Down in the hole

SO, I guess we did need that tornado shelter after all. We actually had to use it last night- though by 10:00pm we were convinced the storms were not even headed in our direction. But out of nowhere sirens went off and we scrambled! I guess I thought that I would remain totally calm in a tornado situation, but when those sirens went off I could do nothing but run. I tore the kids out of bed. Ordered them into the garage to get them into the shelter. Shawn got them inside while I grabbed a bag and started throwing shoes, wallets, cell phones, etc. inside. I even grabbed a container of cereal. Then I ran back in for the weather radio (which I can't follow) and batteries. Shawn ran next door to get our neighbor and her little girl. Then we all just sat in the "hole" and waited. For. almost. an. hour. The sirens went off several times. Luckily a tornado never developed. But we watched the heavy clouds lower from our open hatch. There was just lowering and circulation, but nothing touched down here. Whew. I did gain confidence in our ability to take cover. With the shelter in our own garage, I bet the kids were inside within 45 seconds. If they had been awake it would have been even quicker. Feel better?

Today was the retirement ceremony of a very dear friend of mine. I am SO sad to have missed it. I should have been there, but I just couldn't. But my girls called me (while at work) and cracked me up. They are so loud : ) Ok, I am so loud whenever I talk to them on the phone- which unfortunately is not that often. We were once lieutenants together. Now we are old. And wise.

This evening was a special program at Nicholas' school. The pre-K classes sang songs for the parents. The teachers gave out an "award" to each of their students. Nicholas, to our surprise, got the "Best Manners" award. Really?! The pictures we took turned out terrible. So here is a movie.