December 27, 2012-Day 3 without Power!

Game Time!

(click here for today's pictures)

• Well I said last night that our plans change and they did last night-for the better!  We ended up not moving Keaton into our room because when I went to move her, she was snoring so loudly I heard her through the door.  Then I cracked the door to check the temp in there and it was cozy, so I quickly shut the door and hightailed it back to my bed.  
• The tent kids stirred around 4 and Robby climbed in with them for a bit.  They all slept until 7 and then we all slowly started waking up.  Robby finally woke Keaton up after 8 and we ran to the kitchen to grab some poptarts to eat for breakfast.  I say ran because the 54 degrees that the house had gotten down to was quite chilly.  
• As soon as the boys emerged from the tent this morning, they ran to our window to look out.  They were so excited that it had snowed "again" last night.  The first thing that Campbell did this morning was ask "we going to sleep in that tent again?"  We told her that probably we would and she grunted at us.  Seriously, though if you are cold in your house a tent is the way to go-it really heats up.  You can even borrow 4 of my kids to help heat it up!  
• Anderson desperately wanted to go outside today but Graham said he didn't want to go outside.  Campbell looked at Graham and told him that she would stay in with him because it was too cold out there.  Good thing we don't usually have cold weather or those two would never leave the house.  
• Yesterday was more of a play day so we didn't really do anything except try to stay warm and maintain the house.  But by this morning we had decided that no power is going to be a way of life for a few days (hopefully not though) so we started off working.
• We took down the rest of the Christmas decorations and stored them away in the attic.  Leaving our lantern on inside the attic when we were finished.  Our other lantern was left on last night by accident so we are lantern-less.  Robby did look for batteries today at Walmart but apparently everyone in Little Rock also needs D batteries.  No worries though, we have plenty of flashlights.  
• I know I have said this before but not too long ago our power went out because of a wreck and we had no grown up flashlights.  All we had were 3 kiddie flashlights that you had to crank to get them to work.  All of ours were out of batteries or not working.  (We are going to stock up on batteries and propane tanks after this is all over).  But after getting so many flashlights for Christmas we are good to go this go around. 
• The kids did really well playing in the toy room while we worked this morning.  Seriously, they act like it isn't freezing everywhere except for my bedroom.  Robby though worked up a sweat putting the Christmas stuff up in the attic.  Next up, our plan was to go to Nonna's to take a warm shower there and for a change of scenery.  But then we got a glorious phone call....FedEx.
• Yes, we had tracked Robby's generator from Nashville to Memphis to Little Rock and then wondered if they would even try to deliver it.  We guessed they would just say the weather was too bad but when FedEx says "overnight" they mean it!  They called to ask if we could meet the driver somewhere-of course, Robby would meet her anywhere she wanted whenever she wanted!
• So we all loaded up in the red van.  We thought it might be a bit easier to drive if the roads were questionable.  They were all fine though-some icy patches but most had dry ruts for the wheels and some areas were completely dry.  I am sure that will be a different story in the morning though.
• At Nonna's house, Robby ran in to take a shower-a warm wonderful shower and then him, Jason and Pops headed off to meet the FedEx truck.  They then went to Walmart to pick up a few things and then back to our house to play with the generator.
• Meanwhile, Nonna made the kids hot dogs and I had some veggie soup-best thing I had eaten in a few days.  Then we all had showers-it didn't matter that they were in the dark it was just a warm shower.  Of course, as soon as I got each kid out of the shower, I would have the run down the cold hallway to the fireplace to stand by it to put on their clothes.  
• We even had time to play a game and soon the menfolk were back from the adventure.  Robby was very pleased with his generator purchase and they didn't have any problem getting it started and figuring it out.  
• We are powering the heat to our new addition (I don't understand all of this but apparently this heater has a plug (not hardwired) so it works-our other two do not so they can't be done).  We are also running my outside fridge and deep freeze.  And also powering a few lamps and the tv.  Robby is actually downstairs right now (9:02 pm) taking a shower so he unplugged a few things to use the tankless hot water heater.  Oh, and we did use the microwave to heat up our pizza supper tonight.
• After returning to Nonna's house, Robby had a quick bite to eat and then we loaded up to go home and get gas and pizza along the way.  We sent the kids to the bonus room-they enjoyed the heat up there while Robby straightened the garage and generator stuff while I tried to pick up some of the house.  Seriously, it will take me 2 days to clean up when we get the lights on.
• We had already unloaded the refrigerator part of our inside fridge so I worked on moving our frozen stuff to the now working freezer.  I did realize how filthy my inside fridge is and will have to be cleaned-maybe tomorrow.  And then I will also have to unload and repack my freezers after this is all over so I can know what all I have and don't have any longer.  Come to think of it, I still have an ice chest sitting outside-it is fine but I can move it tomorrow.  
• It was getting dark quick so Robby set up a few lamps and then we called to see if Nonna, Pops and Jason would want to venture back out for pizza.  Of course they were here before we knew it-I think it was because we have a tv!  Seriously, my kids were so excited to just sit and watch the news.  We are so spoiled (and I like it!).  
• Before they arrived, I hurried around getting the bonus room ready-trying to turn it into a hotel room since we may be here for awhile.  Pretty sweet hotel room-huge tv, huge couch, big table, game table-could stay up here for weeks (please God don't let it be weeks!) 
• We all ate the pizza and then played a bit on the game table.  Then we turned on Annie and the kids and grown ups set spellbound watching it.  Remember we haven't seen tv in 3 days now!  And we aren't even big tv watchers around here.  Eventually Pops and all headed home to get their fire going for the night and we watched a bit more of the movie.  
• Then we laid out the kids mats and sleeping bags-far, far away from each other after 2 nights in the tent-and they went to sleep in a matter of minutes.  And they are sleeping soundly.  Keaton is in her new pack n play in the closet up here.  Yes, she must have been an especially good girl this year because Santa bought her a pack n play for Christmas!  Her friends will be so jealous-actually the one that she has been sleeping on has a big bump in the middle and now she is literally sleeping like a baby on the new one!  
• Tomorrow Grannymom and Grandpa might come over to see us-we hear Grandpa is wearing his hat around his house-and there may even be a trip to the laundromat!  Whoop whoop!  It's the simple things!