Once again I attempted Bath pictures and they got eaten up. It's a bad idea to try to do much online in the evenings here.  Our connection speed drops quite a bit and becomes downright erratic when others in the area get online.  Maybe tomorrow there will be time.  I feel like I say that a lot and then there isn't, but that's ok too.  

It's funny because when the children are little there is so very much time spent supervising, guiding, helping.  Days go by without many free moments at all. Now many of mine are long past needing that sort of input by me, but still there are texts, emails, and catching up around the kitchen island when we all return from work and activities.  And those are the very best parts of the day. We have become a community and I love that.  Though in a community this size you can expect that at any given time some people are sailing along and some need encouragement and someone might be struggling.  That's pretty much how it usually is and it keeps you on your toes. 

We had a freak wind storm this morning which got our day off to a running start. Just after Allen and Alannah headed to work it kicked up.  A loud bang caught Aidan's attention and he noticed the trampoline had flipped over and up onto the side of the house.  Fortunately it missed all the windows but it was quite impossible to move it with the wind at 26mph.  The boys held it in place until we had a pocket of calm when we could get it to the fence and tie it down. 

In the distance we could see the dirt clouds building.  Our farm was a higher piece of fen land and never was underwater as so much of the surrounding area once was.  However, it was sort of like the beach, you could say, and some of the fields are still very sandy.  They are ideal for growing the carrots and beets they plant here.  But at times like this, after the last harvest and before the next, the wind wrecks havoc. 

It was all much better by soccer time.  And the wind did not trigger my car alarm multiple times like it did during the game the night before.  ThankyouGod. 

What else?  The littles have been making heaps of progress academically though in surprisingly short spurts during the day.  In between there is a LOT of dollhouse play for the girls and throwing of footballs in imaginary games for Brendan.  Still, they are learning so much.  I have had them together for some things.  In photography-speak they call it batch processing. <g> They are both reading like mad.  B is reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to me.  Tess is moving into the short chapter books he just moved out of.  Both are learning cursive.  Both are working through  If You Lived in Colonial Times (and the other books in the series) Both are soaring through the Strayer Upton math. So fwiw, these are all hits. 

The flowers came home with a man who is concerned about some tests of mine that came back with a little hitch requiring more tests. Hopefully nothing.  Probably nothing. But sort of hanging overhead until they are "for sure" nothing, if you know what I mean. 

Speaking of news, its been a big week hasn't it?  Much sadness and scary stuff playing out on screens.  We tuned in the other night when Boston was unfolding.  We sent the little ones to bed but one of the boys was all curled up next to his dad so I left him and his older brother to watch with him.

 It soon becomes apparent that although the news is ON 24 hours a day, there isn't really 24 hours of breaking news.  There is about 7 minutes of news on a continuous loop.  So we watched and we turned it off.  Between us and our facebook feeds we have the gist of what has happened since.  It's enough.  We know to pray and we are.  But we can easily forget that kids are not tiny adults.  There is nothing good to be gained by letting that continuous loop of disturbing news and sensational images become the background music of their lives.   So in their world there are dusty clouds and dolls to dress and soccer nets.  Just as it should be. 

Wishing you the same.