Our Crazy Weekend...

Our Yard after the Storm...really the picture doesn't show all the limbs, but this is a huge river oak in our front yard...the limbs were as big as a post.

More limbs in the backyard...we know have enough to build a bondfire...

Working in the Garden...(Mia was "plum tuckered out") Mia fell asleep almost instantly after she sat down for a rest... Mandy worked extremely hard on pulling weeds from the garden...she helped me all day. The boys helped too,but they had to leave for baseball practice half way through the job.
We call them the"ladies"... we now have six chicks and Brad is building a chicken coop onto our barn. I hope they lay lots of eggs...to recoop the cost.

Our Dream Car!!haha... we saw this bus at the hotel and thought it would work out perfectly for the six chili peppers.

The craziness began Friday morning. We were awakened by the blaring of tornado sirens. We grabbed the girls and ran downstairs to the basement(the boys all sleep down there). We were already without power, so Brad grabbed flashlights and we sat downstairs being entertained by our Labrador"puppy". He is still trying to learn to be good inside. After the storm had passed, we made our way upstairs...still no power. Brad had everyone get dressed, and we were going to head to breakfast. What we didn't realize was how widespread the damage was...all over our general area, there were trees toppled,trees in houses,roofs blown off, and debris everywhere. In one area we passed, there was a whole street row of electric lines that were toppled in half.

The few restaurants that could open(many were without power) were packed to overflowing. It would have been impossible to get seats for all eight of us, and the kids were already hungry. We returned back to our "smaller" town and found the diner open and beginning to serve lunch. So everyone enjoyed a favorite from this rendition of a fifties diner. Following lunch,we drove by the baseball fields and saw the damage there. It was a huge mess,so we helped cleanup and hang banners back. Unfortunately the fields were drenched, and we had to cancel games for that night. We returned home and still had no power,so we worked outside cleaning up tree limbs...some so huge that daddy had to cut them into sections with the chainsaw. We also had several broken and hanging limbs that Brad removed from the trees. Our damage was minimal compared to others around the area. Several homes had trees that fell on them splitting them almost in two. The weather service still isn't claiming that it was a tornado,only high winds in excess of 80 mile an hour and torrential rain and hail. We still had no power by Friday evening,which means no water because our well requires electricity.Brad placed a call into the electric company and found that they had 70,000 customers without service, and he was told that they hoped to restore it by Monday. We checked into a hotel(the last room available) and let the kids swim in the indoor pool. They seemed not in the least disturbed by it all. We booked the room for a second night, and then to our surprise our power was restored late Saturday afternoon. (We really expected to be without power at least until Monday if not longer).We had already paid for the room,so the kids enjoyed another night at the swimming pool; however, we went home to sleep in our own beds. We had spent Saturday afternoon working on our yard, and Brad helped me till a garden. All the kids helped clear as much grass and weeds out as we could. We had all worked so hard that day and were exhausted. It was a nice gift to be able to take a nice swim and then to come home to sleep in our own bed. In my opinion, there is no place like home.

Brad and Garrett made me breakfast in bed for Mother's Day. Unfortunately,I woke with a slight headache and didn't feel up to eating much. With medicine, I felt like going to church, and the kids took me to lunch at our favorite Mexican food place. However, my headache was progressing into a full fledged migraine, and I couldn't eat much at all. The kids were so dispappointed because mommy had to go to bed and have no lights/no sound for the remainder of the afternoon. It was a yucky way to spend Mother's Day,but the kids were so sweet trying to take care of me. I am truly a blessed momma! It is all I ever dreamed about as a little girl...a teacher,a wife and a mommy.

This week promises to be as busy as ever... baseball games, birthday parties and sleepovers, planting the garden,cleaning house, and building a chicken coop are all on our list of things to do over the next week. Stayed tuned for the exciting life and times of the five chili peppers+one.