Ice Ice Baby!

The joy of electricity, heat, warm running water, our own beds... ahhh and so much more!!
We have many posts to catch up on... but they will have to wait so that we can assure you all is well on the home front... finally! After losing power on Thursday night sometime around or before midnight.. we awoke to crazy icy trees and still no power. Rob called into work since Kim had no power either so for her to watch the kids was fruitless as well. I set off for work, after calling the weather hotline, only to find my route to work impassable. While calling home to tell Rob of the wreckage everywhere I discovered a text message from a work friend.. indeed we did NOT have work! We discovered very creative parenting as the four of us sat in the family room around the fireplace with the rest of the house blocked off with a blanket to keep the warm air in. At last around 4 we called it quits and travelled to my Mom's house where there was still no power, but at least a generator kept the pellet stove running and with town water we at least had cold running water! and a refrigerator! and of course good company! Still no power Rob went back to the house to be there in case pipes burst. Sleeping in 2 hour intervals so as to keep the fire going Rob manned the fort while the kids and I slept soundly! He did this for 2 nights until finally we abandoned ship for fear of freezing when the fireplace just wasn't keeping the room warm enough to warrant staying.. and with no running water, hauling water to flush just wasn't fun anymore! The weekend passed and still no power, thankfully Babci let us shower and tub the kids during our visit to her house and she cooked some of our chicken that was going to go bad unless we ate it since it had begun to thaw.. I must mention we lost SO much food it brings a tear to the eye! The best meat ever that we got from a slaughter house, and a ton of chicken and other steaks we had bought, at least they were bought on sale! Anyhow.. Rob and I alternated taking days off, until Wednesday when Kim took the kids to relieve the boredom at her house! Thankfully she has a generator. We fully regained power back on Day 5 around 8pm.. hallelujah! Poor Kim, and many others in town are going on Day 8! Once power was back on we discovered our Refrigerator wasn't cooling down. Woe is us!! Luckily it was a quick and easy fix by a repairman today so we are back in business. Thankfully we made it through the ordeal safely, and the kids had the time of their lives living with Grammy and Grampy for those days! Other than the food, the only other thing lost was the swingset, where a branch now lies... but we were going to get a new one for the boys' birthday anyway, although this now puts a damper on putting the old one on Craig's List! The saddest part for me is that we are still not fully decorated for Christmas.. my favorite time of year because of the decorations, and I am 5 days behind on my homemade gifts.. some of which I most likely won't finish in time.. (sad face!) half finished with an IOU will have to do I guess!

Anyway.. even though it was an ordeal it was really beautiful the morning after the storm, the sun came out and began melting all the ice, thankfully I was able to get a few cool pictures (at least I like them!) before it all left!

A big thanks to all who helped us out in the craziness.. especially Mom and Tony who put up with us, our crazy kids, and all of our belongings strewn about the house! Enjoy the pictures.. and let us know if you see a good sale on generators!! An investment we will be sure to get in on hopefully before the next time we need one!