The kids are terrified of the lightning and thunder storms. During the day they are usually okay, but if the storms happen when they are trying to fall asleep, there are a lot of tears. They come running into my room, and poor Brynnlee who is stuck in her crib is left by herself yelling and whimpering, "Mommy! Mommy! Wiiiiiiind! The wiiiiiiiind!"
One night (the night that both of these pictures were taken) I had just put the kids to bed when the thunder and lightning started up. It was loud. And I mean LOUD. I knew the kids would be freaking out soon, so I just gathered them all up and brought them to my bed with me. Charles was at a church meeting and he actually saw one of the bolts of lightning touch down in the parking lot not even 100 yards away from him as he was walking to his car.
So it was just me and the kids cuddled up in the bed. After a huge crash of thunder the kids all screamed and hid under the blanket... I couldn't help myself. I belted out in my best Julie Andrews voice, "Raindrops on roses, and whiskers on kittens..." After an amazing verse or two, I looked at the kids and they were just staring at me like I was an alien.
Note to self: Show the kids The Sound of Music.
Since they didn't appreciate my singing, I turned to Netflix on the iPad to distract them from the storm. Charles came home minutes later and joined us in the bed for an episode of Justin Time.
Another note to self: A King size bed would be fantastic.
During the rainstorms in the day, the kids had a blast running out and getting soaked. At the beginning they weren't so sure, but by the end they were rolling around in the puddles.
Did I mention the kids are terrified of tornados? TERRIFIED. This is why:
One night we were sitting at the table eating dinner, and all of a sudden we heard screaming outside. We knew it was windy, but the scream was not a familiar sound. Charles and I looked at each other, confused, and then he peered out the front door window. Then very calmly he told everyone to go down in the basement for a little while.
I could tell by his sudden but calm demeanor that it was bad, and I had to see. When I looked out the window, all I could see was dark brown. No sky, no grass, not even the pillars right outside my door. It was all dark. I stifled a scream and started grabbing kids and pulling them down the stairs. Yeah... I was real suave. When we got in the basement we waited a minute or two. I was expecting to hear windows shattering at this point. Then the screaming stopped.
We went back to the main floor and looked outside. It was clear as day. Everything that was on our porch was now in our neighbor's yard. Our neighbor's rocking chair had blown off their porch and slammed into their fence making a huge hole. There were trash cans all over the street and up our front lawn, almost to our house. They had travelled quite a distance from their homes. Some houses lost some of their siding, and a few trees had broken in half. It was crazy that all of that could happen in just a few minutes. Some people called it a mini tornado. Some people called it a sandstorm.
Whatever it was... it has caused many... many... many... sleepless nights. The kids crawl into bed with Charles almost every night and claim that they are having nightmares about tornados. Charles likes to put on an act that he doesn't like to be woken up every night. But in reality-- he loves the chance he gets to cuddle with the kids.
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