I just had a look back at last week as I edited all of my photos – and wow, was it full!

Do you all ever look back at things and say “Did we really do all that?”

We say that often around here!

How thankful I am for the Lord’s strength, grace and mercy!!

Even when sometimes I feel like Ruby here!

Monday morning started out with our school rhythm, even as I prepared for our Women to Women meeting at church that night.

It was our last Women to Women gathering for this school year!

And we finished with a bang!!

It was SO, so, so good – as we heard from our pastor and his wife about how to share the gospel with others!

We continued on with our school rhythm on Tuesday, but little did I know at the time, that ended up being our last day of the ‘school year’ for us!

We will be doing some school like things all summer long, as usual, but remembering that experiences in life are the BEST school days!

You know, I’m sure, that I will have to keep reading aloud to Tate and Eliza because we love it so much!

I just picture summer read aloud outside on the deck or on the patio swing!!

Tuesday evening Grant had asked Blake and I if we could meet at Menards to help him make some purchases for his new home.

Guess how we answered?!

You all are so smart!

I might have had the most fun helping Grant choose cabinet pulls for his kitchen, ceiling lights and fans for his bedrooms, dining room, and living room, and even a new toilet seat because that is just what you do when you actually get to own your own toilet!!

Addie asked if my trio and I would give her some of our time on Wednesday morning to help her clean and organize the church kitchen.

Guess how I answered?!

You guys are good at this game!!

Of course we loved helping her and are so glad she is in charge of the church kitchen and all that she does there to serve our church family!!

Wednesday afternoon we headed to the library to get some books for a road trip we were headed on the next day.

We also stopped where Addie works to pick out some flowers to take on that road trip as gifts!

I might not have wanted to leave that beautiful greenhouse, just saying.

The weather here has been less than lovely, but standing in that greenhouse was LOVELY!!

Of course there was food prep all week long as well.

I plan menus week by week.

When I could not come up with some great meal ideas I asked Lane, Tate, and Eliza to give me a meal to write on the menu plan.

There are perks to being the only ones home with me all day!

It was a brilliant idea that I might use over and over again.

Lane picked chili soup, Eliza picked Thai peanut soup, and Tate picked Chinese lemon chicken over rice.

They are good at choosing meals, don’t you think?

Thursday we started packing for our trip, as we were leaving as soon as Blake got home from work on Thursday evening.

Lane also had a dentist appointment to have two extractions done.

It ended up being a lot more than we thought it would, but he was a TROUPER and did so well!

(This is the start of orthodontic work for him. The extractions were due to some ectopic permanent teeth he has.)

I prepped meals for our trip for myself on Thursday afternoon after we got home and got Lane settled.

I also had to fill all of the bellies before we hopped in the van to leave, and baked yam bar did the trick!

I love making baked yams in the instant pot!

Lane, however, had a smoothie for dinner and his mama made him some extra to have later!

Blake ran in the door and we were on the road by 7 p.m.

It was just Tate and Eliza with us this time and we were headed to Illinois and Indianapolis to see our parents!!

We arrived in Peoria at midnight and headed to our hotel to get to bed.

Tate and Eliza slept quite a bit in the van!

When the flash went off as I took this first photo, Eliza peeked at me!

We were up bright and early the next morning excited to go and see Grandpa Ross and Grandma Lilli!

We spent the day at their home and enjoyed a wonderful lunch and time with them.

It is always much too fast.

Tate and Eliza had each made watercolor pictures to take to each of their grandparents.

SO, so sweet and all on their own accord!

I just LOVE Eliza’s painting.

It made me smile SO much!!

Please make note of the exactness of our heights and hair colors (and of the size of her mama’s hips, ha, ha)!

We met up with Grandma Barb in the early evening on Friday at our all time favorite coffee shop in Morton – Four30 Scones!

It was yummy and a wonderful visit!

Pretty soon we were off to head to Indy so we could lay our heads down for a few hours before the next morning arrived!

There is a time change that is not to our advantage when we arrive in Indianapolis.

We were still up and at ’em early on Saturday morning and so very excited to head to my Mom and brother’s place!

I always love how Tate finds a way…so I had to include this first photo of him getting ready at the hotel!

Not only did we enjoy being with my Mom and brother, but we enjoyed planting the flowers on my Mom’s deck that we had brought.

We also enjoyed seeing and loving on my brother’s dog, Milo!

It was warm in Indy – YAY!!

It ended up being a great day for a walk and to spend endless time on the deck!!

Sunday morning came way too fast.

We got ready and loaded up the van, but not until Tate made his bed.

He can’t not make the beds at the hotels, and that is a memory I want to keep!!

We had breakfast at my Mom’s Sunday morning.

It was chilly, but there might have been a crazy lady who was determined to stay outside before getting in the van for the long eight plus hour drive back home!

We said so long to Indy, my mom, my brother, and even Milo around 10:30 that morning.

There were tears.

Maybe even sobs from the co-pilot sitting next to her husband in that van as he drove it away.

I leave a bigger piece of my heart in each of these places every time we go – and it was VERY hard to drive away this time.

Our trip home was super duper windy, but uneventful.

So thankful the Lord answered YES to our prayers for safety and protection as we traveled!

Once home on Sunday we jumped in to get ready for another full week, just like that!

It’s warming up here, starting today, and we might even see SPRING this week!!

Can you believe it??

Is it spring where you are?

I talked to one of my besties down south yesterday and it is already summer there!

I made sure to be happy for them instead of jealous!!

I hope you all had a great week and spent some time counting your blessings and thanking the Lord for them!!

Until next time!!