The Rest of May

In the middle of May, we went to the First Holy Communion of Dan's niece.  During the Mass, the tornado sirens went off twice, so it was quite exciting and memorable.  Thank goodness, no actual tornado! 

Isabella, Olivia, Anne, and Catherine.

The kids were all happy to see Grandma.

Dan with his nephew, Balthaser.

Dan's brother's family with Fr. Sam Pinkerton.

Catherine has been working on Science, even after we were all done with the rest of school.  It is nice because she can focus on it more.  

Catherine with her lentil "forest," that she grew from lentils we got at the grocery store.

One evening an airplane began to swoop down low over our property and then fly just over the trees to the north, then make a big loop around and come again, each time moving a bit more west.  It was a cropduster working on a field across the road to the north of us.  The kids loved watching the airplane and it was like having our own private air show!  Here's a short video of one of the passes the pilot made over our house:

 One day, all of a sudden, I realized I wasn't sure where Anthony was.  After a search, this is where we found him:

Time for a snooze.

A picture of our grotto, with the irises blooming in front and the roses behind:

 Now, with kids in the picture:

 The kids playing at the playhouse:

Anne and Anthony:

At the end of May, I took a few pictures of a storm that was rapidly approaching.

From the front yard.

From the deck.

After the storm, it was all clear and sunny:

Hanging out on the railing.

The New Swingset

Here is our sad, old swing set, blown over yet again by strong winds.  Bought about 5 years ago, it has been well used, and is now rusting and falling apart. 

So one day, about a month or so ago, Daddy began to build a new swing set.  Here it is in progress.

Now there are three swings that can go higher than the old ones.  Grandpa got put to work pushing all the kids.

Anthony was insistent that he get to swing in the big kid swing, and he really held on well.

You can hear some loud squealing coming from our backyard whenever anyone gets extra-high pushes!

After Daddy built the swing set, he decided it wasn't as stable as he wanted, so he began to add on and make a playhouse, repurposing the rest of the wood from the horse stalls.  Here it is partly finished.  The old slide got put there so Anthony had a way to get down after he climbed up the ladder.

Here the roof is on (leftover material from the big shed) and a rope swing has been added.

And there is a pole to slide down.  Whee!

Catherine testing out the rope swing.

The swing set/playhouse has gotten more additions since I took these pictures, so I'll have to do another post later!