rain and a horse

Just enjoying a little afternoon rainstorm.  It's been lovely to see the clouds rolling in and feel the breeze cooling everything off.

Then we hear the loud thunks of hail on the greenhouse and watch our garden turn to shreds.

We got another small hailstorm that is making for some slow progress in the garden.  The plants aren't totally destroyed but just enough that we need to wait for new leaves to grow and continue on their merry way.

All three kids love being outside.  Caleb turns his head to the breeze and shows his contentment, often even smiling.  This works well for placing him in the shade while we pull weeds or stack firewood.  Mason is a hard worker, never wanting to stop for a break.  Emma will take a break every chance she gets to "check on Caleb."  That's an important job too.  Keeping everyone happy.

It's been awesome to watch them discovering new things every time we're outside. Ants, grasshoppers, yarrow, purple flowers, and rocks are becoming part of daily conversations.

On one of our recent evening walks Emma had a new experience:

One of our neighbor's horses came running towards us.  As soon as Emma notices she exclaims, {eyes wide in astonishment, stopping in her tracks}  "Horses can run!  I didn't know that could do that!!"

Oh to experience summer through the eyes of a child!

mudpies, rivers, and castles, oh my!

Their new thing to do after it rains (and we've had some downpours) is to go out and play in the mud. 

 

They mostly move it around with their buckets and shovels and spoons.  Mason likes to make new rivers and castles.  Emma follows him around, making her own versions. They fill anything and everything up with mud and water until it finally dries up.

I made it through my first day of school on Thursday.  I have an awesome class.  We're in full force this week which means we're slowing finding our new school routine.  Meal planning, house cleaning, quiet times, laundry and the sorts all need to be re-figured out...plugged into a new schedule.

 

I'm gearing up for a 5k in a couple weeks.  Nothing like going from zero to three miles all at once. I was at a conference in Denver this weekend with a friend and I dragged her to the fitness center at our hotel at 6am to make sure I could do this thing.  I really surprised myself when I got to that third mile.  Needless to say, I'm a little sore today, but looking forward to that run with my sister and cousins.  I'm thinking I better get a few more runs in before the big event (it's big for me at least...I am not a runner!)

 

Have a great week!

 

downpour!

It's been raining like crazy at our house over the last week. Almost every afternoon we've gotten a thunder storm. Or two. Today we had three. And Mason enjoyed every bit of them.

I think he found a new favorite way to take a bath!