Once the ice storm was over and done with, we missed 4 days of school. That pushes us to a current "last day" of June 2nd. That's tolerable...I just hope we don't get another storm. We're leaving for Florida on June 13th and I don't want to push it too close! The storm damage was devastating for the entire Northwest Arkansas region. There are trees down everywhere and power was out for a lot of people for a long time. We were so fortunate not to ever lose power beyond a flicker. I've heard of some people who lost power for over a week. The area is looking better every day, but there are still signs of the damage everywhere. Huge trees came crashing down under the weight of the ice. There were limbs and power lines blocking the roads for days. Everything was shut down Tuesday and most of Wednesday. When Rudy went to get Grandma from her powerless house on Wednesday afternoon, the roads were tough to navigate, but they were passable with extreme care. On Thursday, everything was still frozen, but people were starting to stir. We decided we HAD to get out of the house. We were all going absolutely stir crazy! So...we bundled up and went to Chuck E. Cheese. It was the only place where we could get a decent meal (surprisingly good pizza) and Caleb could burn off some pent-up energy. Plus, it's big enough that we weren't all piled on top of each other the whole time. Grandma had never been to a Chuck's, so it was a very different experience for her! :) We stayed for a while and then came straight home so Caleb could get a nap. Grandma was with us again on Thursday night and we didn't do much. We watched the Razorback game and tried not to succumb to the cabin fever. On Friday, Grandma's power was back on, so Rudy took her home. After that, he and Caleb packed up and headed to Ft. Smith to spend the weekend with Jan. Of course, I don't know all the details of their trip to Ft. Smith. I do know that they had a great time with Jan on Friday night. They also went to Spiro to see the Morrises on Saturday. Rudy told me they were doing better than he had seen them in a long time.
Friday night, I went to a birthday party for a co-worker. I volunteered to drive so nobody else would have to, but it ended up just being Jodie, Loren and me. Fortunately, Loren is a great parallel parker or we never would've gotten the big ol' Acadia in that parking spot on Dickson! We did a Chinese fire drill in the middle of the street so he could park. It was amusing to us - probably not to the people who were waiting on us, though. :) I swear someday I'll learn to parallel park. Maybe when I'm driving a smaller car. Maybe. Probably not. After we spent a few hours at the birthday party, we came back up to Rogers and tried to go hear a band play, but they were already packing up. We ended up going back to Jodie's for a while and I didn't get home until 2:15. Seriously. When's the last time that happened that didn't involve taking a toddler to the emergency room?
Of course, I slept in on Saturday. I had no responsibilities and I took full advantage of that. When I got up, I took care of a few things around the house, then got ready to go meet Stacy for our scrapbooking night. I started at Hobby Lobby, where I bought some supplies for less than I would've spent on them at SSD. Then, I headed for SSD, where I set up camp for the night. Once Stacy got there, we went out to get pizza for her birthday and then back to SSD to actually crop. I tackled the pages that had been looming over me for a while: Caleb's birthday. They turned out great and I'm glad to have them finished. Now I'm only 8 months behind on my scrapbooking! Ugh... Stacy and I stayed until they practically kicked us out at midnight. I came home and couldn't get to sleep, so I ordered those 8 months worth of pictures on Shutterfly. That took me a few hours. I finally managed to get a little bit of sleep before Caleb and Rudy got home.
On Sunday, 2/1, we had Jeremy, Lauren and Bella Pratchard over to watch the Super Bowl. Caleb was so excited to meet Bella. He kept asking us, "When my Fella gonna get here?" We spent most of the day preparing him for sharing his toys and being nice. Unfortunately, our preparation did not include a successful nap. We enjoyed having the Pratchards over and the kids played great. Caleb was cranky and threw a couple of pretty good-sized fits. He had a couple of attitude adjustments and then shaped up a bit. Just as the adults were about to eat dinner, Caleb had to go to the bathroom. I took him in and found out why he was cranky. He had diarrhea. OH NO!!!!! We apologized profusely to the Pratchards and hoped beyond hope that it wasn't something contagious. They graciously stayed for a while...until Caleb's 2nd trip to the bathroom told us it wasn't a one-time fluke. Fortunately, I've heard from Lauren since then and nobody else got sick. It must've been something he ate. Thank Goodness.
We made it through the week while looking forward to the next weekend (isn't that usually the case?). I have an intern working with me for the first time. Emilee started on Monday and so far, I love having her there! It's such a crap shoot when you agree to take an intern, but I definitely got a good one! Hallelujah! When I walked into my office Monday morning, there was a huge trash can in the corner and my furniture had been moved across the room. Apparently the ceiling had leaked from the ice and I was pretty fortunate that a lot of my materials weren't ruined. It took a couple of days to get things back to normal, but we finally made it. Now we're waiting to get new carpet in the office since it got soaked. Can you imagine walking into your first internship site and finding the ceiling leaking and a nasty trash can in the middle of the room? It didn't scare her off though, so I knew she'd be fine. :) Rudy had a band concert on Thursday. Caleb and I went to Westside night at Chuck E Cheese. He now officially loves that place.
On Saturday morning, Mom and Mr. L. got to our house around 10:30. They came for a 24 hour visit. Caleb LOVED having them here almost as much as Rudy and I did. After Caleb's lunch, he and Mr. L. took a nap together while Rudy went to workout and Mom and I went shopping. We hit almost every furniture store in NWA before we found the entertainment center that I wanted. Here it is...isn't it pretty???? I just love it!
When we got home, the boys were watching the Razorback game - which turned out to be as disappointing as most of the rest have been. After the game, Rudy cooked the amazing steaks that Mom and Mr. L. brought from Hot Springs. Yu-um. I am so grateful that Rudy enjoys cooking and is so good at it. We had a lazy Sunday morning until Mom and Mr. L. left around 10:30. After that, we had a pretty lazy Sunday in general.This week is a crazy one for us! I have parent-teacher conferences. Rudy's band concerts from right after the ice storm were rescheduled to this week. He ended up having to take Caleb to the concert last night (see previous post), but I got a babysitter for tomorrow night. This weekend should be just as busy. We are going to the Arkansas/Kentucky game on Saturday. On Sunday, we're taking Caleb to see Bob the Builder at the Walton Arts Center. I hope he likes it as much as he liked his Daddy's band concert.
Whew - that was a long one, but now I'm all caught up. Until next time...
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