I was in the basement sewing this afternoon, the older two were hanging with me and I got the privaledge of evesdropping on a couple of their conversations.

Dallas " Look at all of these great toys we have, these are fun, fun, fun, all of these are fun"
apparently we don't get down there enough to enjoy those toys

Next conversation

Emily "We have to dance now that we are married, come dance with me"
Dallas "ok" -they danced to a song after he got out of the Tuffy truck
Dallas "Now that we are married, where is my special gift, I want my special gift"
Emily "Yes, I have your special married gift right over here.  Here are your meatballs Dallas"
Dallas "I love meatballs, thanks!"

A little Saturday labor

Before

Before

After

 Rob and I spend the day putting in a bullet brick border around some of the beds, and then adding mulch.  This backyard has seen many changes, and we have moved so slow.  Rob removed the bushes in 2008.

 Let's see our house is a different color, all the bushes have been removed, you can see a bit of my veggie garden on the right, the sand box to the left of the deck, many changes!

Need to grow a little more grass here, I removed a lot of moss from this section

Last fall I removed about  100 hostas from this bed alone, kept a couple and added some day lillies

questions

Emily - "Mom, why did God make us sinners if he doesn't like sin"

I said a quick prayer inside my head to have God help me answer, and then I dived into some theology.  Love this girl!

VEISHEA

We had a great day at VEISHEA again this year.  We watched Robert drum with his buddies, and the kids scooped up candy.  It was cold and wet, but full of memories.

Awana Awards night

This is Emily's Sparks class singing the Sparky? theme song.  Not sure what it is called.  She memorized over 60 verses this year.  We are super proud of her!

A Saturday in Des Moines

Aunt Lynne let us visit so we could have a fun day in Des Moines.  Rob flew to Phoenix Friday night and will be back Monday, so I was glad she likes to help me "entertain"  Dallas and Emily sang an "Aunt Lynne" song on the 40 minute drive to her house, while Noelle chanted, "going, Aunt Lynne, going, Aunt Lynne".  I tried listening to the radio, I guess I don't get that excited. 
We picked Lynne up and headed downtown to the season opener of the Farmers Market.  It was great fun.  We tried some yummy food, I bought some beef sticks, the kids shared popcorn and kettle corn, Lynne had some PB&J friend wonton things that were awesome.  We sampled a lot, and were surprised by the amount of produce already available.  The kids planted a flower at the kids booth. 

After we had our fill, we headed to the Papa John Sculpture Garden.  We didn't run around long because the weather seemed to instantly shoot to 90 degrees with equal humidity, and we were thirsty.  We headed to the mall next to get Noelle her first pair of shoes.  Since the Lazy M closed in Ames, there is no place in town to get your kids feet fitted.  She is still such a toddler when walking I want her in pretty flexible shoes still so she gets the hang of it. 
And then for Cinco de Mayo we visited Chipotle, my barbaccoa salad hit the spot, I wished for a beer too, but I was driving!

Our play date was canceled last minute this morning.  What to do.  This weather is warm but supposed to rain at any minute intermittently all day...

I brought up the play kitchen and accessories that have been in the basement since we made room for the Christmas tree in November.  The kids are tickled and playing so well.  Perhaps I will sneak off and read...