Snow Days 2013

I entitled this Snow Days 2013, because I am really hoping that is all we get. I like one good snow (preferably without ice) and then I am good for the year. Nathan has to work on snow days - usually keeping Wal-Mart parking lot clean for those last minute bread and milk shoppers :)

Our home :)

 The snow/ice started on Thursday night and lasted until Friday afternoon. The kids and I played in the snow about 15 minutes - I didn't want them to get sick or too cold. We kept our power until Friday night about 8:00. I figured we were in the clear at that point, but no such luck. Both kids were in the bath tub playing and I was folding laundry and it went dark - the kids were screaming, until I came in with a flashlight, then it was funny :) I had the heat turned up all day and everything charged up just in case we lost power. So, we toughed out night one with no power. The house only got down to 67 overnight so that wasn't too bad. We spent most of Saturday playing with the light of the sun - then decided if the power didn't come back on my 5:00 to go to a hotel for the night. I started packing while we still had sunlight to see and thought if I packed us up then the power would most likely come back on. Once again, no such luck. So, we went to a hotel where Nathan's parents and my brother and his family were also staying due to no power.

Ryan loved the water :)

Noah was in Heaven!

Momma and her water baby :)

Ryan did so good in the playpen - just went right to sleep!
I was worried, she hasn't slept anywhere besides her bed until this!

Noah watching movies in his hotel bed :)

Ryan just had to brush her teeth because Dada was :)

We had a fun night of hot tubs, pizza, and playing - but 2 kids in a hotel room is a lot. We checked out the next day and had lunch at my moms and then home to start warming the house back up again so we could stay there that night. We had a generator and the refrigerator, tv, space heater, and a lamp plugged into it. So, we were not exactly roughing it, but it was still not ideal. We boiled water with our propane cooker for the kids bath. We then got word we should have power back by 10:00 p.m.! Nathan went to get us dinner (we live close to town and tend to not stock up on food for snowstorms, especially with no for sure way to cook it or keep it cold) and not long after he was back the power came back on! It took me a minute to realize it was on because the generator was running and we had the tv and lamp on - but I thought I heard something and I saw the DVR light on and jumped up and turned the lights on! It was so awesome! You don't really fully appreciate electricity and all the things you use it for until you lose it. Plus, I like the lights on if I am awake - so sitting in the dark was very uncomfortable to me.

"Roughing it" before the power finally came back on!

This all happened 2 weeks ago - I am a little behind on blogging. But, the weather since then has been great - very warm for winter. We are supposed to get cold weather again next week, but hopefully no more snow or ice - once a year is enough. That is another reason I like Arkansas - we get that once a year snow to enjoy :)

Another thing - Ryan has some important medical appointments tomorrow so if you can throw up some extra prayers for her that would be great! Thank you to all who keep e-mailing, texting, and messaging me support and encouraging words for me and Ryan - it means more than you know!