Soren and I hit the road after his Tuesday photo shoot. Our first stop was the Mud Room, so he could make his mama her first-ever Mother's Day gift. It was not NEARLY as momentous for him - he slept through it. Yes, those are hand and thumbprints!
Then, we celebrated Aunt L's birthday at Lone Star.
Later, we headed to the Methodist church to watch the
Bunraku Bay group perform. Soren was the most interested in the first section, Kotobuki Shiki Sanbaso, which is where the puppets scatter good fortune on the audience and purify the theatre. There were lots of bells and the puppeteers came out into the audience. They avoided Soren for the most part. I assume it's because they have had unhappy prior experiences with young people crying. However, during the Lion Dance, the troupe leader shared that it was good luck for the lion to bite children on the head and proceeded to snap the puppet at Soren. He took it like a champ, and this mama was very relieved! Our friend, and puppeteer, Eric posed the lion with Soren so we could get a photo.
We spent the night at Hotel Shafer. Our friends Sara and Eric (a different one) let us take over their house with baby paraphernalia and braved possible teething fits even though the both had to work the next day(s).
On Wednesday we visted the Merritts in the morning, ate lunch with the Maurers, and spent the afternoon with Jane.
We ate dinner with Sara and her friend at Shakespeare's. On Thursday, Soren and I ate breakfast with Sara before we headed south. In Holts Summit, we visited with Mr. Aiden and his mama and sister.
We stopped by Rural Missouri to say hi to his daddy before meeting Jena for lunch.
Whew! Time to get ready for the FFA banquet!
We played with Daddy when we could.
Aunt L came to visit; she joined us for Farm Aid Day at the Riverside Market because (sadly)we'll be missing the real Farm Aid this year. (It's SO close! Sigh.)
We had Sunday Funday at the Kerr house. Hannah was a very gracious host, and Soren also got a little Olive time. 
We extended our weekend to Tuesday and made another quick trip to Columbia to see family and run errands.
I was honored to receive the 4-H State Council Alumni Award from this year's council at Congress. It really means a lot to be recognized by an organization I respect so much! (This photo was taken by the lovely Cassie Reid.) After the evening assembly, we visited with a few friends.
Then we went bowling with Brian.
The next day we went to visit Carolina and have a pool party with Mariana and Gabriel.
Whew! Time to get ready for the FFA banquet!
Then we met Diana for a long lunch at Heidelberg. It will be a long time before we see her again because she is taking a job out of the country, so we tried to make the most of the time we had. We certainly wish her and Jason luck on their latest adventure! It sounds very exciting!
After lunch, we headed to Jane's house. I like to think of her as my "Columbia grandma." When we visit, we talk about how our families are doing, but she also tells me about what it was like to be an Army wife during wartime and being stationed abroad, and she shares life lessons that she has learned along the way. We always drink tea or lemonade, often with freshly picked mint garnishing the glass, and have a few icebox cookies.
Jane was thrilled to see Soren. He talked to her a little bit and showed her how he was coming along with his tummy time.
