Storm Clouds

My battery was dying and these are the only shots I got of our recent storm.

We were just sitting down to dinner with our friends The Begley's, who moved here last fall from Prairie Crossing (where we lived last in Illinois), when the tornado alarm started to go off. It was really, really loud. The sky did not look stormy and we continued eating. We started to see some storm clouds and then I thought of the tornado that touched down nearby in Hugo last week. So we went inside and turned on the news - it looked like the storm would pass us, but we stayed inside. It did hail a few times and poured rain quite a bit - but it all passed. I love to watch storms and see the two seasons fighting it out.

My sister is in Mexico (living with her hubby and four kids) and they are watching and living thru REAL storms. The kind from the ocean. We hope they all stay safe in the beginning season of the hurricanes. Last year they evacuated once.

We are glad to finally have some warmer days here and things are growing like mad. We harvested some micro greens that I planted a few weeks ago. This is baby lettuce before the head starts. I had it at a local restaurant and they were just as tasty! I think I have a new salad! Ours was a variety of 5 lettuces that I planted and there is still enough to fully develop and I think that they will regrow as well! Yummy!

Cody just finished he finals for his freshman year of high school. Slade and I are very proud of his A/B report cards this final semester and his motivation for wanting to do well in his classes. He has also really enjoyed being on the soccer team and the track team this year. He actually lettered in Track. He was on the Varsity Pole Vaulting and lettered from that.

This next week is the last week of school for the kids. Cody's school spends their last week doing community service projects. His group is going to work in a local old folk's home, it is a really neat program and for his Junior and Senior years it goes international. Graham & Santiago depart on Monday for their 5-day bike trip with the Junior High for their last week of school. They are both very excited. Sebastian's class leaves on Monday for a three-day trip to the Land School (the school's farm school) and I get to attend as a chaperone. We had our all-school picnic this past Friday night and it was lovely to hang out with many of the parents and staff of this wonderful community we have found here. Zane's last day of school will be this Tuesday and Erika will be hanging with him while I'm at the Land School. We have decided to have him stay in Children's House for one more year. He and Seby as both late spring bloomers. I held Seby back one year also for starting 1st grade. And it has been so worth it. It also gives us one more year with Zane's teacher - a favorite of ours!