Where Do I Begin?

I've been a bad blogger lately. December has been so busy. Kaylee has had a couple of dive meets. Here is a picture. We really have to figure out appropriate settings on the camera for the conditions:

Central had their Children's Christmas Party. My kids are probably getting too old to go; but I figured this might be the last year for Cassidy. Whitney insisted on going also, even though it meant missing gymnastics. Then, Kaylee didn't want to stay at home, so opted to come along, "to eat some cookies." Really, my 15 year-old at a kids party? The younger two played games, which earned them tickets that they could then turn in for prizes - much in the spirit of "Chuck E. Cheese." Kaylee kept trying to talk them in to one particular princess crown - made out of sparkly pipe cleaners. Whitney finally got tired of hearing her whine, so went and purchased it for her. I then insisted Kaylee wear it for the remainder of the party. She was only too happy to oblige:

I just thought this was kind of a cool shot, even though it's blurry:

I finally got Christmas cards out. We usually take a family photo, but we haven't been able to find the time. We opted for a quick picture session of just the girls in front of our little tree. This was a late decision, so some people received just cards, while others got the photo. Here are a few out-takes:

The final result:

On to more recent news. As all of the locals are well aware, we had a major ice storm last Thursday night/Friday morning. School was cancelled (for the second day), and Jeff left for work early. I got ready as usual, and just as I was finishing up, we lost power. I woke up Kaylee so she'd know that they may be without lights, etc. once they got up. She wanted to get up then and the other two ended up waking up amid the commotion. I had heard the sump pump running all morning, so decided on a whim to call Jeff at work and let him know the situation. (I never call him at work.)

As I'm on the phone, I hear Kaylee say the words, "I'm standing in water!" so I quickly hang up with Jeff. She was in the toy room, looking for the Nintendo DS. I go in with a flashlight (it was pitch-black) to find a growing puddle on the floor, coming from the window sill. Ice had dammed up the spouting and water was running down the window in a wide river, coming in and filling up the inside of the sill, and leaking through the molding. Jeff calls back, saying he is on his way and tells me to check the sump hole and if it is filling up, to start bailing.

I quickly deal with the mess in the toy room (the kids had tons of stuff on the floor, which was now soaking up the water). I then take a flashlight to check the sump hole - which is located UNDER our basement stairs, with an opening between the stairs and cinder block of about 18 inches to squeeze through. I shine my flashlight down and see a stream creeping toward the front of the stairs. I utter something inappropriate and yell at Kaylee to get a bucket. She holds the flashlight while I start to bail - hauling the water out the back door and to the yard about 10-12 times before Jeff pulls in the garage. Oh - it is still raining and large branches weighted down with ice are snapping and tumbling to earth.

Once Jeff arrives, he yells for larger buckets from the garage and he takes over bailing, filling the 5-gallon buckets to the top while Kaylee and I take turns hauling them to the yard - sometimes one at a time, and sometimes doubling up. They are kind of heavy for us, so we end up slopping a lot of the water over the top, which pours down our legs, into our shoes, and over the stairs to shower Jeff with stinky water. (We have additional septic line issues which are scheduled to be fixed next week, but result in a very foul odor that periodically escapes from our sump hole. It is not pleasant.)

I'm not sure how long we do this before Jeff's dad shows up with a battery operated pump from Ace. Only then did I really start to feel the cold. I'm sure we were at it an hour at least, and I'm guessing we hauled over 150 gallons of water. But, we managed to keep up and nothing was ruined...not that there is much in our basement that could be ruined. Whitney and Cassidy went with my father-in-law to his house since they had a generator and heat. Kaylee and I changed clothes and huddled on the couch to take a nap. We woke up hungry and made a run to McDonald's to get lunch for everyone. Big mistake when everyone else in town is also without power.

To make a long story short (I know - too late), the kids and I ended up staying at my in-laws Friday and Saturday nights. Jeff had to stay here and mind the pump. He had to turn it on to drain the hole, and then turn it off so the motor wouldn't burn up. He was up every 20 minutes the first night, and then it finally slowed down so he could sleep for 2-hour stretches the second night. He had no heat until Saturday afternoon when his dad insisted on bringing kerosene heaters in. It helped, but still was not my idea of comfortable.

As if this weren't enough, we had Christmas with my family on Saturday, in Russells Point. The kids and I went, but we all felt bad leaving Daddy at home. Christmas was fun, and my sister invited us to spend the night there, but I felt we should get back. Christmas with Jeff's family was on Sunday. We still had no power Sunday morning, so it was hard to get in the spirit. Jeff came to his parents to shower and get ready, and brought laundry since we were running out of clean clothes.

The kids opened presents, and it was almost time for Jeff to run home to drain the sump hole once again, when he got a call from a neighbor that our power was back on! We really felt like it was a Christmas miracle!! He ran home to turn everything on, return the pump, and make sure the furnace fired up. We ate dinner, visited awhile longer, and then started the process of loading the vehicles with all of our possessions - laundry, coolers of food that we had moved there, Christmas gifts, and the dog.

The clean up at home was no small task - and is still not complete - but it is good to be home! A big thanks to my in-laws for putting up with us for three days....again, no small task!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!