The Rains Came Down as the Floods Came Up...

For some reason, I have the song "The Wise Man Built His House Upon a Rock" stuck in my head, especially the part mentioned in the title.

Tonight after dinner (a very yummy crockpot meal...we will have that again!), Child 4 was having a little meltdown. Not bad, just typical "I only took a half hour nap as opposed to my typical two hour naps". So I suggested that we could watch a little t.v. together, thinking rocking might settle down. We found an episode of Barney (much to Mark's dismay, but our son loves it) to watch. Suddenly, a weather bulletin breaks into our show. We were REALLY surprised because we were watching "On Demand", not live t.v. Shortly afterward, we turned it to our regular news station to check out what was going on.

We were under a tornado warning. Not a watch, but a warning. Note: we are both pretty sure the "old school" definition of a "warning" involves a tornado actually having been sighted. Apparently the "new school" version just means that conditions are VERY ripe for a tornado to happen.

That is what panic broke out.

I could not name the child but you will figure it out pretty quick I think. One child is not crazy about storms. She handles them okay UNTIL we get to "tornado" watches and warnings. Then...well, the tears begin. Darn that "Wizard of Oz" anyway!

In her defense, it doesn't help to have the big "scientist-minded" brother who LOVES to share all he knows about tornadoes and storms. To him, it is all very matter of fact. He has his own fears, but storms are not one of them. It is all science to him.

So immediately he starts sharing storm facts and horror stories. As our daughter's cries got louder, he started "preaching" how fortunate we are that we don't live in Oklahoma where there are LOTS of tornadoes. For some reason, that didn't seem to calm his sister down in the slightest.

Meanwhile, other than acting surprised to hear thunder, Child 4 just played happily while Child 3 kept asking why we weren't watching Barney anymore.

Fun times at the Cloud house.

In the end, we did not take cover in the closet, though we were prepared to. We just watched the weather updates on t.v. to find out what our next step would be. Mark occasionally walked outside or to the window to report on the weather. And I answered a lot of questions about what would happen to our house IF (not WHEN like someone thought :) a tornado picked it up.

A few minutes later, the storm had moved on through, though the rains continue pounding outside my window. Apparently our river has already formed in our garage. (The next true storm was breaking the news to Child 4 that it was his bathtime...he wasn't at all happy about that!)

On a lighter note, when we got home this afternoon, Child 4 told me he wanted to play "DS". Seriously. Should a 2 year old know what a DS is? I told him he could. I don't know that he actually "played" but he sure had fun doing whatever he was doing. (I wouldn't be totally surprised to find out he has taught himself TO play. :) Here are a couple of pics. He was playing "Mario". (That is who he was for Halloween last year)




Oh, today was "picture day" at Joshua's school. I went ahead and signed him up; after all, the other kids just had their school pics taken. I told Mark to let the teachers know that we were just fine if he didn't cooperate with having his picture taken. It all depends on his mood. Plus, he wouldn't be the first one to not want to pose...it seems to run in our family. I am not sure how it went; I haven't seen a picture yet. But when I picked him up, I asked, "Did you say 'cheese'?" and he said, "No, no cheese. I not cheese." So...there you go. :)

Now my tune is changing to "Row, Row, Row Your Boat..." I may need one to get to school tomorrow. :)

Better run.
Reba