Never a dull moment!!

OK, I will START with today, and then go backwards!

{I did it again... I waited a week, and I have a LOT of updating to do... darn it!}

We had a storm today. And one of our trees... big ole thing that didn't look like there was a thing wrong with it, came down. It looks like lightning. I can't be sure...

We left to go to Brady's (Ellison) birthday party. The storm rain and winds were SO bad, (started literally when I got about 5 blocks away) that I got about a mile down the road and came back! I was FREAKED! I thought maybe I was in a tornado or something! BAD! So we get back to the house, there are people lining the road who have pulled over by our house (one of which was stuck in our ditch...) I look into the side yard when we pull in, and there is this HUGE-O tree down! I look too, and the branch of the tree is on/around/?? the pool we JUST set up! Seriously!

We'll, no time to check it out now. We head in and head straight to the basement... about 5 minutes later, it was pretty much passed. We went out to see if the pool (or anything else!) is ruined. God was gracious. The bulk of the tree fell north. Away from the house. The one large branch is hugging the pool, but no punctures. Thank you!

Here are the pictures:
I am assuming that black charred part means that it was indeed lightning? Scary! I think I am glad I was a mile away when this hit!!


What is hard to see, is that the tree extends from the house, to the back of the lot... A smalled "branch" fell towards where I am taking the top picture, and the rest (larger portion-see kids by it!) went out the other way... The yard was {more of} a mess after the storm! We have really been enjoying the back yard with the pool up... and the LAST storm screwed up our trampoline (which is still in progress of being reset! LOL!)


Can you believe the pool was spared??
The kids were out afterwards with me-I come out and they had found the star from the front of the house... around back! WOW!

SOOO.... after things calmed down-we headed to the Ellison's! Literally, like 20 minutes later, the sun started peaking through again! But we had no electricity, and the tow truck was out front trying to get the car out of the ditch...

The party was still very fun for the kids! Gavin won his very first trophy! :) He was 1st in the derby! He was SO excited to get a trophy!!

The Ellison's are that family that make the rest of us look bad-you know the ones {wink}-who throw those parties everyone talks about... they construct (from scratch) games, TROPHIES, make tracks or "speedways" in their yard... you know the ones! :) Ya gotta give it to them!

After the majority of the kids left, we wore out our welcome and Gabriel got a chance to drive the cart, and Brady took the little girls out too... they all had a BLAST! Then they did the zip line (yes {sigh} they have a zip line in their back yard... and no, they do not live in the backwoods... just DeWitt proper! LOL)

...and yes, I think it is QUITE funny the kids are driving a Miller Genuine Draft! :)

Here are the highlights!

And the rest of the week??

Happy Birthday Big (Jerry)!


Gavin's 1st grade class planned a pool party at Ronni's house... well, only two families showed up... I say families, because siblings of the 1st graders were invited too... so it was us, the High's (where we were) and the Brady's. They had fun! It was probably WAY more relaxed with out 6 more families worth of kids there anyway! :)

{And a few random thought and glimpses of my week...}

...I never want to forget that Gabriel, at 5, went to see his brother play baseball as Spiderman...
or that he set up a "band" for himself (each member assigned a different instrument-and "the mice" are back-up singers I think-see them all tiny on the left? :) )...


...or the things my kids all build, and were SO proud of! The blessing of positive reinforcement... it isn't hard to commend them on their creations! I AM very proud!

It's these little moments that I cherish. I don't want to miss a single one. I am blessed indeed!

Have a happy week! I know I will try! :)