School's begun

Yesterday was the first day of school--Time for the traditional picture.

Elizabeth (Elly) is a true 8th grader--spending quite a bit of time getting her hair just so (but by the time she got to school, the humidity had changed it a bit). Alice is heading into 5th grade. Weather update: We've had over 8 inches of rain in the past few days, but we missed the storms last night. The night before, lightning played across the sky almost constantly.

The rain caused a change of plans for our Young Women. We had planned on doing wading-pool-kickball last night at our house (this was planned a month ago, when we thought August would be hot and dry--why did we ever think that?). Instead, we played "Thimble", but mostly, the girls just wanted to talk about their first day of school--"Did you get Mr. ---?" "Oh, I didn't like him." Etc. It was still fun.

Now, I just have to find a time when the lawn can be mowed. If it is too soggy, the lawn mower leaves muddy tracks. If I wait until it dries more, we could (and are supposed to) get more rain. And if I wait too long, we could bale it and sell it for hay. But I'm not complaining. Our house isn't flooded (and there are plenty around our state and others who are flooded), and our lives haven't been disrupted too much. And everything sure if GREEN!