A Mental Picture

There are times when I wish I had my camera to capture the moment, but instead I have to take a mental picture. Today was one of those times, so I will try to paint the mental picture for you.

Our lawn grew quite a bit while we were gone (rain! hooray!), so Brian came home in time tonight to mow it. After dinner, he went out to finish mowing the back yard. The girls followed him. Hannah decided it was fun to follow along behind Dad in the "trail" he made mowing (there was quite a difference between the mowed and unmowed lawn). While they were outside, there was a big clap of thunder and the girls came running in. Hannah and Courtney each grabbed their kid umbrellas and then dashed back outside. Apparently they thought a clap of thunder was a sure sign of forthcoming rain.

The next time I glanced outside, I saw Brian pushing the lawn mower, followed by Hannah marching along with her purple umbrella, followed by Courtney holding her pink unbrella, followed by Hayley who had to join in the fun. And no, it wasn't raining. Such a funny sight! So I went to grab my camera, but when I stepped outside, the trees were blocking a good shot so I thought I'd wait until they came around again. But by then, Courtney and Hayley had been distracted by the swingset so the moment was gone (but not forgotten!). And the lawn looks much better now.

Another funny "moment" today was when I'm pretty sure a squirrel fell off our roof. I was out in the family room, when there was kind of a scraping noise and then some large object went flying down past the window and hit the ground with a pretty loud thud. At first I thought maybe it was a bird, but when I went outside to check, the only thing around was a squirrel in a nearby tree. We have a couple of squirrels that frequent our backyard, fence and rooftop, so my best guess is that the squirrel lost its footing and went flying. It didn't seem too hurt from the unfortunate incident.

And finally, in other news of the day, I had to take Courtney back in to the doctor. She appears to have yet another UTI (urinary tract infection), plus possibly a yeast infection too (we had to see a doctor in WY as well for similar problems). We really need to get that girl potty trained and I'm trying to convince her of that fact as well. (Biggest frustration in my life right now.) So she is on antibiotics again, plus a prescription cream. Hayley started running a fever this afternoon as well, but the only symptom she seems to have is a little bit of goopy stuff in one of her eyes. I'll have to keep an eye on her.

I have a chiropractor appointment in the morning and wasn't able to find anyone to watch the kids, so it looks like they will all be coming with me. That should be a fun adventure! (Four kids in a tiny room while Mom is strapped to a table for 10 minutes of traction.)

Good night! (I have lots of vacation pictures and stories coming soon!)