I am not sure where to begin. It has been about three weeks since I last updated our blog, and an eventful three weeks it has been! I will just go in chronological order updating you on what we have been busy doing.
TILING THE BATHROOM AND DAWSON'S WEEKEND WITH GRANDPARENTS
I believe I mentioned in the last post that we were planning to tile our bathrooms. The weekend before Easter Dawson spent the weekend with his Nana and Grandad so we could work on getting the tile down. This was Dawson's first weekend with the grandparents, and I missed him SO bad! He is definitely old enough to start doing this occasionally, though, because he had a blast and didn't cry for me or John the whole time. When I explained to Dawson that he was going to see Nana and Grandad and Lolly and Pop he clapped and said, "YAY!!!" Dawson had a ball with his grandparents, and John, with the help of a co-worker, was able to get the tile laid and grouted in both bathrooms. On Saturday night we even squeezed in some time for a dinner date! The bathroom floors look great! I am so impressed with John's handy work! Both bathrooms are completed except for putting the trim down. Once we have the trim down I will post the before and after pictures of both bathrooms. On Sunday night we met up in Chattanooga to pick Dawson up, and we were thrilled to have Dawson back!
EASTER PARTY
On Thursday, April 21st we had an Easter Party at our house for all of Dawson's friends. I was thrilled because so many children were able to come! I believe we had 13 kids at the party and all were 3 and under! The children arrived and we played inside for a few minutes before some of the kids made the craft I had planed. There is a picture below, but I basically takes pieces of egg cartons, construction paper, glue, and yellow paint to make the little Easter chick. Some of the kids had fun making the craft while others preferred just to continue playing with all of their friends. After craft time we had snacks. We had grapes, cup cakes, Cheez-Its, and apple juice. Next we headed to the backyard to do an Easter egg hunt. This was Dawson's first hunt, so I was not sure if he would be into it. I should not have been so uncertain though, because as soon as Dawson realized the eggs had candy inside he ran from egg to egg putting them in his basket! After the egg hunt, the kids played outside and got to eat some of their candy. We actually managed to take a group picture of all 13 kids!! I love the picture of all the sweet friends together in our backyard. I think the kids had fun at the Easter party, and I enjoyed watching Dawson interact with all of his friends!
A playground playdate. Left to Right: Caroline,
Jonah, Dawson, and Norah.
The best part about this picture is that the kids just
all went over and sat like this on their own after we gave
them snacks! Of course, I had to grab the camera!
Left to Right: Matthew, Caroline, Jonah, Dawson, Norah.
Dawson after his 2nd ever hair cut
at Roosters. After we were finished we
walked to see the Providence Fountain
which is what he's pointing to here.
Snacks at the Easter Party!
Easter cupcakes I made for the party.
Some of our Easter decorations.
Dawson & Norah hunting eggs in
our backyard!
On a mission!
Dawson and either Jordan or Jayden
(they are twins and I can't tell them
apart in this picture!) hunting eggs.
The whole gang! I love this picture.
I have included two others below so that
maybe with all three you can see each kids face
since they kept moving.
Again.
Again.
Dawson and friends at the top of the slide after
Easter egg hunt!
The craft we made at the Easter Party.
Dawson being silly one evening.
Dawson and Jonah became big buddies!
Now that I am not longer keeping Jonah
and Norah, Dawson asks about them every
morning. This morning he said, "Jonah, come
back, come back!!"
COMMUNITY EASTER EGG HUNT
On Saturday, April 23rd John and I took Dawson to the Madison Community Easter Egg Hunt held at Dublin Park, and he had a blast! Children ages 0-5 all participated in the same hunt where eggs were "hidden" (scattered across) a soccer field. Considering that there were a lot of 5 year old, I was impressed that Dawson got as many eggs as he did. I think he probably had around 20 eggs at the end. Immediately after the hunt, he sat on the grass to empty all his eggs exclaiming, "CANDY!" If you can't tell from my descriptions of how excited Dawson was from what he found inside Easter eggs, Dawson does not get to eat much candy at all, so he probably thought it was the best day ever! While we were there we also got to take his picture with the Easter bunny!
Dawson and Daddy before the egg hunt.
Dawson has his game face on!
The "hidden" eggs.
Dawson during the egg hunt!
Dawson and Daddy with the Easter
bunny after the hunt.
EASTER
Sunday, April 24th was Easter, and the day began with Dawson getting his basket from the Easter bunny (after breakfast, of course!). He got several Easter eggs full of jelly beans and M&Ms (two of his favorite treats) and a new train, Rosie. As soon as Dawson saw the basket he was thrilled, he yelled "CHOO CHOO," when he saw Rosie and then began eating jelly beans! After getting his Easter basket we got ready and headed to church. Dawson wore blue seersucker with a bow tie this year (last year we did brown seersucker with a long tie). Instead of pants this year he had suit shorts (something only a toddler can get away with and it be adorable) with suspenders! I will get our good Easter Family Picture (like last year's with the bunny) uploaded soon, but for now I have just included some quick photos we snapped in the backyard after church. After returning from church and taking a few photos, Dawson went down for a nap while I began cooking. For dinner we had our friends Steven and Kelly over. I made a ham, mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, homemade rolls (my first attempt at this recipe from a friend, and they were yummy), and we had raw veggies with dip to snack on before the food was ready. Kelly made a delicious strawberry cake for dessert, which I'm pretty sure Dawson was holding out for during the meal! We had fun having Easter dinner and celebrating the day with our friends. For some reason, Dawson has always loved our friend Steven, so Dawson was thrilled that they came over and ate dinner with us!
Dawson's Easter Basket containing
jelly beans, M&Ms, and Rosie the Train.
Dawson getting his Easter basket.
Enjoying some jelly beans!
Showing off his new train, Rosie.
Dawson in front of our house after church on Easter.
Dawson and Daddy after church on Easter.
Dawson and Daddy.
Dawson sharing a jelly bean.
Dawson checking on the roses.
Dawson was a little tired by the time I got him
for a picture.
Dawson & Norah at a playdate at Connor's house
with the sand and water table.
Dawson, Norah, and Connor playing.
TORNADOES, DAWSON'S VISIT WITH GRANDPARENTS, CAMPING, POP'S BIRTHDAY
Since February John & I have been planning a camping trip with several other couples. While we are not really campers at all, we thought it would be fun to go with our friends. The plan was that we would drive to Maryville on Thursday and spend the night. On Friday we would leave Dawson with his Lolly and Pop for the weekend while we drove 2 hours to Fall Creek Falls to meet up with our friends at the campsite. Then on Sunday we would drive back to Maryville to pick up Dawson and celebrate Pop's birthday before returning home.
On Wednesday, April 27th (the day before we were supposed to leave home) we awoke around 6 am to the tornado sirens blaring. John turned on the tv to see where the tornadoes were while I rolled over and went back to sleep. The sirens cut off after about 15 minutes, and John said the storms were not dangerously close to our house. The tornado sirens go off quiet frequently here, and I, honestly, don't them extremely serious (I do now, though).
After the first round of storms, when John got up for the day we decided to head to Target to get some items we needed before traveling. On tv and the radio it seemed like we had enough time before the next round of storms, however, when we pulled in the parking lot of Target the sirens began sounding again! We went in the store and shopped for the items we needed. When we were about half-way through with our shopping the lights began flickering and going off for several seconds at a time. Then the store manager announced that everyone in the store including employees must move to their safe area which was the meat freezer. So John, Dawson, and I went to the meat freezer where we were given bakery aprons and bakery/butcher jackets to cover up with. They also handed out bottles of water. While I realized the storm was bad since we were forced to go in the freezer, I didn't realize how serious it was. After spending 25-30 minutes in the freezer, which was, of course, FREEZING, the tornadoes were no longer in our area and we were allowed to leave.
When we left Target in we might as well have swam to our car. It was raining SO hard! John ran out to pull the car to the door and the wind blew his hat off his head, and it did not hit the ground until two rows of cars over. Poor John got soaked! Just running Dawson out the car, Dawson and I got drenched too. I think the hard rain scared Dawson, and he cried for a minute saying, "WATER! COLD! WATER! RAINING!" While it normally only takes us 15 minutes to get home from Target, it probably took us 45 on Wednesday. We could see the damage from the storm and various roads to our house were blocked by fallen trees and power lines.
After finally reaching our house we were relieved to see that we had no damage to our house or trees, but or power was out. We went inside, fed Dawson lunch, and then John had to leave for work. I listened to the radio to learn that more storms that would be even worse were headed our way around 4 or 5pm. After seeing all the damage earlier in the day and hearing the seriousness with which the meteorologists were talking about the storms, I realized that they were a much bigger threat than I would have initially imagined. When I heard that tornadoes were headed toward Harvest, I told Dawson to grab two toys and put them in the laundry room. He, of course, picked out his mower (not an ideal toy for a small space) and another semi-large toy. I scooped up Dawson, Bentley, flashlights, our emergency kit, peanut butter, crackers, juice, granola bars, the weather radio, and my cell phone. We could hear the wind howling outside and the rain and hail hitting the house. It was SO loud! My mom and John's mom both happened to call while we were in the laundry room seeking shelter. I spoke with them a few minutes, but when I realized how close the storms were by the talk on the radio, I got off the phone to listen and take care of Dawson.
Dawson was getting restless by this point and demanding to be let out of the dark laundry room. I filled his cups entirely with juice, which he has never, never had. He normally only gets 10% juice mixed with 90% water, so this was a real treat. He sat back down and literally began chugging his juice! When I heard on the National Weather Radio mention of the two roads in Harvest that are on either side of our neighborhood I realized how serious this was. The weather radio said, "Tornadoes are on the ground on Wall Triana Highway and Old RailRoad Bed Road in Harvest, Alabama. If you have not yet sought shelter, you must do so immediately." It was also described as a matter of life or death. Dawson and I sat in the laundry room (it's our safest room because it has no outside walls) drinking juice, playing, and watching Bentley pace back and forth (she knew something was wrong). As long as I was playing Dawson thought everything was okay so that's exactly what I did! After the howling and hail quietened, we left the laundry room to look around. What a blessing, not only were Dawson and I safe we had no damage to our house! Shortly after I heard from John who had been safely seeking shelter at work with no power. We heard on the radio how horrible the damage had been to our area, and were just so thankful we were okay! John got to come home from work since there was no electricity.
One frustrating problem that came up was that we had little to no cell phone service. It would take 20-40 attempts to get a text message to go through, and if you were lucky enough to get a call through (about a 1 in 25 chance) you only had about 30 seconds before you would loose service again. I believe I finally have gotten everyone called or texted back who was checking on us! We learned that the cell phone towers had been leveled in the tornadoes. On the radio they began saying the damage was so widespread we were going to be without power for at least 5-6 days. Oh my! Local law enforcement also set a curfew in place which said that anyone outside or driving between dusk and dawn would be arrested. This was for public safety and to prevent looting.
We decided we might as well continue on with our travel plans, since we would have more electricity camping than staying home. That's when we realized there was no where that had power for us to get fuel to travel. John's dad drove down to bring us up to Tennessee, and we borrowed, his mom's car for the weekend. Then when it was time to return home, my dad brought us back to Alabama. We felt slightly guilty leaving Alabama where they were calling for as many volunteers as they could find to go to Tennessee, but we realized that not having electricity to cook was not really an option with Dawson.
On a much lighter note, we did enjoy our time in Tennessee. Dawson had a ball seeing all of his grandparents and his great Mamaw. One of his favorite things from his visit which he is still talking about is was getting to ride on Pop's mower. We know Dawson had such a good time because he is still telling us things about Lolly & Pop, Nana & Grandad, Aunt Emmie, and Uncle Logan. It's so sweet!
John & I had a blast camping with our friends. Originally, I believe we were going to have 6 couples, but due to the tornadoes only us and two other couples were able to make it. We still had a lot of fun though! We had campfires, smores, the guys played golf at Fall Creek Falls golf course where they had to walk around deer laying on the course to hit their ball, we went to an astronomy viewing where we saw Saturn, and of course hiked to see the falls.
On Sunday we returned to Maryville to celebrate Pop's birthday. Dawson still talks about it saying, "Pop. Cake. Birdday! (birthday)."
On Monday we headed home, and our power was restored on Tuesday afternoon (it was off for 6 days!). After we returned home we drove around for a few minutes, and just 1.7 miles from the entrance to our neighborhood and just 2.4 miles from our driveway, houses had been leveled! It was unreal. When we were cleaning up after the storm, among a lot of other things, we found siding from someone's house and a utility bill receipt that must have blown out of someones's house. It was dated June 1999 and was from over 20 miles away! After seeing everything we realize how luck we are, and I will definitely take all tornado warnings a lot more serious in the future.
Hope you enjoyed this long update, and now that we have power I should be able to stay on top of them and avoid ones of this length!
Dawson with Uncle Logan (my brother)
after bathtime.
Dawson being a ham at Lolly & Pop's house.
My parents said Dawson LOVED our neighbor's cat.
He is still talking about the cat named Onie.
This photo is blurry, but I loved it because the poor cat
couldn't even escape under the chair.
Dawson's favorite thing to do--ride the mower with Pop!
Mower time!
Lolly and Pop took Dawson to visit his great Mamaw!
It looks like Mamaw knew what Dawson likes...
Ritz Crackers. He calls them cookies, and he thinks
they're a big treat! :)
Dawson being sweet and playing at Mamaw's house.
Lolly dressing Dawson after bath.
Dawson enjoying his 100% juice while
seeking shelter from the tornadoes!
John and I in front of our tent at Fall Creek Falls.
John, the fire master, starting our fire the second day!
View from the top
Fall Creek Falls
John & I at the top of the falls during our hike.
Another view of the falls.
When we went to pick the guys up from the golf
course, this was one of the many deer just
laying on the golf course!
Dawson giving Pop a birthday hug!
Sweet picture.
I have not really taken pictures of any of the tornado damage because I realize that the buildings are homes, but I did snap three quick pictures when we were driving north of our neighborhood. These pictures were taken one week after the storms. This picture and the next two are in the area just a couple of miles from our house.
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