This past week has to be one of the longest I have had in a LONG time! Last Friday (9th) we stated our venture out t
o Nebraska. Friday night we went to Walnut, so that we could get a bright and early start to Lincoln. Nick and Barb had recently purchased an RV, so we were taking it out on the Maiden Voyage! I think the kids liked it! They could have a table to color on or in Ian's case, play computer games on Eric's laptop. While at Bill and Jenny's in Lincoln, we got to go to another farm and let the kids see baby goats, kittens and more chickens. Ian and Maren really liked seeing all of the animals. It was nice get the kids outside to play.On Sunday morning we ventured on to Grand Island Nebraska for Audra's first communion. The group was small but mighty. . . .Gary and Sharon threw a nice little party. It was a long ride home. . .I think that being pregnant didn't help my new found motion sickness. After getting a transfer to either driver or front passenger things were OK. I am just hoping it is something that passes after the baby is born. . .
While we were in Lincoln, I received the news that one of my friends and co-workers had been killed in a motorcycle accident. Shortly after getting the news I started getting texts from several of my students that had heard about it and wanted to know if it was true. Sadly enough it was. Mark was only 23 yrs old. The funeral was on Wednesday in Norwalk. The funeral service was very well done. It was a more modern service that lasted 2 hours. We had 80 students that wanted to go, so the school arranged for transportation. . .as you can imagine, there was standing room only once the service began. Our students did very well. I didn't hear a peep.
Monday and Tuesday (as was the rest of the week) was particularly hard to deal with. We had some very upset students. I felt lucky to be busy with Art Fair. I had Setup and judging on Monday and actual Art Fair on Tuesday. There were 4 students that went Monday, that I felt was a good thing that they were with me. Our students and staff are devastated by the passing of our friend. He will be missed.
On a more positive note, Art Fair went well. We had only maybe 6 pieces that were taken, not place or get at least an honorable mention. . .32 Awards in all. Not Bad for the numbers I have :)
Wednesday and Thursday were a daze. Students were still somber about Peterson and I took the opportunity to kind of lay back and get the art room in order. My goal is to keep it picked up. . .Who knows when this baby will come. Friday afternoon, Eric took off for "Cousins Weekend". The kids and I went down and had dinner with Katie, Mat, Kylie and Aubrie. My kids LOVE playing with them! Saturday was VEISHEA in Ames. I talked Katie into taking the girls and riding up with me. This was Maren's First VEISHEA and Ian's 3rd I think. . . maybe Maren's 2nd? I don't know. ANYWAY. The kids were good. Of course having Kylie and Aubrie there to keep them entertained was a help. We watched the parade and found cherry pies. We only stayed until about 2, Katie had to get back to DM for a get together. . .We stopped to see Mom, Erika and Sam on our way back through. Erika seems to be doing fine. She was tired when we were there. But I think being stuck in a bed all day would do that. . . my uncle Bruce and aunt Deb were there visiting, it was nice to see them. . .We kept the visit fairly short, my kids don't know how to behave at Erika's house and it is very stressful for me! We hit BK on the way home for supper and then played outside when we got home. All of my Cannas are planted. . .the kids were helpful in doing them. . . we had a FULL day.
Sunday morning Eric got home. The kids slept until 9 a.m! It was nice. I needed the sleep too! I figured that for sure they would be all rested and ready for a good day. . . Nope. I got the crabby kids on Sunday. We headed into DM for a little shopping before we visited babies! Just before heading to Ankeny to see Mr. Grant Goetz, Greg texted and said we needed to reschedule. . .so instead we headed to Altoona to meet the newest Hoffmann! Kevin and Megan had Landon Ray on Friday and had gotten hope Sunday morning. It was nice to see them. Overall the kids were good. Landon was a good little baby. . .it won't be long and we'll have another one. . .ready or not! We will see how this week's appointment goes. Until last time I was measuring on for weeks, as of last visit I was measuring ahead. I feel huge already I can't imagine 8 more weeks!
