We survived the tornado...

At 2:30 am we heard the tornado sirens go off (there's one basically in our backyard) and we instantly jumped up out of bed and snatched the kids from their beds and ran to the basement. After we got down there and realized that we heard just about nothing outside at that point (not much wind, rain, hail, etc.), Adam went and turned on the tv (we decided it wasn't necessary "yet" to use our crank emergency radio that we keep with our food storage, 72 hour kits, and other emergency items in the basement). Only ONE station had live coverage (which was REALLY irritating btw, and we don't have cable) and the one station that did said that the most dangerous part of the storm, the spotted tornado part, was already past our area. Great. So we stayed in the basement until 3 am when the tornado warning expired and then attempted to get Spencer back to sleep (Justin has no problem sleeping). Adam and I joked that it was almost time for Spencer to wake up anyway....since he's still waking up at 3:30, 4:30, etc. For months I've tried to either let him cry it out for a bit (which DOESN'T work) or give in and find his paci which has usually been thrown out of the crib by him...and then I play the paci game, popping it back in his mouth every half hour or so until he's up for good around 6am. Almost 9 months and still won't sleep through the night. Whatever! But I'm SOOOO grateful we were kept safe. No one died in the tornado (which was graded an "EF-2") and it sounds like there were only 2 minor injuries. We drove by the damage (or what we could see from behind the cop car guarding the area) and it was pretty creepy to see the distruction, mostly just a roof or two torn off, fences down, and lots of trees down. Like I said, we feel thankful that we are safe and have electricity. When we visited my parents in Chicago this past week (which I'll add pictures and narration to another time) they were without power for a full 24 hours last Saturday. What a pain for them, having to throw out stuff from the fridge and freezer, wandering around the house with flashlights, Kara getting ready for her high school graduation without power, etc. It's amazing what midwest storms can do! I guess it's just one of those things we've grown used to, but it doesn't make it any less scary!