September 15, 2014

LOTS of Rain After a Dry Summer

September 15, 2014

We have been getting heavy rains here now for several days.  Today there were several spells of heavy rain with the heaviest coming in the late afternoon and early evening.  The ground is now pretty well saturated and the water has no where to go.

This morning I was up early to go spend the day at our son and daughter-in-law's home caring for their children, while Barbara was returning from a visit to her dad in Kansas.  Jeff had texted me last night to say I did not need to get there too early and that the kids would probably sleep late.  I arrived a little after 7:00.  I think he is the only one who slept late.  He had expected to be on the road before that and as soon as he left the two youngest boys came out of their room.  The youngest said he was hungry (a constant state of being for him).  The 7 year old boy didn't say a word but went right to the piano and began to practice.  He loves his piano lessons and practicing on the baby grand piano helps his desire to play and practice.  He is quick to memorize the pieces.  There are two pianos at this time; with 5 children taking lessons, that helps. 

They were quickly followed by the baby of the bunch and she too was hungry.  I had gotten the oldest boy up so he could be ready for my husband to pick him up to spend his day doing his home schooling at our office while I was at the house and not in my place at the office.  It was not long until the two oldest girls showed up for breakfast.  The only one that slept late is the second oldest boy.  Once he got up, he spent most of his day doing school work.

This blog posting probably should have been titled Too Tired to Type: Part 2.  At this point in the blog, as I was typing last night, I fell asleep.  Woke up about an hour later with my head on the computer desk.  Went to bed.  Now, Tuesday morning, I am finishing the blog.

The youngest of the boys helped me after breakfast as he rinsed the dishes after I washed.  He is not the most willing helper, but once he got started, we had a good time working together and shared a bunch of laughs.  He is constantly thinking of ways to do things, like: get out of work, get an extra snack, turn a toy into something it was not designed to do, or how to defy gravity.  He is 100% all guy and all active.

The younger children played together much of the morning and after a while we discovered some empty plastic drink bottles and set up a bowling alley by the front door.  Laughter could probably be heard down the street along with shrieks of delight.

After a mid-morning snack, those who had school work got started on their assignments, some more willingly than others, but all of them finished what had been assigned.  Lunch was a variety of sandwiches and although I took orders (like a short order cook) before fixing, we ran out of one kind and had some of another kind left over.  Nap time came next for the two youngest and the others worked or played quietly while I made Rice Krispie treats for afternoon snack.

Little Miss Perfectionist had to arrange her tiny pieces of Rice Krispie treats evenly around her plate.  She and her oldest sister are born organizers.  The others had already had their treats while she finished her nap, so she was eating alone - with Grandma.

The kids watched a video while I worked on supper and while we all listened to the rain and wondered if Mom's plane would be able to get in  on time.  (It did - the rain was mostly in Brownsville and not in Harlingen where she was landing.)

Supper was delayed a couple of times while we waited to see who could join us for supper and finally we served without the rest of the crew while rains delayed their arrival.  It was flooded around our office so Ron and our oldest grandson were very late arriving.  Our son was slowed as he returned from McAllen, due to the heavy rains.  Our daughter-in-law arrived before the guys did.  Of course the children were delighted!  I had put cupcakes in the oven about the time we sat down to eat supper, so after everyone arrived, I frosted the cupcakes while the children took turns helping to decorate them.  They were SO good!

Ron headed home and later texted to tell me to spend the night there and not to try to drive home due to flooding across the roads on my path.  The rest of us sat at the table and visited a long time and eventually, the rain stopped.  The children pulled out costumes and played dress-up for the rest of the evening.

Our daughter-in-law found a wonderful sale on costumes last year and they enjoy playing in them.

 

  I missed getting photos of many of the costume changes, but all I can say is, they had a ton of fun!  Thankfully there was another room where they could do their role playing.  I was about overwhelmed with sounds.

I enjoyed my time there, but after 14 hours, I was ready to try the drive home.  The rain had been stopped for a couple of hours so I headed home and after driving through water a few places, arrived safely.

I told my son that he is a great dad and we are so proud of him.

I told my daughter-in-law that she is Wonder Woman!  She says she has the t-shirt.  They are an amazing couple who love the Lord above all else and love each other completely, and love their children with all their hearts.  They are a fun family.  (But, I did come home and take off my sound processor and had some quiet for a while.)