When It Rains, It Pours

 To say it has been a challenging 5 days would be an understatement.

Last Thursday and Friday my kids had their end of grade testing.  As a homeschool mom, I think this is the most nerve racking time of the year.  After all, it is really a test to see if I did my job.  The kids did great, but it was still an anxious 2 days.
In the midst of that, we were preparing for our first official party at the new farm.  We worked our tails off sprucing things up and getting ready for 70 people to arrive on Saturday.  On top of those two stressors, we had 3 showings.  Um.  Yeah.  The week we went to the mountains I left my house pristine, awaiting showings.  Not. a single one.  Some kind of crazy.

Since this was a family event, we wanted to have fun stuff available for all ages.  Corn hole, whiffle ball, and fishing to name a few.  My sweet man even planned a hayride for the kids (of all ages). 

 A practice run before adding the hay.

The weatherman was calling for 90+ degrees that day, so we modified a Pinterest idea:

 The party start time was 4pm.  Up until 3:50pm the sun was shining.  At 3:51 the clouds rolled in like angry fists ready for a fight.

They won.

 We watched our friends pull into the driveway and then drive away.  With each leaving car, my heart broke a little more.  All that planning.  All that hard work.  All of those hot dog buns sitting in the back of my car!  Four families stayed and made the most of it.  Somehow we squeezed under two tents to eat (standing up).  The kids thought jumping on the trampoline in the rain was awesome, so it wasn't a total loss.

By the time we pulled into our garage (soaking wet) and unloaded all the party stuff we had hauled out to the farm, my emotions were shot.

To be completely honest, I really didn't want to go to church on Sunday.  I was still an emotional train wreck.  I made it through most of the service but couldn't seem to get a grip during Sunday school.  At first I was totally embarrassed, but then I remembered that Christians often try to wear the mask of "everything's fine with me."   I gave up trying to fake it.  I was emotionally and physically worn out.

Sunday evening my husband suggested that I go pick up Chinese takeout for the family.  He knows I need some alone time.  I decided to stop at a cupcake store to drown my sorrows for a treat and as I approached the door the owner stepped out and said, "we're sold out."
Of course you are.

As today dawned I decided it had to get better.
I was wrong.
One of my daughter's ducks died during the night.
She and I cried together.
Out of 10 ducklings, she is down to one thanks to a nasty-mean-awful muskrat that thinks he owns our pond.  We've moved the lone duck back to our house and she's sharing the pen with our chickens.

To get my daughter's mind off the ducks, we took a morning field trip to get a bagel and visit the library.  On the way home we got a call.
We have another showing tonight.
Looks like I'll be loading the party cups/napkins/tablecloths/candles etc...  back into my car and we'll be eating hot dog buns for dinner.