Spring Happenings - Kaitee Turns 20, Mother's Day, Cemeteries and Concerts

I'm always amazed by how quickly Winter turns into Spring and we find ourselves at the end of the school year. This year was no different! We went from Spring Break straight to end of school year things!

With the end of the school year comes weeks worth of year end concerts and events. Will had 3 band concerts within a few weeks of each other. 

Jazz Band Concert

Symphonic Band Concert

Symphonic Orchestra Concert

Whitey's was in order after the last concert - definitely a great way to celebrate the end of the musical year.

Mid May, we enjoyed a beautiful Supermoon Eclipse.

Mother's Day

The kids purchased the TV (dvd) series "King of Queens" for me. I look forward to watching this with them over the next few months.

Celebrating Kaitee's 20th!

Matt has been trying to get the twins out for driving as often as possible. On this particular day he and Maddie headed north to Savannah.

A few weeks later, he headed out with Will...

On Memorial Day, we headed out to a few of the local cemeteries to pay our respects.

Our first stop was in Rock Island to leave some flowers and pay our respects to Aunt Barb. We miss her terribly.

Viola Cemetery - my maternal grandfather, Warren Huff, was killed in combat during WWII in Ormont, Germany, 1945. He was buried in Belgium but later exhumed and brought home to Viola. He is buried beside his mother, Elmira Warder and across the road from his sister, Florence Howie.

Viola places flags out for Memorial Day weekend. There are name plates attached to honor those killed in service. We were fortunate and found my grandfather's flag right away, on the main drive in to the cemetery.

We have pictures of Warren, with Mae (my grandmother) and with 2 of their kids (my aunt Fran was born after he died, in July 1945). Unfortunately, this is the only memory we (including my mom) have of him. She was 11 months old when he was killed.

Reynolds Cemetery - Another line of flags. Always a beautiful sight, especially during a hard time of remembrance.

My grandmother remarried, to a man named Ray Swartout. He is the grandad that we knew all of our lives. He was also Dad for my mom. Reynolds Cemetery is where Ray and Mae (my grandmother) are buried (as well as Ray's extended family). 

Grandad Ray was a great story teller - he had some great stories to share from his youth. It would be hard to follow the stories at times because he would start laughing and couldn't get the sentences out! He also served during WWII. We were fortunate to have some of our cousins sit with him and interview him about his military service (all on video).

We ended our day in Edgington, admiring the quaint church and cemetery.

As Spring moves in to Summer, our schedules relax a bit but life can be just as crazy! Longer work hours for the kids, Disney for Will (with the school music dept), Church Camp for the twins and vacation for the family. Always wonderful times together!