Phoebe got to attend a glow party at her school for students with good attendance.
Below, Silas last basketball game of the first YMCA season team picture. Eric and Sarah coached this team.
Silas is running again this Spring with his school group, DUDES. They meet every Tuesday and Thursday right after school to run together. They are preparing to run a 5K race at the end of their season together in May. Throughout their season they are doing service projects together too. Their first service project was to clean up the stands after attending a WSU men's basketball game together.
Sarah turned 17 at the beginning of March. She got her third hole in her ears pierced, and we had good dinner at Applebee's on the evening of her birthday.
Sila's YMCA team played in the end of season tournament. They had a good first season and were competitive among the teams that they played in the intermediate 11u kids.
I went to Topeka with Dad and Lindsee for another one of Dad's doctor appointments. After the appointment we went to a little coffee shop run by our friend, Barb. Then we went to a great thrift store called "God's Storehouse" and some antique shops before heading home.
The Campus boys played in the State basketball tournament on Thursday, March 7th. They had an exciting season and were a lot of fun for our family to watch.
We took a Spring Break trip to St. Louis, Missouri and then on to Cincinatti, Ohio and Kentucky to visit some sites there. We had a good time at the City Museum and Zoo while in St. Louis.
Then we traveled on to the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter. Both of these places were excellent and places we would love for our friends and family members to visit as well someday.
At the end of our Spring Break week we spent time with family playing games, watching movies, shopping at new places, and laughing.
If you haven't visited "GENERATIONS" ~ Antiques and Artisans, in Wichita.... You should! Great vendors. Great displays. Great variety. Great owners. Go shop there soon!
We decorated Mom's grave with some Spring flowers.
Justin read a funny book to Will and Silas.
I caught the cat laying in this little box, near this funny sign. The sign reads, "I've done the math, we can't afford the dog." Our dogs are not her favorites. She really looked like a GRUMPY CAT here.
Eric attended the WSU men's basketball game with Silas and the Dudes running group. After the game they all helped clean up Koch Arena.
Phoebe and her choir, the Silverbacks, sang at the Newman University Music Festival. Phoebe's solo was called "How Can I Keep From Singing". The choir and Phoebe received one ratings on their performances.
Lindsee, Dad, and I headed to Arkansas to be with Uncle Ernie and Aunt Judy on Friday, March 22nd. Judy's cancer had spread, and she had decided to come home from the hospital on hospice care. (Ernie is my Mom's older brother, and only sibling.) She wanted to be at home with her dog, Bingo, and to be able to look out her windows from her living room at the lake. She wanted to be able to have friends and family come to see her in her home, a home that she loved and loved inviting people into. Ernie and Judy have always been a huge part of our family's lives, as we were growing up, and now. When my Mom got sick, and came home on hospice, Ernie and Judy came to help us and to be with us. We've walked this road all together before. Lindsee, Dad, and I were prepared to walk this road again now with Ernie and Judy, just like they did with us in October 2022. While we were there we helped with all sorts of things, but the hardest was telling Aunt Judy good-bye for a final time. Aunt Judy took her final breath and died with us by her side and holding her hands at 11:29 am on Tuesday, March 26th. This was hard, and I had to keep reminding myself, "I can do hard things". Everything was so familiar and awful. Losing the people that are the closest to me is like getting punched in the stomach. I am still at a loss and so sad that I have lost my Mom and my beloved Aunt Judy in such a short span of time, two of the people that have meant the most to me for my entire life are gone. It is gut-wrenching all over again.
We came home from Arkansas in time to go to church and be with family for Easter weekend.
My cousin, Josh, hosted the Hastings family again at his barn venue (Emma Creek Barn in Hesston, Kansas) for our annual Easter gathering. We stuffed eggs for an Easter egg hunt, ate some great food, and played our annual friendly Easter wiffleball game.
Below, the crew that hid all the Easter eggs this year... Paul, Josh, Jan, Dale, Lindsee, Stacee, Wyonna, and Natasha.
Above, the Easter egg hunters this year... Phoebe, Sarah, Will, Owen, Silas, and Justin.
Dad had some special eggs with notes inside that the kids exchanged with him for big candy bars and cash.
Then we let our team captains (Paul and Dale) pick the teams and we started our wiffleball game.
Below, left to right, all our wiffleballers this year... Owen, Josh, Sarah, Dale, Natasha, Chris, Silas, Charles, Jordan, Paul, Eric, Stacee, Will, Justin, Tricia, Lindsee, Jackson, Phoebe, Johannah, and Pepper (the dog).
Hastings Brothers ~ Dale, Charles, and Paul
After Easter, we helped Uncle Ernie prepare, and held Aunt Judy's visitation on Friday, April 5th. Then the next day, Saturday, April 6th was her Celebration Of Life service. My Aunt Judy was one-of-a-kind. Growing up we got to spend so much time together...holidays, family gatherings, time spent on trips together, a week every summer at their house full of adventures every single day, she came to watch our sporting events, plays, and numerous other activities. And, she knew how to make everything fun. She was enthusiastic about life and lived her life to the absolute fullest. She traveled the world. She loved to read and take pictures. She invited me to a Torquay Pottery convention 18 years ago and I became a collector like her. She loved to talk about the pottery and the friendships made through collecting Torquay Pottery. She was a good listener and she made me feel important and so very loved. When I got married, and Eric and I had children, her love overflowed onto them as well. She will be greatly missed by so many family members and friends.
Link to my Aunt Judy's obituary: JUDY BRINK GRANT
Click on Judy's name above.
A solar eclipse happened on Monday, April 8th. Sarah and Phoebe were able to watch it from their schools during the day with friends. Silas, however, did not get to watch it. His class made funny eclipse glasses out of pipe cleaners for fun.
