BOOOM!  That was that last thing we heard when the lights went out last night.  Now, lights going out is not generally a newsworthy item in our corner of the world.  Winter snow, spring winds, summer storms and random acts of God regularly shut the grid down around here. Usually it’s up and running in short order. It was cloudy when we began dinner last night.  By mid-meal we were eating by candlelight and the rain pounded the metal roof above us.  The storm was intense, as prairie storms often are, and soon we had a wall of water all around. The lightning was incredible. With this much sky you see a LOT of it.

So, the rain falls and the house finally cools and little people are put to bed by the flickering light. Around this time son number two calls from a cell phone saying his ride home got stuck on the road about two miles down. (Like many rural Coloradans we live on a dirt road.Rain navigation is a challenge)   Dh got the 4 wheel drive and tow chain and went to retrieve them.  The poor guy who brought him home from work was sitting in his car in over a foot of water. The ditch filled quickly and so did the car. : /  Allen got them out and down to pavement again and came home with Zach.

That was when he noticed that we were the only ones around us who had no lights.  That is not a good sign when you own your utilities. A call to the power company confirmed it was likely a direct hit to our pole.  The one on our property.  The one they charge you to repair. : P  They were on their way.  Not to worry, they would be there in about two hrs. <g>  Did I mention our power company serves just about the entire Eastern half of the state?  Sometime around midnite we awoke to the power truck in the yard and the lights came on again. 

A couple interesting things happened.  First was waking up to Lake Starry Sky and other local attractions (see pics), such as the army of bullfrogs croaking across the road. I hope they are feasting on mosquito larva as I type! Lake Starry Sky is a temporary phenomenon.  The ground under the water is rock hard so today is the safest day to play in it.  With any luck it will slowly sink into the pasture and bring us lots of green grass. In the meantime it made for giddy kids and a well-pleased shutterbug of a mom. It was one of those ‘never forget’ mornings.

The second was realizing my emergency kit was sorely in need of restocking. Little people have been taking dead batteries out of flashlights and putting them back in the battery box. : o  Will be fixing that right quick.  So do yourselves a favor and go check your flashlights everyone! For fun you might want to join your kids in this virtual preparedness tutorial.  Looks like a lotta help around here. Ready Kids

Wishing you all a ‘never forget’ day.  : )

Nothing exciting here – just documenting my expansion for the girlfriends out there. : )   Here is today’s spread.  Am at 17+ weeks though the belly is measuring a couple weeks ahead of that again this time.  I think the white dress has the same effect on the midsection as white jeans used to have on the backside…..  Ah well.

Tonight is one of those nights you treasure. Sun sinking low in the sky, kids chasing bugs and playing in the water from the hose, not a sound for miles other than their voices. Not a sound in my head other than happy thoughts. It has been a hectic couple of weeks. I love to travel, though I love errands far less, and in general I am becoming very protective of home time. It is a precious commodity in a hurried age, little appreciated in our quest to do ‘more’.

Old friends and I have been discussing upcoming schoolyear plans lately and the recurrent question is usually "Is it enough?" Followed by "Should we be doing more?" Basking in the glow of the setting sun tonight the only answer I could come up with is there ‘more’ than this? Can you find this someplace else? Would it be better?

A thread on 4Real this week was contemplating the normalized child. In Montessori terms this would be a child who is collected, calm, focused. All good things. I have been thinking about this all day and wondering if it is even possible to impart those things to a child if we are not those things ourselves? I am not sure there is a book, method, or technique that could ever come close to imparting those qualities half as well as having a beloved parent demonstrating them gently, surely, day in and out. That is a stiff challenge however. It is much easier to instruct than to demonstrate. However, while we search for answers in methodology books or curriculum lists we often miss an unparalleled opportunity to quiet ourselves and give them more than we can imagine.

For a lot of my teaching and parenting years I was in the *more* cycle. So many opportunities abound for homeschoolers today. So many classes, support groups, clubs, teams. But inevitably it was the home team that lost when we became committed to those things. It is clear to us that for every day we are away from home it takes another day for us to recover and get back on track. It now has to be an awfully worthwhile activity to warrant upsetting that peace we have found while moving at a slower pace. I guess this is all part of my ongoing goal to do a few things well. Less really is becoming more for us these days. Not only are we enjoying the things we do immensely, but we are gaining quiet – inside and out.

Just a quick post.  Grandma is visiting so time is short this week.  However, Allen and the girls trekked to the half-way point of Pike’s Peak this past wknd.  Alannah had committed to going and then Moira wanted to join.  She insisted she could make it and she was right!  Though her feet took a beating. : /  We need to invest in some serious hiking gear, especially since they have decided to train for the 14-ers next. 

So here are a few shots from one of the most beautiful places we know. : )