Last Saturday was Chalk the Walk.

It’s an amazing little festival that happens in my little town on the first weekend of every May.

This is time-lapse video of the event along with the progression of the community piece slipped in the middle.  Lulu was the first one to color in a square on the Iowa map so it’s easy to spot us!  Well, it’s much easier on the longer version of the time-lapse, but that video doesn’t have all the great still shots of people’s individual works and the are too amazing not to share.

It is one of our favorite things about living here.

Tonight at supper we discussed our summer plans and it already sounds like we have a busy schedule.  I’m sure the summer fly by as quickly as these last few weeks of school will.

I knew the day was coming.

First she wanted the training wheels off, then she stopped asking for everything pink, she’s also asking to have her canopy removed, but I’m ignoring that request for a while.

I noticed the past couple of months that the cafe was becoming a repository for things that had no other home.  Things like little buckets of pencils and ceramics from art camp would show up and she would say “Oh, I’ll keep this in my cafe.”

While I’m excited to gain some space in the dining room, it’s a bit sad to see it go.

Lulu first set up shop when we were living in Minnesota, but with the move to Iowa, she gained enough space that it became her cafe.  She would draw up menus in the morning and serve meals all day long, most with a side of bacon.  When I learned how to knit, she offered up a spot at her table to work while she served up all sorts of treats topped with cream and sprinkles.  Everything came with strawberry tea (also served with cream and sprinkles).  If you didn’t have any money, she would gladly pull some from her till and you could keep the change.  (of course I always left it as a tip)  One day, she mixed a little cake and baked it in her microwave and when it was all done, she took pictures with her toy camera just as any good blogger should.

Every time I said to the spouse “and someday that won’t be there” waving my hand in the direction of the cafe, trying to find a bit more space in the cottage, he wouldn’t say a word.  He just did that look with the chin down and eyebrows up.  ”I know,” I would say, “I take it all back because I’ll be so sad to see it go.”

and I was…