The little tornado that was...

So in our little town last night a tornado paid us a visit. Where our house is you would never have guess that any of this happened (and we're only 10 blocks out from this picture!). It rained heavily and then at 7:32 p.m. the National Weather Service flashed an emergency message on the television screen saying that a storm with strong rotation would be in our town by 7:35 (not enough time to get to mom and dad's; ya know, because they have a basement). So I round up my troops to get to our bedroom closet, but by the time I got them the storm had already passed us. Thank goodness, right? Then our power went out, came back on, went back out, came back on, went back out...and stayed out. I packed up the diaper bag to go to Grammy's (figuring they had power) and we were on our way. As we got closer to town (which, again, is only 10 blocks) Husband and I realized that a big storm did indeed go through town. As we got even closer into town we realized that it was, indeed, a tornado. Trees were down (some uproooted)everywhere, power lines were down, and firetrucks and police cars were driving around with their sirens blaring. At the local middle school the roof was taken off the south end and almost all of the windows were shattered. Mom and I went out early this morning and took lots of pictures before they started closing roads. These ones are from when little sister and I went out. It was quite a sight. The girls and I ended up staying at my parent's house that night. It helped to keep Noodle's mind off the fact that she couldn't watch a movie. But, Husband went home to sleep because he had to work this morning and all of his work stuff was at home (with the entire town out of power, 8800 people to be exact, I didn't feel the need to be driving around and trying to get into my house in the unbelievable darkness. It was freaky how dark it was outside!). Mom will have more details on her blog because she saw the actual cyclone above her house! Freaky deaky. I'm hoping our first tornado experience is also our last.

Check out Bacardi Mama to see more pictures (i'm not sure when she'll have her post up. you might have to check back later. her pictures will be worth it).

Party on, Wayne!

So we finally had Husband's 30th birthday party, and it was a blast! To say he was surprised would be an understatement. Two hours before the party, though, I thought for sure I had blown it. Husband was doing his P90X workout in the family room and I was in the kitchen talking on the phone with my niece (the one who babysat that night). And I'm going on and on about details she needs to know being I wouldn't see her when she got there. And half way through telling her about bedtime it occured to me that Husband was in the next room and quite possibly heard our conversation (well, my half of the conversation anyways). Now, that normally would not have been a problem. Except he was under the impression that I was out to lunch and a show with my sisters and would be home around 7:00. So why would Niece need to know about bedtime? Luckily for me, Husband was in his own little P90X world and didn't hear a thing.

When I left the house I stopped by a local florist to pick up three bundles of balloons. And as I went to pay I realized that I had left my party shoes sitting in the mudroom of my house. Again, why would it be a problem for me to run home and get them? Because by the time I realized I forgot them I should have been halfway to the restaurant for lunch with my sisters. I had no choice, though, but to go home and get the shoes because the shoes I left the house in would have looked sooooo stupid with my party outfit I took with to change into. And again, when I ran home to get my shoes Husband didn't even know I had been back in the house (which now scares me a little to think about that).

Once I got to the party destination, decorating and setting up tables went fairly quick. Twin sister and her husband and my mother-in-law came early to help (which was a great help). Everyone arrived around the time I asked and then it was just waiting for the guest of honor to arrive. Once he pulled into the parking lot with my accomplice I made the big announcement and everyone got in place and were ready to yell surprise when he walked in (I made sure I was standing front and center).

When Husband walked in and everyone yelled 'surprise' I thought he just might pee his pants. It took him more than a couple minutes to take it all in and realize all of the planning that had gone into the one event. Once he got his barings he said 'i need a drink' and proceeded to walk straight to the bar....didn't look at me, didn't say 'hi' or 'thank you', didn't even acknowledge that I was even there. It got a good laugh and I saw the humor in it as well. Immediately afterwards my Mom went over to him and made the suggestion that he should maybe go over and thank his kickass wife (ok, so she didn't say it quite like that. I adlibbed a bit).

All in all, the party was a big hit. Because of Husband's work schedule I had to have the party on a Sunday. That, actually, worked out quite well. No one was out really late (or got really drunk) and we were home at a reasonable time as well. The girls had a great time with our niece and the icing on the cake was that Noodle was in bed when we got home and Lizard was soon to follow. It was a great night.