{the perfect storm}

We were on vacation for a week and I have fun stories and photos to share, but before I do that I thought I'd show you what happened last night....

5:00 PM -- Our area was under a severe thunderstorm WATCH. The WARNINGS were far to our north.

6:00 -- I was grilling dinner when it got VERY dark outside. So dark in fact that I couldn't tell if the chicken was cooked or not.

6:05 -- I brought the chicken in and turned off the grill because I didn't want to be outside with all that lightning! Turns out the chicken wasn't fully cooked so I was going to pop it in the microwave for a minute so I wouldn't have to go outside again.

6:06 -- Power went out. So much for the chicken. Luckily the kids had just finished eating because they had been starving earlier and just couldn't wait.

6:07 -- Got the flashlights and candles. Ate corn on the cob for dinner by candlelight. We noticed some roof shingles on the lawn.

6:20ish -- The smoke detectors went off. Great. A fire??!?!? I went to the basement -- no fire there. Gerard went upstairs -- no fire there, either. BUT THE RAIN WAS POURING INTO OUR BEDROOM THROUGH THE CEILING FAN AND SMOKE DETECTOR onto our bed. We quick pulled off the mattress and placed buckets on the boxspring. It was too late. There was so much water in the attic that it was seeping into the walls, too. So, our bedroom was soaked, the wall was soaked, the living room ceiling below was getting wet, and the stairs leading to the basement were wet, too. And there was nothing we could do because it was still pouring outside and we had bare wood on our roof.

8:00 -- We put the kids to bed (their rooms were fine) and Gerard set up the air mattress in the living room.

10:00 -- Gerard assured me that the ceiling in the bedroom would be fine. Yes, the seams were wet. Yes, it was still dripping. But no, it wasn't going to collapse. We went to bed.

11:40 -- We heard a loud bang from upstairs. We ran up to find the ceiling ON OUR BED. Yup. The ceiling. On our bed. Insulation everywhere. Lovely. So much for Gerard's assurances.

12:40 -- Power came back on.

6:30am -- Morgan woke up and we began the lovely process of talking to the insurance, getting the roof fixed, finding a contractor to assess all the damage and fix everything. Fun.

The roof

Our bedroom

The living room ceiling

Our neighbor to the rear

{aunt debbie's visit}

Aunt Debbie came to visit this weekend while Gerard was out of town (yes, on Father's Day). She was a great help (I even napped once!) and the kids just love her. Gerard misses her already.

Although I didn't take any pictures of her with Morgan and Gerard, she did help me take some pictures of the kids. Enjoy!

In addition to all the outfits she bought for Morgan and the adorable dress and hats she knitted for her (pictures will be coming!), she also bought Gerard this cool Backyardigan's sprinkler thing. It was only warm enough to use it one day, but I'm sure we'll get lots of use out of it this summer!

{let there be peace}

Thanks to Patti and Ma for sending this my way....

{our crazy life}

First of all, happy birthday Patti, happy birthday Aunt Marilyn, and happy anniversary Ma and Dad!

Here's what's been going on here....

Gerard's preschool class went to the zoo last week. It's a small-ish zoo, and Gerard was disappointed that there were no lions and tigers and bears (oh, my!) He had fun nonetheless. The day started off cool and rainy, but it warmed up nicely and Gerard got to feed giraffes and goats and got a little too close to a peacock.

Then on Wednesday, Gerard had his end-of-the-year party at school. They played games and had races and got some nice certificates and a memory book from Mrs. H.

That's where the fun ended.... Instead of tee ball Friday night, we spent the afternoon and evening in the basement while the tornado sirens were sounding. No touch-downs here, but we had some pretty nasty rain and wind. Then another storm blew in today and we lost some shingles off the roof. No tornados, though.

And Saturday morning Gerard woke up with a weird rash. I thought it might have been related to the strep he had just gotten over, so we went to the doctor. It wasn't strep. He has fifth disease (not as scary as it sounds) and, totally unrelated, he has walking pneumonia. And to top it off, Morgan has a virus too. It's been a fun weekend....

Here are some pictures of Gerard showing the progression of his rash, from yesterday morning to last night to today:

That about wraps things up here. I hope everyone had a nice weekend!

{tee ball picture}

We got Gerard's tee ball pictures Friday night so I thought I'd scan in his individual shot for you to see...

{a great idea!}

Those of you with little kids should really check out these safety tattoos. What a great idea!