Blizzard of 2010

Warning: Long post!

So... as it turns out, the snow (so magical and pretty at first) ended up causing some major problems last week-end. Russ was in Memphis working on a documentary of his family. He had been there since Wednesday and was scheduled to come home on Saturday night. Of course, we were desperately awaiting his arrival - especially since Sunday was Valentine's Day! The great thing was that our friend Alissa flew in from Tulsa to help me during that time. She left Sunday morning. If she hadn't been there, I'm sure I would've cried 25 times!

Anyway... back to the snow. About an hour after it started falling (and actually covering the ground here!) our power went out. Right in the middle of the opening ceremony of the Olympics. It flickered for a little bit, but eventually went off. Alissa and I spent the rest of the night gathering up the candles and reading magazines by candlelight. The girls were already asleep and we were wondering how we would keep them warm. We snuck in Noa's room and covered her with blankets. Seems like an easy solution, but I was worried all night because Noa doesn't really know that blankets keep her warm, so she could easily toss them off and freeze. The baby just slept in bed with me. We were sure the power would be on when we woke up.

No chance! Our house was freezing! We decided to go to Mc Donald's for coffee and something to eat (as we couldn't open the fridge, etc.) As we drove there ("braving the storm" :) we noticed that every single place we looked had power except for us. We later found out that we were one of about 6 houses in the neighborhood that didn't have power. Everyone else thought the snow was soooo cool. In retrospect, I probably should've taken the girls out in it and got a few pictures, but #1- we had no power or warmth and #2- snow is not that big of a deal to me. We were already sick of it! But, we were sure the power would be on when we got back from Mc Donald's.

Nope. All the neighbors (like the whole street) were out in their front yards making snowmen before it all melted (it was already on the way to melting). Alissa and I had to get ready because I had purchased tickets to a home tour on Kiawah Island for something fun to do. We took showers but had no way to really get ready - so we just kind of slicked back our hair and went with it. We really did look terrible. We dropped the girls off at Nona and Pops' and then drove out to Kiawah. I decided to put my makeup on in the car on the way there and unfortunately I put too much powder on my brush and got it all over the front of my outfit and down my arm. I was wearing a white shirt! So, we (or I) really looked like trash. Not good when you're going to rub shoulders with the most pretentious people on the planet as you go through their houses! None of them were even in jeans! We totally were. With makeup on them. :) Anyway, speaking of their houses... WOW!

This one was our favorite - boardwalk out to the ocean and pool in the backyard. (Well, they all had pools - but this view was amazing!)

Rare sight on Kiawah...

We weren't allowed to take pictures of the inside (I think Alissa snuck a few), but the outside will give you a taste of what they were like. Totally extravagant. Fun to see. We both agreed that we would have to house orphans in them or something if we owned one -- to much for like a family of four. Wonder what the island folks would think about that! :) Who knows. Anyway... we were sure the power would be back on when we returned from Kiawah at 3 p.m.

No way! I'm glad we had somewhere to be because as soon as we returned and clicked the garage door button, we could tell it was running on reserve power because it was so slow. AH! What were we going to do with the girls all night in a cold, unlit house?! We packed up before it got dark (which included a TON of stuff for the girls -- dipes, clothes for Sunday morning, 2 pack 'n' plays, things for them to do, food that was going bad, and then all of our stuff) and headed over to Nona and Pops' house for the night. Only to pack it all back up and get to church, everone in tow, by 8:30 the next morning. We were desperately wanting Russ to come home! He had actually called in the middle of the home tour to say that he was snowed in (and quite upset about it) and my heart just dropped. :( We were ready for our normal rhythm to continue. And this meant that he wouldn't be at church tomorrow (or helping me get the girls ready for church -- although Nona and Pops' were an incredible help), so I felt like I was orchestrating a lot of things (even though in actuality, I wasn't - just a few more things to coordinate with the elders).

Alissa got on the road Sunday morning (probably glad to go!). Church went fine. Power came back on (while we were gone) - so when we returned home from church we were fine. Russ missed the snow of the century and actually missed Valentine's Day too as he didn't return until 1 a.m. that night. I honestly don't know how single moms do it. I have so much respect for them! It is a hard job - especially with babies this age.

The girls left this out for Russ on Valentine's night.

So... I'm actually glad we probably won't get another snow for 20 more years or so. South Carolina can't handle it and neither can 3 girls without the daddy and husband!