Nightmares

You know that recurring nightmare you can never stop dreaming about?? Well, mine isn't just a dream....it's real!

[High pitched "Psycho" stabbing sounds]

REE

REE

REE

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Remember last September here in Kentucky? If you don't, let me refresh your memory:

Crazy bad wind storm. Crashing trees. Power lines down everywhere. 9 gruelling days without power. No hot water. The stomach flu.

The darkness....oh, the darkness!

I went to bed last night, laughing about the weather forecast. In 1996 (I think) we had a big snow storm here in Louisville. It dumped about 3 feet of snow in a few hours and shut down the city for about a week. Have a good laugh. Our city is full of little pansies. So now, every time they forecast a tiny bit of snow, suddenly people become very cautious/slightly crazy. Well, on Monday, we started getting warnings about all this nasty winter weather coming through our area. For once, our meteorologists got it right! Yesterday, it snowed a few inches. Then, later that night it started to rain. Then it froze. This was my night.

11:00 pm: Look outside and see that it has been raining/freezing. Think to myself, "I should take a picture in the morning, that looks really cool!" Go to bed.

1:56 am: Loud BOOM wakes me up. Not quite sure what it going on, I get out of bed and look out our front window. Several big branches down in our yard. Power has flickered, but resumed.

1:57 am: Have flashbacks to last September.

1:58 am: Worry sets in. Try to go back to bed.

2:56 am: (No joke, it was exactly an hour) Another loud BOOM. Window. More big branches down. Power still on.

2:57 am: More worry. Turn off TV and lights in family room where Kade has fallen asleep on the couch. Back to bed.

7:00 am: Loud crash wakes me up. My clock is once again blinking "12:00" "12:00" "12:00" "12:00". Look out window to see this:

Hmmm, now where have I seen a picture similar to this before? Oh, yeah, last September, in my yard:

Two words, people: UNDERGROUND WIRES. Gees, how many times does our power line have to be ripped from our house to figure out that falling tree limbs damage power lines?

Between 7:00 and 7:30 am: Have to call the power company 4 times to get through and report the active, deadly, downed power line draped across our front yard and over the road. Then call our landlord to explain that our meter box has once again been torn from the house. He sounds tired.

7:30 am: Start some laundry and get into the shower while we still have a functioning hot water heater.

3:00 pm: Active, deadly power line still laying across our yard. No sign of the power company. (They will probably disconnect our line, anyway.) I stare out the window, wondering if all the kids walking past our house on their way to the park are smart enough to stay away from the line.

Did we make some Weather God angry? Why didn't we get our trees pruned last fall? Should I consider it a miracle that we still have power....do we have a higher power on our side? Mayhaps.

Here are a few pictures I took this morning. I'm trying to be artistic. Not sure if it worked. I was really cold.

Spring Teaser

This week has given us quite a bit of variety in the weather, here in KY. On Monday morning we woke up to a thin blanket of snow. I know, I know. I can hear all of you westerners/northerners laughing and saying, "You call that snow?!?" We take what we can get here. We don't get much here in the way of snow, but, it does get crazy cold sometimes. We even had a pipe freeze on us last Friday. As I went to bed on Thursday, I thought just maybe I should leave some water dripping. So, I turned on the bathroom sink faucet. When we got up the next morning, the hot water in the kitchen wouldn't turn on. Fortunately we have great landlords. Tom (our landlord) came over with a heater and put it under the crawl space. I was very relieved when it thawed and there were no leaks. Whew.
Three days after a snow storm (Thursday), it turned sunny and beautiful, so the kids and I walked to the park. Today was the same, if not warmer. My car said it was 60 degrees. What awesome temps for January! We walked to the park again, (can I truly express how much I LOVE the location of our home???) and played for a few minutes. So, Maryn loves the swings. It's always the first thing she goes for when we get to the park. She spends most of her time there. I stuck Ailee in a swing, just to see if she would like it....and just like her sister, she loved it!

Just chillaxin' in this fine weather!

In this next one, I could just imagine her saying, "WHASSSUUUUUUPPPP!!"

I just wuv dose chubby wittle cheeks!I think it looks like she is striking a modeling pose in this next picture. We'll call this look: Blue Steel.

Wondering why Maryn and Daddy are making funny faces at her.

I wish it would stay like this, and Spring would could. Turns out this is just a Spring teaser--it's supposed to get cold again tomorrow. sigh.

Same Great Taste, Under New Management

I have a good group of friends I am surrounded by here. Most of us are stay at home moms who spend most of our time making our kids and husbands happy, so it's nice to get away for a bit, and have Girls' Nights. It's a chance for us to unwind a bit, have some adult conversation (even if most of the times is spent talking about the crazy things our kids do), and it usually involves good food. Basically it helps us recharge our batteries so that we are strong enough to continue the war on tantrums, picky eaters and child induced disasters.

A few weeks ago, my friend Sarah, called me up with a great idea for a Girls' Night. Well, actually a Girls' Morning. Back when I was a teenager, my mom used to invite all the youth in our area to our house on a Saturday morning, and make fresh, hot doughnuts. She always had homemade chocolate and maple frostings to dip them in, too. Over the years it became a tradition to have "Doughnut Days." Whether it was a ploy to keep us all preoccupied and out of the kind of trouble teenagers get into, or not, I'm not sure. But if it was, it may have worked. Doughnut Days were definitely something to look forward to.

Sarah and I decided to put on a Doughnut Day for the gals. I was a little nervous at first...I had some big shoes to fill. My mom is one of those people, where everything she makes turns out delicious and pretty. I am not. My breads don't raise, I can burn soup, and broiling=black and crispy. But, practice makes perfect, so I thought I could give it a try. I called up my mom, got the recipe, and a whole bunch of tips. The outcome: Very good! The first couple of frying sessions produced fairly dark, flat doughnuts, but once I figured it out, they turned out pretty yummy. I was a little shocked, but pleased.

It turned out to be a fun morning, I hope the other girls had fun, too. In fact, I hope to do it again, just to see if I can make them again. I did have one incident.

Oil+Heat+Splashing=

So worth it.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!

So, I've been trying to catch Ailee's laughter on camera for a while now. The first time she gave us that good belly laugh was on October 25th, right before our ward Halloween party, and it's been like an addiction to me ever since. This morning Maryn was able to get a few laughs mixed in with all those squeals, that I was able to capture on film. I know it's a boring home video of my kids doing mediocre things, so you don't HAVE to watch it. However, there will be a quiz at the end of this post, and if you fail this quiz, you will never be able to exit from my website....EVER!! Mwoohaha! [that's supposed to be a sinister laugh]

Ok, ok, I'm just kidding, you can continue your online shopping, don't worry.

I think my favorite part is at 00:13 when she gives the camera a barrel shot and waggles her eyebrows. It may be hard to see on this tiny little screen, but I swear she does it. I think she just might have a future in reality television.

The following pictures are just some random pictures I took of the girls the other night. [Just a quick note of "Thanks" to the person who invented digital photography. They must have had kids and were tired of developing pictures where one or both of their kids were doing something weird, disgusting, or just couldn't hold still.]

The tender picture:

The no one's looking at the camera picture:

The disgusting picture:

The weird picture:

The thoughtful picture:

Roundy 'Bout The Christmas Tree

Sorry it's been a heckofa long time since I updated my blog. We went out of town to visit family for this Christmas, and this is the first chance I've had to sit down at the computer for more than 5 minutes.
This Christmas we made the trek down south to Texas. We had oodles of fun with Kade's side of the family (this seems to be the trend for Christmas. Hmmmmmm....who's house could we invite ourselves to next year??). Kade has 3 brothers that live in Texas, and another one who was down there for a few months, so there was lots of Roundy testosterone, bad jokes, and plenty of "The Roundy Laugh." (You have to hear it to understand, but all those Roundy boys laugh the same.) We left on the Friday before Christmas, when Kade finished up with school. We made it to Little Rock, Arkansas that night and stayed in a hotel. Then got up on Saturday to finish our journey to San Antonio.

So, I'm gonna take a minute to talk about Arkansas. When I was younger, we almost moved to Arkansas. I thank my lucky stars that we didn't. You know all those stereotypes we put on the south? Well, somebody didn't just think those up, ya know. They had to start somewhere, and my guess is that it was in Arkansas. We filled up our gas tank, next to "Big Ed" (no joke) who thought it was a good idea to smoke while he pumped his gas, the front desk guy at the Best Western may not have had any teeth...just calculus, and seriously, who brags that Bill Clinton is from their town? Hope, Arkansas, that's who. This is one state I could pass on vacationing in. Just guessing from some of the town names, they've really had to work hard on building up their tourism. I think instead of coming up with their own town names, they took other, better places, and tacked on some form of Arkansas to make it their own. This is how it may have played out, for example:
Person 1: "Hmm. Philidelphia sure's a nice place."
Person 2: "Oh, yeah! I luuuuve Philidelphia! Can we's name a town in Arkansas that? Fer sure people'd come then."
Person 1: "No, we have ta make it ours, somehows....Hows about Philikansas? Philiark? Nope. Hey, I 'ave it! Arkadelphia! That's sures to boost the economy!"
Person 2: "Well, what about them other state names? I like them other states. Like Louisiana...oh, and Texas! Can we use 'em, pertty PLEASE?"
Person 1: "Oh, alright. Let's see. Arkexiana. Arkisianexas. No, we needs to squish our state name in the middle, sos peoples don't really think it's part of Arkansas. I gots it! Texarkana!"
Person 2: "Wow you're really good at this, maybe yous can think of some town names that will make people all warmed up inside when they hears them so they can take their mind off how backwards our state is. Then, maybes they will stop and stay a while."
Person 1: "Great idea, Big Ed! Hows about.....Warm Fuzzy? Nah, too obvious. Ok, let's name a town Hope. Oh, and hows abouts a town named Friendship...that'll keep 'em coming back!"

Ahhh, I kill myself. Well, Arkansas was a little Hillybilly-ish, but it wasn't all bad. At least the people were super friendly and nice. I'll give them that!

Now, back to Christmas.

We made our trip down. Maryn got really sick on the way (not throw up sick THANKFULLY, but high fever, sore throat sick), which made life extra pleasant in the car. Then she was really fun to be around for the next couple of days. This picture portrays it all. I'm not sure, but I think her cousins may have been scared of her for a while. Thankfully, on Sunday night, just as we were about to take her to the doctor, she decided she felt better and started eating food....well, Cheetos, I guess they can be called food.

On Monday, we went shopping in downtown San Antonio. I picked up a pretty piece of pottery Hechoed en Mexico (Made in Mexico for those of you who don't habla espanol) and ate at a yummy little mexican restaurant with lots of pretty glittery things hanging from the ceiling.

This is Lee's (Kade's brother) family. They were so good to let us bum off of them for a week. They have three super sweet girls (the youngest is hiding behind Lee) who know that acting girly CAN be fun!

On Tuesday we went out to a restaurant named Rudy's. If you are ever in San Antonio, GO TO RUDY'S. Wow, I think it was the best BBQ I have ever/will ever have. Just, don't expect a fancy meal, served on nice plates...or even served on plates, because you eat off of pieces of paper.

Gettin' some lovin' after a good meal

My niece, Abi, having fun with the dinnerware

After a good meal, we went downtown again to see the Alamo and the River walk.

Remembering the Alamo

The River Walk

That night, Kade's other brother, Shad, and his family joined us. Between all the families, we had 7 little girls (10 little girls if you count Kade, Shad, and Lee!!). That's a lot of little girlies. The next day (Christmas Eve), we all went out to Sea World. What a blast that was! We even had really nice weather to make the day even better.

Abi, Maryn, and Ella watching The Polar Express (photo compliments of Allison's blog)

Shamu!!

Petting the Dolphins

Another silly show with the chubbiest sea lion, ever

This kid's future is so bright, she's gotta wear shades.

That night, we had a little Christmas Eve party. Each family brought white elephant gifts, including the children. We managed to pawn off an "Ernest Saves Christmas" movie and in return got some great/goodwill loot. After our white elephant gift exchange, we had an impromptu talent show. We each had to draw a talent out of bowl (such as singing a karaoke song or playing a Christmas Song on the piano), then perform it for the family. Very fun! Everyone did a stellar job displaying their talents, but the all-time best was Kade's. His talent was to perform a scene from the Nutcracker. Please watch:

Ah, he will never live that down.

Christmas morning we all got up, dressed, ate some breakfast and dove in to the presents.

Maryn and Ailee in their Christmas Eve Pajamas

Maryn with all of her loot (we kind of had a Lightening McQueen Christmas this year)

Ella, Maryn, Abi, and Annie (the younger kids wouldn't sit for the picture).

The next day we were able to meet up with some old friends, the Austins. It'd been so long since we'd seen them, so it was nice to catch up a bit, and meet their daughter, Madison.

On Saturday, we bid farewell to Lee and Suzanne, and family to visit Kade's other two brothers.

Thanks, Lee and Suz...you guys are awesome!

Kade's youngest brother, Cody and his family, and Kade's oldest brother, Kurt, and his family both live in a small town outside of Waco, TX. We stayed with Cody and Katie, who is preggo with #2 right now, but was still nice enough to take us in. It was nice to just relax and visit. Maryn had a great time learning how to jump on the trampoline her cousin, Tyler, got for Christmas.

It was nice for me to get to know the Gatesville clan a little bit better. I've hardly spent much time with them up until now, so I loved getting to know them and my sweet nephew and niece. We were kind of slackers about taking pictures there, so I pulled out a picture of Kurt's family from when Kade was there to visit in October.

Kurt, Maddison, and Stacie

On Monday, we decided it was time to suck it up and make the lllllooooonnnnngggg drive home. The drive home is always worse than the drive there. At least on the drive there, you have something to look forward to. So, to break it up a bit, we stopped in......

GRACELAND!!!

Elvis' mansion...though, I must say, for a mansion, it wasn't all that big. Very ornate and hip, though. I loved the shag carpet on the ceiling and the fabric on the walls and ceiling in the basement. It just might be the inspiration for my dream home.

Elvis' grave. He really must be dead.

I think I saw Kade eyeing this sweet get up. Could you imagine getting a root canal with your doctor wearing this? It's something to think about, Kade!

Maryn in front of the Pink Cadillac, trying to do the Elvis lip curl. We'll keep working on it, squirt.

We had a great Christmas vacation. It was an uber long car ride, but so worth it. Kind of like this post. Can you believe you read it all the way to the end? High points of the vacation are: Family, good food, Sea World, and family. Low points of the vacations are: I lost my cell phone in San Antonio (fortunately Cody and Katie had an old one they gave to me...saved me $$$. Thanks, guys!), also we lost the antenna off of our car somewhere on the interstate. Thanks, again to everyone who put us up and spoiled us. If you're lucky, we just might come back!!