I apologize for no update last week. I completely fogged and didn't do it. Sometimes Tim and I get carried away with catching up and then I just switch to bedtime mode. Luckily, there wasn't much that happened.
We have had more rain. I am quite done with it all. We are expecting yet more rain this coming week. It's really throwing a wrench in our summer plans. There is a waterpark that we haven't been to at all and we told the kids this year we were going to go. It's rained every weekend so far. Hopefully, things dry out. My little garden is perking up. I was really concerned because we have had so much rain and hail that especially when I transplanted everything looked very sad. In the last couple of weeks as the temps have risen they have perked up and instead of rotting, the flowers are actually turning into tomatoes and peppers. I already harvested cilantro. It smelled and tasted so good. I'm crossing my fingers that they continue to produce and do well. But, seriously, the rain needs to go away.
We also had another tornado warning. This time is was in the morning. We are right on the border of Oklahoma and the sirens went off of the county next to us and I think our sirens just went off too has a precaution. They never officially declared our county in a warning. It was a rude awaking first thing in the morning. There was a lot of damage in the city north of us. We've been told my long time locals that the city of Fort Smith is in a protective bowl. The city will certainly get bad weather, but the brunt of the storms tend to hit in the surrounding area. Never say never, but that has held true in the time we have been here.
We have had days where the sun is shining, but the yard takes days to drain and it is just a muddy mess. One day this last week, Liam noticed a fire truck passing the house and of course the kids went to investigate. They came in yelling that there was a ton of water in the road. I went to investigate, and I think what was happening is they were doing a routine check of the hydrants to make sure they were functioning, because who wants a dry hydrant when your house in on fire.
We also had a tick scare. The mosquitos have been out in full force. Hyrum had one on his shoulder that got huge. I thought he was just itching it, but then a few days afterwards Tim noticed that it looked like a bullseye. I guess there are lots of ticks in Arkansas, but they aren't known for lyme disease. We didn't want to take any chances, because Arkansas isn't known for scorpions either, but we still had one in our house. I took him to the pediatrician and she suspected that it was a mosquito, but just to be sure he has been on antibiotics for the last ten days.
On the rainy days the kids have found things to do. We have had a family room filled with paper airplanes, giant towers, and blanket forts galore. Lots of mess that the kids don't like cleaning up, but guess what...I don't like cleaning it up either, so they have to do it anyway.
They are also participating in the summer reading program. It took Hyrum two weeks to finish the program reading 1000 minutes. He likes to read. The younger kids are about half way through. It's been something fun for them to work towards and do on all of our rainy days.
This last week we managed to get swim lessons in for Lila and Liam. It wasn't until the last day that lessons got cut short due to thunder. Both made some amazing progress. Lila really got the hang of how to move her body in the water and looks like a little mermaid. Liam hasn't swam much, but he too was starting to get the motions and be okay with his head in the water. They do things a little different with just a week of lessons, but I might see if we can squeeze in another week in July just to see if they can make any more progress.
Probably the most exciting thing for me is that I went to a Relief Society activity and learned some basics in cake decorating. I have zero skills in that area, but I was pretty proud of my efforts. It was nice to catch up with some of the ladies that I haven't see in awhile and chat.
That's about all from us. We will be visiting my parents next week, so there won't be an update until the following week. Until then...stay dry!
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