May 2023

The memorable month of May captured in snapshots. 

Emily's spring band concert! She played percussion and memorized the music to the songs.

And Emily playing marimba at state competition. Quit taking her picture, she doesn't appreciate it.

Oh yeah, and Rose graduated! They prayed over the graduating seniors in church here. Rose and two other seniors who went to Garfield did the senior walk and participated in a rap battle or whatever is going on here:

After the graduation ceremony at the Five Seasons Center/U.S. Cellular Center/Alliant Energy Powerhouse/Corporate Name Auditorium:

A celebratory meal outdoors! Then Rose's graduation party. Most of the 200 people she invited showed up, so it was a good thing we had it at the church.

It's always a great day to be a warrior!

And if that isn't enough, here's Emily hugging a kitty... a kitty who definitely wants to be hugged.

April 2023

 Here are some things that happened in April:

Taking shelter in the basement during a severe storm. It spawned several tornadoes, including one that went through Mt Vernon.

Hail from the backyard.

Mammatus clouds after the storm. Also called booby clouds. Look it up.

Jesus clouds over Mt Trashmore.

We celebrated Easter at the Conrad's. The girls discovered a tangled mess of old Barbies from the basement. 

Easter pictures!

The Easter bunny has had too much candy...

We got the dining room floor refinished:

We helped Habitat for Humanity build a new house across the street from Taylor Elementary. That was hard work, but very rewarding!

Rose and Fern going to prom:

Emily is 15!

 Happy birthday, Emily!

It's 2023

Happy New Year! On New Year's Day we went on a group hike at Palisades. It wasn't even that cold and we were able to walk almost the entire length of the river trail, only turning back when the last stretch of it was too muddy. Apparently a lot of people go on this New Year's Day hike every year, so maybe we'll try it again next year, too.

And this... this is the most Iowa car we've ever seen. You can't get more Iowa than that, unless you find a PT Cruiser with cow spots.

On January 18th Rose turned 18! She's kind of a real person now and it's weird. And we almost had a crisis because we discovered at the last minute that we didn't have any birthday candles, but I found a bunch of sparklers instead:

Rose's birthday dinner at Chili's:

Then Rose, Fern, Emily, and Cora went to Super Skate:

Emily's cool, yo:

Meanwhile it kept snowing and snowing:

And Lily spends most of her life napping, yet doesn't believe in allowing others to nap:

Alice is such a weird cat:

Fix your ear!

If you see these people... just go through a different line:

My Dad wanted to remodel their bathroom, so I helped with the demo, removing the cabinets, countertop, and sink. Then we tore up the old floor and put down tiles. There's still a lot of work left to do, but it has to be done in stages since they only have one bathroom:

And lastly here's Rose scraping off the windshield in the bitter cold before school. Man, that sucks. Glad I don't have to drive to work anymore...