Stormy Weather

It's really hard to take photos in a hurricane.  It's a shame though, because Dani had a wonderful time playing in the rain!

Mother nature is having a field day with our neck of the woods, as of late.  First an earthquake on Tuesday (which is almost unheard of in Virginia) and now hurricane Irene passing through on the weekend.

Saturday for us brought a lot of wind and rain.  Oddly enough, nothing was damaged in our yard.  I thought for sure at least one of the many old trees that surround our house on all sides would have at least dropped some large branches on us....but they didn't.  Many of the other trees in the area came down though, sadly.


As of 2:30-ish on Saturday our power went out.  I was napping on the bed with the kids while Aaron ran out to the store.  We really weren't thinking the storm would do much in our area so we didn't really plan for a long-term power outage.  Later we had to make another trip to get some snacks that didn't require opening the fridge or cooking.  I also thought to grab an activity book for Dani while we were out.

I have to say, the Funky Sticker Backpack was a real lifesaver!  It kept Dani busy the whole weekend!  I was pleased with the variety of activities and themes it included.  Some were "girly", but most of them were gender neutral or even "boyish" (in some people's opinions).  We set her up by a window while it was still light and after dark we lit all the candles we could dig up and continued playing and coloring by flashlight.  At which point I did some experimenting with make-shift oil lamps...

Between these two tutorials I came up with a couple different types of lamp.  The first using a baby food jar, yarn, and some wire.  My favorite was made with nothing but tin foil, a strip of old t-shirt, and olive oil.  Just shape the foil into a shape something like a Genie's lamp and lay in the wick.  It works great and is truly the easiest type of lamp to throw together in an emergency!

 After awhile Dani and Oscar started getting tired out.  We played with shadows in bed for a bit and then read storybooks by flashlight til they both fell asleep.

The camera's flash was the most light we'd had all night!

Power was still off this morning and it was doubtful it would come back on anytime soon so we headed out for food and then took the contents of our fridge with us to see my good friend Amanda from Not My Expectations.  The girls had a great time and so did the littles!

We had a tea party on a lovely stump table and chairs

Dani and E

Oscar enjoyed the Storch Leo I borrowed

A in the Girasol

Surprisingly, the power IS back on now.  I much say I'm surprised....we had been told it wouldn't be on before tomorrow night.  I must say I've had enough wild weather for quite some time!