Crazy Week

This last week was crazy on a lot of different fronts.  Going into it, I knew it would be busy - I had a lot of stuff due for work and we had friends coming into town at the end of the week to stay with us, so there's always the last minute cleaning and prepping you want to do.  What I didn't anticipate was the crazy storm we would get on Tuesday night that would knock out our power for 2.5 days.  Like every night, Mark and I put the girls to bed and settled in to watch some tv ourselves.  The power started to blink and a few seconds later there was an all out downpour outside.  The winds really picked up and there was lightning everywhere it seemed.  We honestly couldn't see much outside the windows due to the rain and wind, but figured no biggie - we'll just hit up some candles, relax and make it an early night. 

Fast forward to the morning and we see that we have some big limbs down in our yard, but no real damage, and the power is still out.  OK.  Bummer, but no big deal.  We were both going into work and daycare did not lose power and was open.  Stepped outside to survey the damage of the neighborhood and it was crazy.  There were several large trees down on our street, including one that missed a house by a few inches.  Several streets near us had to be closed due to downed power lines or trees across the roads.  It made for an interesting ride to daycare but we felt lucky to not have to deal with it.  We hopped on the train and thought surely we'd have power back by the end of Wednesday.

Mark and I followed reports of damage throughout the day, power updates, etc.  There was news that a tornado touched down in our town and damage pictures posted online.  I forgot to take some of our hood, but this one was online showing a house not too far from us.

We got home on Wednesday night and the power had not returned.  At this point, most of the food in the fridge was lost having risen to a non-cold temperature.  I set about emptying the contents of our fridge to avoid food rotting in it, and we were able to send a few things from our freezer to a friend's to avoid a total loss.  More candles were lit and the girls were unaffected, with the exception of Sawyer constantly asking for milk - and me not having any to give her.  Another night down, and we went to bed thinking/praying the power would be on tomorrow before our friends' arrived.

Nope.  Didn't happen.  I worked the next day from Panera, Starbucks, home (without power), etc. and tried to do a few things to make our house presentable without power.  They got in on Thursday evening and after we ordered out for dinner, we settled in again for a candle lit night.  They were such good sports, and we ended up having a nice night having a few drinks on the couch, but with a party planned for Saturday I'd be lying if I said I wasn't starting to worry.

I woke up at 4am when the power did click on, and gave a huge sigh of relief.  The day started well with the kids up early, Sawyer and Isla headed to daycare, and them into the city for sightseeing.  I was able to work from home and managed to maneuver a trip to the grocery store into my day to replace some of the contents of our fridge.  I pulled into the garage and emptied the groceries - went to close the garage door and learned the power and gone out again.  I was minorly freaking out on the inside that I had just shopped again and there was a chance I would lose these groceries too.  Luckily, power popped on in about an hour or so and we were good.  Crisis averted, but stressful all the same.

After that monster week, Mark and I were more than ready to relax and have fun with our friends.  They have three boys - 5, 2, and 9 months and Sawyer got along great with the two oldest.  After some initial shyness on Thursday they became fast friends and were running around the house.  Isla and Chase also hung out on the floor - though he's mobile, so he would often crawl up to her to touch her face or would just crawl away from her.  Friday night we took everyone to the carnival that was being held in our town.  We were surprised at the size of it and let the kids do a bunch of rides.  Sawyer did only two - and cried during both.  She was persuaded to try the merry go round...until she was on it...at which point she started bawling before the ride even started.  She stopped and then just look petrified during the ride.  We managed to get her on one other ride - the slide - but by the bottom she was crying again and that was it for her on rides.  It's a great little carnival so maybe next year she'll change her mind. 

Isla and Chase playing together...somehow I took next to no pictures this weekend.

On Saturday, we tried to have a low key day of going to the playground, having lunch on the deck, and taking naps because we had planned a small bbq in honor of our friends.  Again, the kids had a great time playing together and were running around all night at the bbq.  While Isla only made it till her normal bedtime, I think Sawyer went to bed around 9:30 or 10 that night.  The girl just didn't want the fun to end.  Think everyone had a good time catching up, and it was easy to put together so it left us thinking that we should have more get togethers this summer.  I forget that our friends don't see Sawyer and Isla too often so it was funny to see them interact.  Isla sat on a blanket for about 2+ hours just playing with rattles and staring at people.  She would make these loud yelling noises as if to remind people where she was, and then blow raspberries over and over - her favorite thing to do right now.  As for Sawyer, a few people asked about her raspy voice - whether it was always like that or just because she talked a lot at the party.  It is so normal to me that I forget it sounds different - as one person put it, it's like she's Kathleen Turner's daughter - which I found funny.  I have no idea where that voice came from but it makes her unique and I hope it stays.

Isla and I before the party. 

 Megan and I pre-party. 

We were very sad to see our friend's leave on Sunday.  It was a great stay and I can't get over how great the kids got along.  Sawyer and Isla were a bit off schedule so it was an odd day of just trying to relax for us.  At one point we suggested our cranky Sawyer go up to her room to read her books and were quite happy for the 2.5 hour break she gave us, plus it totally calmed her down and she was a different girl the rest of the day.  Now we're back to the grind, although this week is seriously slow compared to last week.  Looking forward to the long weekend for the 4th, and a short trip to Michigan to see Ann, Ted, Charlie, and Ben...