Close Calls

So, last weekend we got a taste of real Kansas Spring storms. It was predicted to be quite the weekend with super cell storms and tornadoes to ravage central Kansas among other areas. I'll be honest that the forecast put me in a bit of a panic. The last time we had to take cover in the basement, Julian was about a year old and we were down there maybe 10 minutes tops. Our basement is not somewhere you want to hang out. It's filled with storage, cast-off furniture, a cat litter box, gobs of cat fur and Eddie's weight bench. I'll be honest that it hasn't exactly been cleaned in a long time. A VERY long time. So, having a feeling that we would spend some time down there...I went down and cleaned up the best I could and even stocked some toys, snacks and essentials down there in case of a true emergency (and by essentials I mean fruit loops, juice boxes, shoes, my two external hard drives, camera gear and every babyhood momento of Julian's that I could find. I wasn't playing here, people.)

So, it turned out to NOT be all for nothing. We did have to take shelter in the basement twice on Saturday night, one of which was particularly scary. Something like 120 tornadoes/touch downs happened that day in Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska....one of which ended up being just about 3 miles north of us. At 1am. I had JUST turned off the TV after hearing that the riskiest storm for us had calmed down and was no longer a tornado threat. I went to the bathroom and was brushing my teeth in order to finally turn in for the night when our weather radio sounded an (ear splitting) alert. I figured it was another severe thunderstorm warning (they had just issued one not long before that and when they are renewed, the alert sounds again) only this time my weather radio was scrolling "tornado warning."  No other sirens...just that. I turned on my tv and sure enough a tornado was headed our way, so I went ahead and woke my child (this was 1:30am or so), woke my husband and we headed to the basement and listened as the weather radio reported a tornado on the ground in Randolph. I can see Randolph from the windows in my dining room, so knowing that a tornado literally came that close to us STILL gives me shivers. To my knowledge no major damaged occurred, although I did hear of some softball-sized hail (and we heard a few that were at least golf-ball sized hitting our roof.) SO, an exciting evening overall. My toddler was a bit tough to get back to sleep and I think I finally turned in for the night at 4am or so, storms still going on all around us. Welcome to Kansas.

If that weren't enough to get my anxiety kicking, come Monday morning I was on my way to work on highway 77 (my usual route) when I was stopped and made to turn around by a police officer. No explanation was given and I had to navigate my way through country roads and highways to my destination (arrived 45 minutes late, it was no small feat) only to find out that a pretty horrific accident occurred with several fatalities. I checked the time of the accident and it occured at about the time that I SHOULD have been on that strip of highway, if it weren't for the fact I was running 10 minutes late that day. Would it have happened to me? I don't know. Possibly not. I still don't know the cause of the accident, but it's enough to make me wonder 'what if' and never want to leave my house again. For a day or two. It's amazing how your mind works when you allow the 'what ifs' to really sink in, and it's not pretty. Since becoming a parent I have developed new terrifying fears, and at the very top of the list are natural disasters, armed robbery, kidnappers and car accidents. A weekend with two out of four was plenty for me to deal with.

In happier news, I:
- got our taxes done (BEFORE tax day...but by far the latest I've EVER done them)
- bought reservations for the Great Wolf Lodge for Eddie, Julian and I in May.
- bought 2 tickets to JASON MRAZ for September (hello early anniversary gift!) for a little overnight trip with the hubby (so so so excited).
- bought big boy underwear for my boy who is LESS than excited... the potty thing continues to pretty much not happen, but we aren't pushing it. Just 'practicing' and planting the idea in his head.
- AND watched our new side 'yard' be taken over by a giant pile of dirt/sand that will eventually (July 2012) house Eddie's new garage/shop and my (hopefully) small natural light studio space. (a little torn about the giant pile of dirt, but we also have picked out a rather kick-ass swingset/play equiptment that will be going in next to it for Julian to actually have something to play on.)

So, it's been a rather productive and busy time for us. The bathroom isn't done, but we're actually seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. once Eddie gets a few more studs in place, our drywaller will actually be coming in and INTALLING WALLS. This is monumental. WALLS. AND A CEILING. Yeah. Then it's just a matter of finding someone to do the tile (because we are NOT DOING IT. I keep telling Eddie this.) And hey, this bathroom might actually be finished by the time that garage is....and it only will have taken 3 years. How about them apples?
(Don't think for a second that the irony has escaped me concerning the fact that the garage will take one fraction of the time to be complete. Don't you worry - it hasn't.)

And a few of Julian's 52 pictures to round this out.

What can I say? The ladies love him. This little girl followed Julian around and 'mothered' him while we were playing at the park one day.

Let's go fly a kite!! Eddie came home from work early one day and we took the opportunity to finally break out the kite we bought months ago. Julian enjoyed it....I don't think it was as exciting as he hoped, but we all had fun nonetheless.

Swinging on the big boy swing...his new favorite past time!