Snow day & without power :(

We were all so excited to be home today. My clinic and all the surrounding clinics out of DCH were closed & the girls were out of school. We were all snuggly and I was preparing to make a massive breakfast about 8:30 when guess what?? Our flippin' electricity went out! I sat for a minute and prayed it was just a little flicker thing happening but no such luck. I immediately called REMC to report it. They were closed but I was transferred to a live person who reported me. I waited 40 minutes then I called the actual manager of REMC (who has been a long time friend of our family) and asked exactly how long he thought this would last. I told him I have 3 children at home including an 11 month old baby. I told him Eric was out cleaning the walk to the garage and digging through 9-10" of snow in case we needed to leave. He said it took their trucks an hour and a half to get to Lawrence Co. and then they got a truck off in a ditch. He said they were on there way back to Martin Co. but had no clue when and even if they could fix it. Then my aunt called (she spent the night at my parents house) and said he called there looking for me and to tell me that he called in my problem but still no clue if it would be fixed or not. I am so stubborn when it comes to the power being out. I do NOT want to leave my cozy home especially when the roads are considered to be in a state of emergency and the cops are issuing tickets to those outside on them! We waited about another hour and the house temp was dropping to the low 60's & the girls were dying to eat something hot so we decided to pack it up and go to my mom and dad's house. They live just down the road from us and takes approx 3 minutes or so to get there normally. After we finally got packed up, packed up the guinea pig, and got everyone loaded it still took us a long time to get there. The roads were horrible. I mean horrible!!! If it wasn't for our neighbors, the Arvins, we would not have made it to the highway. No county trucks have been down our road, no state trucks have been on the highway, etc. It's sad when the neighbors have to risk their lives just so we can get out for emergencies! Anyway, he took his tractor and did an excellent job on the main paved road and our long gravel road. He even went in and scraped our drive! We are so very thankful! We were starting to get pretty cold and had to load up. We had to and I'm glad we did since the power was off for approx 4 hours!!! Kayla took this pic below and it looks like it's off a calendar photo or something--she did great and it's a beautiful view from our backyard.

Here is Eric driving his cousin Shawn Howell's Kubota to clear our drive out the rest of the way. He wanted to get it cleared so he could get to work tomorrow. He has 4 wheel drive so he'll try his best. I'm sure he'll make it cause he rarely has missed in the 16 years we've been together even after I get onto him for going!

The girls cleared the ice and snow off of the 2 trampolines we have in the backyard. They took big chunks of the ice off the small trampoline and built a "castle". Look how cute it is. They have their arms resting on the trampoline and the chunks are their "walls".

Here's Kayla standing on the front porch this morning. My big flower bed is in front of the porch and you can barely see it!


Kayla took this pic of Danielle on the snow covered slide in our backyard.

Some of the ice and snow on the back deck.

Our tree in our front yard is so pretty no matter what time of year it is. I believe it's a flowering crabapple or something like that. Anyway, here it is covered in ice and snow and still looking pretty! The girls and Tiger are playing.

We took Olivia in and out a few times due to having to go to my parent's house but since she still has a gross runny nose I didn't really want her out in it for very long. It didn't matter though. She was just as content watching the girls play through the windows and here she is being spoiled rotten by her sisters and eating a bottle. (Notice no socks--she refuses to keep them on)