Back in Business

Sorry about the long lapse in posts. I know you are on the edge of your seats, to find out what has happened to us....
To start off, I'm going to play a little game called "How Could This Be Worse?" Are you ready? Here we go!

Ok, what is bad?

Having your power go out for 9 days!

Now, how could this be worse?

Having an electric water heater when your power goes out for nine days!

And, how could this be worse?

Getting the stomach flu when your power is out for nine days and you have an electric water heater!

If you answered all these questions right, you win......MY PITY, because you have obviously experienced something like this!

We had a miserable life during that time...

Well, we did get our power back. After a gruellingly long 9 days without power, the power company felt sorry for us and got us up and running again. It was such a relief to have our life back to normal. I think the thing I felt the most bad about was that my sister was here for part of that time, so she, too, had part in those luxurious cold showers. Sorry Jill.

So I will start at the beginning of all my catching up. First: My sister Jill came out for a visit. (Between having her, my mom, and my brother come out for visits, I no longer feel like the outcast easterner who lives too far away from her family. Thanks, guys.) It was really fun to have her all to myself for a week. She did bring out my 4 year old nephew, so Maryn also had a fun playmate. We made a promised trip up to the Gap Outlet, where I showed immense self control and found some great deals as usual. And, we took the kids to Super Hero day at the zoo.

Maryn and her cousin where the awesomest super heroes there! Nobody could top their totally home-made costumes, complete with underwear on the outside of their shorts.

Maryn "flying."

I was amazed at how much coaxing I had to do to get Maryn to even take a picture with the super heroes. I would have thought she'd love Mr Incredible.

And, of course we couldn't forget about the littlest super hero of them all. It was Jill's idea to turn her bib around and make it a cape. Genius.

The next day brought our wind storm. It was also the day we blessed Ailee. I'll post pictures of her later, otherwise this would be the world's longest post. We got home from church and it was almost frightening outside. We live in an older part of Louisville with really big, old trees. The wind would catch them and make them bend so it looked like they were going to snap in half. It was amazing to see the damage the wind could do to a large tree. This is what we came home to:

and...

That huge branch tore the power line from our house and ripped the fusebox and meter off of the house. Unfortunately it missed our beat up mail box by just a few feet. Darn it.

With the wind storm still in full force we decided that we didn't feel safe in our tiny little house with that huge tree out front. We must not have been thinking straight because we got in our cars and drove around looking for someplace to eat. Most of the traffic lights were out and traffic was chaotic. Finally after about an hour or two of driving, trying to find a place with power and watching trees fall all over, we ended up at taco bell 1/2 a mile down the street. The winds died down while we ate and we went home. While we were gone, another big branch fell and this is what we stared at out our window for a week:

We had to drive through our yard or the neighbor's yard to get into our driveway. I kept waiting for those lines to give way under the pressure of that heavy tree, but it never did.


This tree over at the nature center was probably close to 2 feet in diameter...just snapped in half.

And here's where we let our kids play under the power lines.

It was a mess. Louisville was a mess. Power was out everywhere. I guess I can't complain too much about the power being out. I was actually expecting much longer. The power company worked hard to get the city restored, and I'm grateful for their long hours. People even started to get a little crazy the Monday after. Gas was really hard to find. Gas stations either had no power or they ran out of gas. The lines were crazy long and people were getting snippy with each other. After getting yelled at by one of those snippy people, we opted to stay at home and not drive the car. We got gas the next day and didn't have to wait at all.

Out of all of this, I did learn that I have grilling skills. I'm 100 x thankful for our grill, and that little side burner. I couldn't have survived without it. You can cook the following on a grill: chicken nuggets, french fries, bacon, hot pockets, and eggo waffles. Yum yum. Next time your power goes out, don't be afraid to try in on a grill. It's better than wasting all that food.

Oh, now speaking of food. I finally got tired of buying tons of ice everyday. After getting the stomach flu, thinking it was food poisoning from spoiled food, I gave up icing things. Having the stomach flu while you have no power is really really bad. The bad-ness peaked on Saturday night when Maryn threw up on her bed. Not only was I plagued by the double headed dragon, but now our house smelled like barf and I couldn't comfort my poor puking daughter without wanting to throw up myself. Hauling her quilt into the bathtub and washing the chunks off while I was pretty sure I was going to die was priceless. Thankfully Kade was only nauseated, so he was able to take Maryn's bedding over to a friend's house and wash it.

After being sick for a while, I finally got to my spoiled fridge. Wow, the smell was intense, to say the least. Everything was drenched from the melted ice and I'm sure there were some science experiments forming in there. The drip pan under the fridge was by far the worst. It was brimming with nasty water that smelled like rotten sour cream. I almost lost my breakfast. Then I spilled it all over the kitchen counter. Gross. It took all morning to clean up and throw everything away. There is still some odd lingering smell.

That was our life. Sorry it took so long to get back to the blog. We just got our internet reconnected on Sunday, and I've been wrapped up reading the "Twilight" series. It's good to have life back to normal, what ever normal is for us.

Temporarily Out of Order

I just thought I would let the rest of the outside world know that we are still alive. This week has been a bit of a bugger. On Sunday we had a MAJOR windstorm. I think there were reports of 75 mph winds...a category 1 hurricane. Hmmmm. An earthquake, now a hurricane?? We live in Kentucky for cryin' out loud!! Well, to make a long story short, we have no power. And probably we won't have power for what will feel like the next 10 years. Our neighbor's trees fell down and knocked out the power lines in front of our house, which ripped the power line to our house which ripped the fuse box and meter box off our house. It is a HUGE mess! We will for sure post pictures when we finally get power back.
As for now, we are living off the good graces of friends to let us use their warm showers and wash our clothes. I can't thank them enough.
Hopefully we will be restored shortly. Until then, Adieu.

Baby Love, My Baby Love

I took these pictures a week ago, and I'm just getting around to posting them. Sorry. Already it seems like Ailee ("Aye-Lee" or like Hailey, but without the H, just in case you didn't know how to pronouce it) has changed. It's odd how one day you'll pick them up from bed and it feels like they've hit a growth spurt overnight!

I took some pictures in the same outfit Maryn had on in the picture on the sidebar to the right. I was trying to see how much they looked alike at this age. I sure can tell a lot of similarities, but a lot of differences, too.

I can even see similarities in their personalities. I'm so lucky to have such "easy" children. Sure, they have fussy/whiny times, but over all, they are both easy going and happy.

Maryn and I were just having a little bit of fun. Maryn has been such a good big sister to Ailee. I'm so proud of her. She loves to hold her and help her. Sometimes Maryn will get Ailee's binkie before I even get to her. And Maryn has an odd obsession with diapers. She likes to pull the fresh diapers out of the basket and smell them. Lately she's been toting diapers around in a Halloween bucket.

This picture looks like she's flexing her muscles for the camera. Perhaps we will have a body builder in the family?? Ha Ha, just kidding...have you seen me and Kade? There is NO chance that dream would ever pan out!

I love her cute little nose. Maryn has the same one. And check out the size of that melon!

Ailee has been such a blessing to our family. She is so sweet and lovable. Her smiles are a ray of sunshine. She loves to be cuddled and talked to. She's even starting to coo back and I love it! It makes the hard times worth it just to see her shining face.

"The only way to have a friend is to be one." (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Last week we had a couple of play dates (yes WE...I enjoy getting together with friends just as much as Maryn does) that I haven't had a chance to post yet.
On Tuesday we met down at the water front so the kiddos could ride bikes. It was such a beautiful day out. Maryn just learned how to peddle her bike a few months ago, so this was the first time we've really taken her bike out. She lagged a little bit behind the others, but she's improving. It was pretty cute to see all these little kids on their little bikes riding around the sidewalks.

A pretty tough looking gang. I think next time they should wear their matching leather biker jackets.

Maryn on her bike. Her pretty pink bike stuck out amongst all the boys' bikes.

Then, on Friday we had some friends over to our house. Becca and Laura are friends of mine from when I was a kid. I'm so glad we all live here again. It's always nice to be with old friends--I love remembering and laughing about the past. I'm so glad they put up with me during my dorky teenage years! Here are some pictures of us and our kids.

On the swing is Maryn, Kelsey (Becca's #1), Laura and her little girl Bethany. Then in back there's me and Ailee, and Becca with her #2, Andrew.

Letting the kids play in our sweet pool.

Maryn's real big on showing people how she is SO brave to go under the water. She's a bit of a water rat. Watch out Micheal Phelps!

And, a sleepy Ailee. I have lots more picture of her, I just haven't had a chance to post them...I will soon.

"A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked." ~ Bernard Meltzer