The last 24 hours….

I got home in time to pick the kids up from school. I left the house just before 3:00. The skies were dark, but it was dry. I picked up Reese and started home. Half-way there, I got a call from Noodle and Taco, inside the school. They were nervous about walking home (because of the storm that was threatening), and wanted me to pick them up in the car. I turned around and waited for them to come outside (I wasn’t about to walk back home to pick up the car when I was already at the school). My 2 years in Oregon cured me of any fear of rain. While I was waiting for the kids to come out, the rain started. By the time we were crossing the street towards home, the rain was HARD, and half a block later, the wind was HARDER. I felt like I was in the middle of a tornado (I found out later that it was!). Taco ran, Noodle started sobbing, and Reese (crying, too) demanded to be carried. I ran through the wind and rain, carrying Reese and holding onto Noodle’s hand, while thunder sounded all around us, leaves and branches flew everywhere, and rain pelted us from all directions….it was a mess!

When we got home, everyone was crying, the lights went out as soon as I opened the door, and we just stood there calling for Kiwi to come bring us some towels. I made Kiwi take a picture, just so we could remember how crazy it was. (not the best photo, but it is the STORY that matters here!)

The power was still out when it was time for dinner, so I asked PB if he could bring home something hot to eat. He came home a while later with the news that all of the restaurants and grocery stores in the area were also out of power and closed. So we had sandwiches for dinner. Despite our lack of power (or maybe because of it) the evening was quiet and peaceful. We just sat around the family room together until bedtime.

The power was still out this morning when my friend arrived with her four kids for me to babysit for the day. Oops! Yep! I slept in. We altered the arrangements a bit (we decided pretty quickly that 9 kids in a house with no power would NOT be a good idea)….we all ended up spending most of the day with another friend who had power. School was cancelled, so there were 15 kids total all day long. I am pooped! But we finally have power back! The lights came back on around 12:30 this afternoon (that’s 20 1/2 hours without power!). The food in the fridge and both freezers was all ok. Yay!

Let’s not do that again.