Auntie Em! Auntie Em!

{You oughta head on over to The Naptime Momtog today ~ she's celebrating her son's 3rd birthday with some pretty awesome givewaways!!!}

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We had finally decided to drywall our basement staircase last night. It was all open wood when we first moved in and we had it carpeted in 2009 just before Snowdrop was born. We've had the drywall since we put a ceiling in down there several months ago... but you know how it is. We got busy! And last night, our neighbors were out of town (we have a townhouse) so we thought it would be the perfect night to do this. (Our kids would sleep through the drilling but we didn't want to disturb the neighbors' kids, just in case.) We measured and then measured again, and got the first piece into the place. Before we did, I wrote on the wall something to the effect of "We lived here and the date we moved in." I would love to find something like that in our house, but I have yet to find it!

So we measured the second part (there were three parts to do) and got to work. I think it's fun to cut drywall, I like that you "cut" the line and then punch the drywall off. That's the best part. So we had just finished cutting this second part and out of the blue, tornado sirens start going off! I nearly jumped out of my skin. We had no idea there was even a watch for one...

Anyways, it near scared me half to death. I think when I hear the sirens, my first thought is always "BOMBERS!" I don't know where I get this stuff from. Perhaps in a past life I did not survive a World War. Gosh, I am so weird. :)

We rushed upstairs and Hubby flipped on the local news channel. He kept saying to me "We have time, we have time" ~ but frankly, I am not in control of the weather so in my mind I did not have time. {Note: We DID have like a half hour before the storm actually got to our house. We had time.}

I got the girls up right away ~ even if we "had time", I wanted to be extra sure they were right near to me. Our house is three stories up. I do not doubt in the least that I'd be able to run my little legs up there as faster than the wind, but I'm not taking chances on something I have zero control over {the weather}. Magnolia got up right away and got a few of her lovies and her blanket. Juniper was out cold. I stood her up and she literally fell back into bed! HAHA! Eventually we got all three girls downstairs and got the VCR started. The girls think it's a big treat when they get to go in the basement because we never let them down there unless there is a tornado!

Hubby kept checking the TV upstairs so we could be as informed as possible. I guess I forgot to mention earlier that we didn't even know the weather was bad! The sirens came as a total surprise So, I did know there was a tornado warning in OK (Thanks to Pioneer Woman's Tweet) but that's not super close to us and weather could definitely change by the time it makes it across the Midwest to where we live.

So anyways, we were totally unprepared for this so it was a little hectic getting the pitcher of water (I'm obsessed with doing this, just in case we get stuck down there. My husband laughs at me every time. But I tell you, he will not be laughing when we end up stuck down there someday for hours. He will delight in the water I have prepared and praise my existence as his wife!), snacks for us to eat, and pillows and blankets to sit on, and shoes/snowboots for everyone in case we have to walk a long distance in the rubble to find other survivors. {I am so weird.} I even remembered to grab the Epi-Pen! This time, the storm looked bad enough to my husband so he ran upstairs and grabbed two belts. For tourniquets? Nope. I thought it was for a tourniquet. {Seriously, I am so weird. You know, because we'd need to perform our own medical surgeries here in our basement with an Exacto knife and a belt, in the event of an emergency? I always go right to the most ridiculous idea.} The belts were actually so that we could harness ourselves to the water pipe if things got really bad. Oh ~ that made me feel sooo much better. Thanks, Honey! ;)

The belts are still there, hanging on our water pipe.

We said a couple little prayers while I waited for our home to blow away. That made me feel a little better. What made me feel REALLY STUPID and SCARED was that I had written on the wall behind the drywall, like an hour earlier, "Our Family lived here" with the date and our names! Hubby got goosebumps when I told him that. I thought for sure we were goners. That's how it would work, right? LOL. I'm so superstitious, or whatever the right word for this is. Paranoid!!

Bless their little hearts, they were so well-behaved while we waited out the storm! No one was "scared".

 

{Junie}

{Mags}

{In the HideOut}

{Snowdrop & Mr. Froggy Oggy} 

{She looks so my like my nephew, my brother's kid, in this picture; which is funny to me because I'm not, to the best of knowledge, blood-related to my brother!}

{Banana.} 

{She loves Mr. Froggy Oggy. He's been her favorite since she was born.}

I, on the other hand, was shaking and my heart was racing. I don't know why I find tornadoes so frightening. I really do love a good storm, and I think it's exciting to "hide" in the basement. But then I get all scared when the s.h.i.t. is about to hit the fan. I was mainly nervous about the kids. What if things started flying around and hit them in the head? We don't have windows in our basement. If the wind got in the basement, I think that would mean that the rest of our house is gone. So... things flying about would likely be at low on my list of concerns. Anyways, so after all that running around (and drywalling) I was super hot and then all of a sudden it started hailing and it got REALLY cold in our basement. It was so weird. Then the hail stopped and it was silent.

Nothing. Not a peep of any sort from outside. And that was the creepiest part.

I think the wind picked up for another five minutes or so and then it was over and we were alive, sound the chorus! Hallelujah!!! No big deal, right? I haven't been able to watch the news yet today but I know some places are out of power, there are many fallen trees, and some schools and businesses are even called off! I was really surprised when I looked in our backyard and saw.... that all our "stuff" (toys, bikes, etc) was in the same spots. Hardly anything had been moved by the wind at all! I find this totally weird.

So that's it. Nothing terribly thrilling or exciting as my title might have made you think! ;) We have not yet finished the drywall because by the time the storm was over it was like 1am and we were ready for bed. And then we spent most of the night up with the girls who were then terrified that every burst of wind meant that we needed to go "Eyed in the Bate-min".  I will post the "After" pictures when we do finish the drywall on the staircase. I will leave you with one last photo from when we were putting up the drywall. My husband really hates to take pictures.

At least he smiled? :)