bouquet:

Updated pics from some of our sponsored kids in Ethiopia:

Shana made candy necklaces with the neighbor kids:

School is done for the year! Jalen and Jordan had a drive-thru celebration at school and picked up their awards.

 Daddy has been working hard on a massive new swingset/treehouse for Quintin: 

 We've also been looking at ideas and colors for the new building we're putting up this summer...

 ...and switching bedrooms around for our home study, which means scraping popcorn ceilings, repainting, staining, and varnishing: 

 

Here's Adrian's new room, which is almost comnplete:

The cute little model for the hats Malia is selling on her website:

A drive-by birthday celebration for Lynelle:

Even though Shana and I get dressed 2 floors apart, it is amazing how we always seem to pick matching outfits. 

We sold the big beluga and bought a maroon, new-to-us van. Malia wanted a parting shot with the trusty old van:

Quintin surprised me one day by showing me that he knows how to count by 2's, 3's, 4's, 5's, 10's, 20's, 30's, 40's, etc. I asked him who taught it to him, and he said, "I just learned how to do it by myself!" He counted all the way to 120 by 30's...what other 4-year-old can do that?! Little smartie-pants!

Happy Birthday!

Happy 16th birthday, Ashton! We love you dearly! 

Ashton chose salmon, buttered potatoes, asparagus, and cranberry ice for his birthday meal. 

Springy Things...

Gorgeous berries:

Still doing school at home:

Flowers from my hubby:

My favorite breakfast:

Beautiful trees and flowers:

 

Sunny picnics:

 Food pick-up from school (each week of the Covid quarantine, the school provides 2 meals a day for 5 days for every child in the district ages 1-18. We've only picked it up one time...so much food!)

Grandpa teaching woodworking classes to his grandsons:

Our 20th anniversary didn't look exactly like we thought it would. We were supposed to be on a cruise to the Bahamas and swimming with dolphins, but the quarantine changed all that. We were still able to get away for a couple of days, just the two of us, and spent a relaxing time in Holmes County. Here's Chris's quarantine beard:

He shaved it off while we were away:

I was the undisputed pool champion again... 😄

While we were gone, we kept getting pictures like this texted to us from home:

Captions like this were also texted to us: "Check out this kid. "The breakfast that he always wanted for his entire life" is sitting in front of him. Three cereals mixed, along with the biggest spoon we have. Along with a drink of milk." 🤣

I finished my diamond painting:

 Croquet games on the lawn:

 My Uncle Don passed away yesterday. He was such a sweet man, but I am so thankful that he's finally Home. He has been sick for so many years, and now he can rest with a new mind and body. This is a photo of his family singing a few of his favorite hymns outside his nursing home window the other day. 💓