Back to normal after the Ice Storm of 2009!

Wow, what a week it's been! And my family is so glad that it's over! The Monday before last, I dropped Emma off at preschool and everyone was talking about the upcoming ice storm that was supposed to hit our area that night. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect how bad it would end up being! Monday evening the snow and ice started falling. What made the storm so dangerous was that the ice kept falling all day Tuesday! Some of our friends and family lost power Tuesday evening around dinner. We lost power around 5:30 Wednesday morning. I knew the minute it went out...I looked out our window and the whole subdivison was black! Oh great! I went back to sleep, and when we all got up around 8 we not only had lost power, but we had no water! What were we supposed to do without water or power? With 2 small kids? Our first thought was to head down to Nashville to stay with my sister, so I started packing our stuff. But by the time we made the decision to walk out the door, the power came back on. It was off for about 8 hours, and believe me, we were very fortunate to have it back on that fast. So that was a relief. Our cable and water was still out, but the most important thing was having power so that we could stay warm! So we made do with bottle water. I even collected some snow and ice from outside to melt, just so that we could flush our toilets! GROSS! But our water was out for 24 hours, so when we woke up Thursday morning it was back! We had a boil water advisory for 4 days, and that was just lifted on Monday! Mike's company, Humana, was closed Tuesday and Wednesday, and he took off Thursday. And on Friday when he went back, he was reading about the storm on the internet, and 80% of our county still did not have power. Again, we were very blessed to get it back so quickly! Some of our family and friends were not so fortunate, but made do with generators and kerosene heaters. My parent's power was restored yesterday, and my sister and her family is still waiting for theirs to be restored. What a mess!! We have had family members coming to our house for hot showers and warm beds, and yesterday my mom and sister came up to do some laundry.

We did manage to have a little fun on Wednesday, after our power was restored. The kids had fun sledding--it went super fast on ice-covered snow! However, the sled ended up breaking, oops! Guess it wasn't meant to use on ice. Oh well! I really hope it doesn't snow anymore anyways!

Yesterday was my 33rd birthday--and the best present I received (except for the beautiful necklace Emma made me), was that our cable and internet started working again after 8 days!!!!!!!!! Woo Hoo! Mike brought a cake, so he, I and the kids had pizza and cake. They sung happy birthday to me and gave me my cards. And Mike is going to take me shopping this weekend for my present.

Enjoy the pics!


Emma LOVED sledding!


Daddy pushing Emma



Gabe loved it too!



Cheese!

He loves grinning for mommy!

Ice that collected on the play set

Amazing! Look at all of that ice!

Emma's first manicure and pedicure--she loved it!!!

Emma had her first manicure and pedicure on Saturday, and she LOVED every minute of it. Mike got her the "my first mani/pedi" spa package for Christmas. The Christmas before last, when Emma was 3, he went into the spa to buy my present, and he saw that they had packages for little girls starting at 4 years of age. He had been waiting the entire year to get Emma one. He knew his little girl would love it. And love it she did! I had my massage at 10:30, and at noon he brought Emma to the spa so that we could get our manis/pedis together. First was our manicures, and she was smiling and talking to the tech. Of course she picked out a bright pink color. Then when it was time for our pedicures, Emma's feet would not reach the tub. So they had to place a few pillows behind her and scoot her to the edge of the seat. And that worked! The 2 techs told me that they were amazed at how still she sat. But Mike and I knew that she would love it. I mean, come on, she loves to get her hair cut, and her favorite thing in the world to play is "beauty shop"! She really is the girliest of girls. Enjoy the pics from her big day!




Getting her toes painted.



Look how happy she is! She loved getting her nails done!

Pretty in pink!



They had to stick another pillow behind her, so that her feet would reach the water! She was anxiously waiting!

Birthday party, Gabe in boots, and SNOW!

Below are some pictures from the birtday party, and Emma playing in the snow! The party was actually a couple of weeks a go, but I am behind on my blogging! Sunday it snowed about 1/2 inch, and yesterday I took Emma out to play in it while Gabe was napping. He has been sick since Saturday. On Saturday we went to Louisville for a baby shower, and while I was at the shower Mike took the kids to a play place with inflatables, and he said the kids had a ball. But he called me on his way to pick me up, and he thought Gabe was running a fever. And sure enough he was! So we didn't get to meet up with my friend from college, Wendy and her family, which was a bummer!(They were in town for the weekend) Instead, we grabbed something to eat and went home. He woke up Sunday morning with a fever as well. And now, he is no longer running a fever but still has a nasty cold!

Today after preschool, we went to playgroup and had such a nice time. The other moms and I were talking, and we can't believe that this summer will be the last one for the (Emma's) playgroup. Emma has been playing with these kids since before she was 2! It goes by way too fast! I am not ready for my baby to start Kindergarten!

Enjoy the pictures!










Emma wrote her name in the snow yesterday!





She threw snowballs at mommy!



Sweet Gabe had a cold, so he couldn't go out to play--we went out while he was napping!

Emma had fun shoveling the snow!

Gabe likes wearing his sister's pink boots--and he loves doing puzzles!



Here's the sweet birthday girl--Savannah!

Emma posed for daddy at the Japanese steak house...we ate here after the birthday party.

We went to a birthday pary for Savannah a couple of weekends a go, and Emma had fun jumping on the trampoline!

Gabe loved the balance beam!

Emma's nightmare

This morning, oh, around 5 or so, Emma came into our room. Mike was getting out of bed, and turned and saw her standing there and about had a heart attack! She told him that she'd had a nightmare, and he put her into our bed. It is very unsual for Emma to come into our bed, both of our kids are great sleepers and always sleep all night! Anyway. this morning I asked her about the bad dream, and she told me she had dreamt about a snake with curly hair. I had to turn my head so that she couldn't see me laughing...bad mommy I know! So when Mike came home this evening, he asked her about it and she told him about the snake with WHITE curly hair, and then she said she had dreamt she was in a little house with nice carpet, and she saw the snake when she went outside looking for toys. We had to turn our heads again. Later when me and Mike were talking, he was laughing about the nice carpet part, and I was laughing about the snake with white curly hair. Poor baby...she knows that she has an open invitation into our bed whenever she has another nightmare!

Emma's class picture

Emma Caroline before her ballet class


Emma's class had a pajama party last week, and I took this picture of Emma and her friend Kayleigh.


Emma's class picture

"No mommy, bipers!"

Gabe and I were shopping in Target yesterday, and I decided to buy him some big boy underwear. You have to start sometime, right? Well, this morning, I changed his diaper, and I showed him his new underwear. He did not like them to say the least. He ran away from me, and said, "No mommy, bipers!". He calls diapers, "bipers". I tried to get him to put them on a few times, and he didn't want any part of them. Oh well, we will try again some other day. He does sit on the potty, but so far that is all.

He likes to say, "Sorry, mommy, sorry"! It is so darn cute. It sounds like, "Sowwy, mommy, sowwy". I was putting him to bed the other night, and he accidently head-butted me, not hard enough to make a bruise or anything. He looked at me, and said, "Sowwy, mommy, sowwy". It melted my heart. I love to hear him talk! He can say almost anything, and he hardly ever throws tantrums anymore! He can finally communicate with us, and let us know what he wants! He is still a mommy's boy for sure, which I just love! He likes to say, "Thank you". He likes to take Emma to school, and likes to say "school", which sounds like, "cool". He will pretend like he's crying, and say, "Me crying". And then he will laugh! Sweet Boy!

Pixos!

The number one thing on Emma's Christmas list to Santa was Pixos! All she could talk about for weeks was Pixos, Pixos, Pixos! And she was soooo excited when Santa left them for her. Below are 3 of her creations--a little boy,a little girl and puppy. Aren't they cute?