Lots of Rain this Week

 We had absolutely gorgeous days mixed with lots and lots of rain.  Somehow the overall feeling was one of cold and gloom.  

I wonder if that has more to do with my mental state than the actual weather.

(I'm going through a rough patch that has lasted long enough that I've finally gotten my meds adjusted.)

This picture is from a couple of weeks ago, but I just found it in Little Princess' picture gallery. 
 We were delighted to get to celebrate our friend Z--'s high school graduation.  We've known him since he was about 5 years old, so it was practically a family celebration.

On Monday, the kids walked with Sir Walter Scott in the morning.  It rained off and on all the rest of the day, so we had a quiet day indoors.  In the evening, we went to dinner with some church friends.  They have a family of 8 children--all around the same ages as our 12.  They're down to 5 at home; we're down to 8 at home.  Their kids are all as kind and fun as can be, and our crew had a great time playing games, talking, and laughing all together.  We parents had a great time, as well.

On Tuesday, I took a couple of kids to the dentist in the morning, and we had The Munchkin and Sugar Bear over for the day.  We took a vote and decided that The Tale of Despereaux would be our first summer re-read.  Everyone settled happily in for an hour of reading in the afternoon.  Then we read some more from Rowan Farm at bedtime.

Wednesday was a lovely, lovely day.  We went to the park first thing in the morning to get our walking/running in.  Sugar Bear and The Munchkin met us there and stayed with us for the rest of the day.  Another batch of mulberries were ripe, so we spent a happy half-hour picking a couple of pounds of berries that I blended into a smoothie for our post-park snack.

The geese appreciated our tree-shaking method of harvesting.  For several minutes it was us against the geese for who could pick up berries the fastest!  Sometimes, it was just fun to watch them eat.

We dropped Baymax and Beowulf off at our neighbor's house for their weekly gardening apprenticeship, and I think it was this week that Ladybug had a turn to mow that neighbor's yard for pay.

We have the best neighbor!

The younger kids spent the afternoon in our mulberry tree.  It's behind the park tree in ripening because we have a lot more shade around our tree.  That didn't discourage the kids from climbing into it and finding what they could to make a mulberry tea party.

My school curriculum orders have started to arrive, so I spent some happy hours sorting through boxes of books.

We started Thursday morning with a dance rehearsal.  The original director of our group moved west and started another group by the same name.  Because she is a dancer by profession, her group is a competitive performance group that travels internationally to perform.  This year is a domestic tour, and they stopped in our area for a homecoming show.  They reached out to us and another dance studio that had its start with the original American Rhythm group to have us dance with them.  

We chose our favorite dance and our best dancers, and got to rehearsing!

The kids came from 4 families, and 3 of the moms have been or are American Rhythm dance teachers.  All three of us sat in a row in front of our kids and counted, critiqued, and cheered our kids into their best shape.

I checked with my crew (was it too much?), but they said it was fun and that all of the work they did felt worthwhile.

One of the families came home with us, and we ended up spending the day together--moms talking in the dining room, kids playing games in the living room (it was another rainy day).

That evening, everyone headed to church activities--games for the boys, and camp preparation for the girls.  I had a Primary presidency meeting.

It was my turn to do the neighborhood milk run first thing on Friday morning, and Beowulf came with me.  We drove the 45 miles to the dairy farm in near silence because Beowulf loves, loves, loves cars.  He spent the whole time just studying every car we passed.  I tried for conversation a few times, but even though he answered my questions, he was clearly happiest to be looking out the windows, absorbing information.  I decided to sit back and enjoy the quiet companionship.

Once we delivered the milk, I spent the rest of the day running errands and cooking in preparation for our busy Saturday ahead.

And Saturday was a rush from start to finish.  

I packed a picnic lunch to take to our Primary family field trip to Liberty Jail and a local park.  We had a pretty good turn out of about 25 Primary children plus siblings and parents.

The tour was lovely, and we were complimented many times on the children's good behavior.

Then we traveled as families to the park, where it was so crowded!  Parents sat on the grass with picnic lunches while children ran and played on the playground or in the water.

Sir Walter Scott caught this picture that I'm pretty sure includes one or two of our children engulfed in the water.

Sir Walter Scott and I had a church leadership meeting in the afternoon, so we left the teens at home to make sure the kids all got ready for the performance in the evening. 

We got home with 20 minutes to get out the door, and of course, there were half a dozen minor crises to take care of before we could get on the road.

The show was a delight from start to finish!

Our kids danced their hearts out, and they were every bit as good and every bit as fun to watch as the western American Rhythm group.

My heart was filled when there was a call to the two invited dance groups to join the western American Rhythm dancers for a group photo.  It must have been a tender moment for the director to realize what a legacy she's created.

And that was our first week of Summer 2025.