Monday, April 25, 2011

more storms... only this time at mom and dad's

April 20th, another storm system came through. This one was not supposed to be as bad as the last one, just maybe some straight line wind to worry about. I was at work when it went through, it got really dark and stormy.  I didn't think much about it until I got a call from mom saying they had two trees down, one that had crushed their gazebo and was in the pool. They also had no power and apparently their poor dog had gotten so scared she jumped in the pool too! ( she was fine and was able to get out, only to jump in it again when dad cranked up the chainsaw... silly dog)  Then I got a call from my friend Melanie saying that when her hubby was going to drop their children off at NBD (where JE is also at) a tree had fallen on a power line and the school had no power. They quickly got in touch with us and we were able to go pick everyone up. That meant JE got to come to work with mommy for a little bit, because there were trees down everywhere in Summerfield (where mom and dad live.) They were blocking one of the entrances to the neighborhood. So, when Jamie and I finally got over to their house after work this is what we found...
Dad had already gotten the part out of the pool
Poor gazebo and furniture... this is their second gazebo to get crushed!





And they say there are still more severe storms headed our way!! I don't know about you, but I've had enough with the tornadoes and straight line winds!! Come on heat of summer! Let's get our of tornado season!!
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

April 15 .... Tornado

So... April 15th supposed to be a normal day right? I was getting off work early to go get a little shopping in before I had to pick up Eric from school, but oh no that didn't happen! Instead of getting off early to go shopping, I was getting off early to pick Eric up from School. My favorite weatherman, James Spann, was calling for severe weather on this day, expected to hit right after school.  I go get Eric, we go get some lunch, and are going to go pick JE up before the weather got bad and get back home. While we were eating lunch and watching the weather, it became apparent that a super bad storm was headed towards "Taylorville!" Did I hear that right? Did he actually just say the name of my community?? The one I had told Eric to always listen for if there was bad weather?? OH Crud!! I think we will stay at mom and dads! So we stayed, not realizing that the storm would cross through town and head that way! (Hey, but at least I had help with the boys!) My brother Jason and his puppy Maggie came by to wait out the storm with us!! about 30minutes before it hit, we had a craving for some Pillsbury Cookies, so Jason went and got them and we cooked them and had a great time eating them!! Still watching James, he starts using the tower camera's in Tuscaloosa to look for a tornado... when all of a sudden, oh my, there it is!! I hear James say "There's the tornado on the ground. We have reports that a large tornado is on the ground in Magnolia Park"  Seriously, my first thought was, Magnolia Park?? I have friends there!! I quickly sent them some FB messages to make sure they were okay! I thought, yeah that's close to my house, but they keep referring to Shelton State and that's south of my house, so should be okay. Dad has pulled out his police scanner and we are anxiously listening to hear the path as a police officer radio's dispatch to say that it is passing through the intersection of McFarland and Skyland and that it blew out the windows in his patrol car. Then I see James has listed times when the tornado should be different places... I see 3:49 Holt. I panic because that is way too close to mom and dad's house for me! By this time, my poor eldest is shaking because he is so scared! I take him in the bathroom and we stay in our safe place for a little while. Amazingly my parents never lost power, which is odd because when the wind blows in just the right way, they usually lose it! It was just God looking out for us! I did not realize until a week later how close the tornado actually came to their house! Then the damage reports started to come in. We stayed where we were for a while and the hubby called and told me that our neck of the woods was a wreck and that I probably could not make it home right now and to stay put. When I finally got home, it was a wreck everywhere around where we lived. This is what I found at our house:

Eric's trampoline! Our neighbor said she thought it was going to go over the fence into her yard, but it got hung up in the tree.
Our fence crushed my rose bush, but I think it will survive!
Hiya Neighbor!! Eric's thought to this was "At least I can go get my toys back when they go over the fence!"

This peeks into our other neighbors yard!

I know it is really hard to see, but there is a little roof damage!

The trampoline after we flipped it back over! Who wants to jump first??

This is one of our neighbor's house

Another neighbor's fence is gone

Mangled Swing Set

There were lots of trees down everywhere, roads impassable, but thankfully our neighborhood seemed to have the least amount of damage. We just simply don't have a lot of trees and we are in a small neighborhood. We have done a lot of clean up and are now waiting on the Insurance Adjusters to let us know what we need to do... patiently waiting because I know that there are others who are worse off than us. Hope everyone out there has survived the crazy spring storms... I hear there are more on the way.
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

Monday, April 18, 2011

A nice surprise at work

 now, you will have to forgive me as this post is nearly two weeks late... We had a surprise visitor at work. Here is precious little baby Gage! Such an adorable little addition to our TTC family. Sorry for the poor quality of picture, but I couldn't get too close because I had a cold, so I'm using zoom! He's so tiny!
Sorry for the crazy photo Ashley! But doesn't she look great after having Gage??

We miss you at work Ashley!! Hope to see you soon, but enjoy your time off with your sweet baby!
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

Saturday, April 16, 2011

A little happy mail!

 Got home to find some mail for me!! Excinting huh!!?? A week earlier I ordered myself a scrapbook kit from creative memories and it came this day!
 Here it is... a beautiful album and pages for it all ready to go!! All I have to do is add pictures and some embellishments!! Easy right!! Now to decide where to start??
 And here is what happened to the packaging that came with it....

Kindergarten Trip to the Barnyard

Eric's Class

Eric was so excited about driving the boat.


Feeding the fish




His favorite little chicken



Love this pic!
We had a great time, although it was really windy and cold!

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Go Red Wings!!

Eric ready for his first baseball game! The Jamboree started at the end of March! The ended up winning their first two games!! Hopefully we can keep that up throughout the season!! Already a big improvement from last year! Glad we decided to play at Taylorville! We are enjoying seeing so many folks we know from out here and getting to know some new ones! It's great that the ballpark is right beside the school and large playground, because that gives JE something to do...

He had to have his picture taken too!! Little Stinker, as Eric calls him!!

Eric up to bat..

yes that's him under that hat!!We will spend many days and nights at the park for the next several weeks, but that's okay! We all enjoy it and it is a super way to spend some time together! We love our team and our coach! Sorry that we will have to play against some great friends and cousin - in- laws (is that right?), but we will have fun regardless!! Feel free to come hang out with us at the ball park sometime! It really is a treat to see these guys play!!

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz


I got to go to work late due to a conference we were attending, so I got to make sure the boys got up each day. After I got ready, I went to wake them, and this is how they looked! So sweet!


A Sping Chicken!


 On March 20, our family took a trip to Selma, AL to celebrate Jamie's grandfather who was turning 91! The spring chicken title is  what my grandmother called him when she met him 11 years ago at our wedding!!
Grandaddy Mac... the man of the hour



Blowing out the candles with a little help of course! You know my boys are never too far away from some cake!!

 This Sunday was absolutely beautiful, so we played outside all afternoon! Eric decided to try his hand at a little basketball... in case you were wondering, he somehow manages to always shed his shirt first chance he gets!
 JE decided he wanted to play basketball too, he found a small one to play with!
 Here is Aunt Sissy capturing all the fun...
 JE changed his mind about basketball and decided to stick to a sport he was better at! He is really quite good for a two year old! Jamie's Dad is the pitcher today!
Lastly, we got a surprise visit from one of the cousins! This is Eli, he is several months younger than JE! We were glad he could come by and play for a few minutes!!