Even amidst the hard week during and the weeks surrounding my father-in-law’s passing, life marched on.

I tried to maintain as much normal as I could here at home, even with all that was going on.

Of course we still needed to eat.

Our home and younger children still needed care, and laundry had to be done.

I also was very diligent in my morning routines when the day allowed.

My Bible time and my long morning walk outside are a lifeline to me – especially when things are hard.

The weather in May was all over the place, and I remember celebrating each layer of winter clothes that I finally was able to put away as I no longer needed them for my walk!

My time outside early each morning is MY FAVORITE of all favorites!!

I literally gasp at the sky almost everyday, just in awe of what the Lord allows for us.

If you do not notice the sky, can I firmly but kindly ask “why not??!!”

Please take it in and praise the Lord for it too!

The Friday  night before Mother’s Day, Blake and I were able to enjoy a date night!

We have our favorite spots for date night, but this time of year our favorite spots are usually outside.

We love to sit on this patio and eat the dinner that we brought there – it is such a beautiful and quiet spot!

We usually have some kind of errands to run because date night takes place in what we country people call “big town.”

Blake works in that town everyday, but I am hardly ever there!

My favorite errands are when one of the older children ask us to grab something – especially when it is for one of the grands!

We picked up these sandals for Kay who needed them for Saigey – aren’t they so cute??

I had a goal of adding some live plants to our home, and so we went and picked them out that evening.

I honestly just grabbed what I thought was pretty!

I had no idea what I was doing!!

They look SO pretty tucked all over our home!

And I enjoy taking care of them very much.

It was such a beautiful evening that night.

Sunsets even in town never disappoint!

The day after my father-in-law passed away, Eliza had her end-of-the-year concert recital for violin.

We decided to still participate, although decisions during these days always carry so much weight.

Eliza graduated from Book 1 and Book 2 this year, and after only one year playing the violin, she joined five other students in playing a Book 4 piece for the recital.

It was BEAUTIFUL!

Eliza has enjoyed every minute of the last year practicing and playing the violin, and we can’t see that ending anytime soon!!

There are endless things to enjoy here in this season!!

Like a beautiful bouquet of Mother’s Day flowers.

Or heading out for my morning walk and seeing Chad’s semi parked out front – I am going to miss that and miss him!! (Just a month and a half until the wedding!)

Or watching Tate in his element – cooking and reading at the same time!

And being up at the library as Tate works and Eliza uses the maker’s space on a Friday afternoon.

It’s the BIG things in life like these things that make the days full of joy!

Our kitchen got its usual workout in May.

It is amazing what you can do in our sweet little kitchen!!

I keep dreaming of sharing my love of cooking with the world somehow – besides this little ole blog – time will tell!!

I purchased some buckwheat groats from Azure Standard to make a recipe I was wanting to try.

Buckwheat is not wheat – so it is gluten-free!

These crepes were SO easy and turned out SO good.

We make them very often now!!

My engagement ring was sooooo thin on the bottom of it, I cannot believe it did not split in half!

Blake took it to the jeweler to get it reinforced.

That is not cheap, folks!!

I got it back after about a week, I think, which wasn’t bad!

They had cleaned it up as well, and it looked so nice!

I wore it for less than one day and one of the prongs around the diamond completely bent back and broke.

I have worn that ring for 38 years and have never had a prong break before!

Blake took it back to the jeweler and they put a whole new head on it for free.

It was gone a long time the second time!

I was very glad to finally get it back.

We opened our pool for the season in May and it looked like this –

Twelve literal gallons of chemicals and two days later it looked like this!

Yes, I cannot believe we swim in all those chemicals – but we do – and we enjoy our pool very much!

There was a lot of back and forth to my mother-in-laws…and I was constantly trying to bring her her favorite things in a ploy to get her to actually eat something.

Somehow I felt like I did my job when I would see an empty plate that had a homemade muffin on it!

The sky as we drove back and forth most times would bring tears for me.

I miss my father-in-law’s bright blue eyes and big smile that he always had on his face.

I never really thought much about how things would go with my in-laws here with us in Wisconsin, but we certainly have to trust God with this story.

Our days continued and continue…lots of the same.

Mornings usually at home.

Church at home sometimes too.

Lots of music lessons and practice.

And appointments, with lunch or dinner out afterward since we were in town.

Also a scrapbook project, which we have put away until the weather gets cold again!

I found this bag of dresses I had bought for Eliza in our front closet.

I bought them in March!

They were all too big, and I completely forgot about them.

Thankfully I was able to return all of them but one for some store credit.

My brain is TOO full these days, you all!

Our toaster oven wore itself out – we use it everyday!

Addie Mae told me about her wonder oven that she loves, and uses everyday too.

So I asked Blake if it was OK to replace the toaster oven with the wonder oven like Addie has and he agreed.

I LOVE THIS THING.

It heats up like nobody’s business, and also has an air fry setting!

We use it every single day too.

I used to end of all my monthly posts with photos of the sky.

You all know how much I love the sky.

It makes me instantly praise the Lord!!

So here is my signature to end this very long post!!

We got our gardens going in May.

I cannot wait to show you what all Tate has done with those!!

They are beautiful and SO MUCH FUN!!

Stay tuned for all of that!!

Until next time….