Sometimes all you can do is laugh, and shake your head...

This whole day has been, for the most part, a good day. But tonight was wonderful. It started with us all sitting around watching a Little House on the Prairie episode that had most of us crying...

As soon as the episode was done, the dog wanted to go outside. So, I opened the door for her... and holy schmolies! Blizzard! Just an hour or so ago, there had been a sheet of ice covering everything, but no snow. Now, suddenly, here was a couple inches and it was coming down hard and fast. I got excited and happy, and gathered up all the kids. The best thing to do during a blizzard - go for a walk! All six of the young'uns agreed, and so we grabbed coats and shoes and hats and such and headed out the door.

It was a little cold when the wind would gust, but otherwise not too bad. But, it was fairly dark out, and it's deer hunting weekend, so didn't want to venture out too far from home. So, we walked just a couple blocks... to the Lutheran Church, then half the block in front of the church. We were screaming and laughing and running and jumping - and I was just as bad as the rest of the children. But, the wind was picking up so I figured we should start heading towards home. First, I asked all the kids to get together near the street light - I wanted a group shot of all 6 of the kids. Just as they were gathering near each other, it went completely black. No street light. No house lights. No stars/moon. It was fun grabbing our cells to use as flashlights, and everyone holding onto each other to make sure we all made it back home.

So anyway, with the electricity out, we broke out the candles (and lemme tell ya - we have lotsa candles). We were busy getting them lit, and put in various rooms of the house. And then Cassie chimes in - "See! If you would have let us decorate for Christmas, we'd have enough lights on the tree to light up the room!"

....

- enter laughter and shaking of head -

Well, in addition to no electricity, there's no heat either. So, the younger two girls and I go gather all the blankets we can find, and asked all the kids if they needed more blankets. Again, Cassie chimes in... "Nope, I'm good. I have my electric blanket."

.....

- enter more laughter and shaking of head -

There were so many more little comments that were made that just made me laugh. We had a great time... some of us played games (Cassie and I played Scrabble). Some watched the Big Bang Theory on dad's phone. And then we started getting the house ready for sleep. Some of the rooms get too cold without heat, so we decided to switch around sleeping arrangements. Alex, Cassie, Caity and I were upstairs setting up the one bedroom. We have only one flashlight we're all using in this room. Caity decides she needs to go find something.... and so she left... with the light.

Tyler had Alex and Caity bring in the grill "just in case". Cassie and I looked at each other in fear.

We roasted marshmallows over the candles.

We have a little tin bucket that is a huge candle... reminds me of one you might have in your car for melting snow. Anyway, one of the kids came up with the brilliant idea that this 6 inch diameter bucket would be good for when it gets really cold. To which their dad stated.... "Yes, I remember the blizzard of '12.... me and the young'uns were sitting around... a bucket."

Tyler had left the glass cleaner next to all the candles. I moved it, saying something about it being flammable. Tyler grabs the glass cleaner and a set of 3 candles... "Glass cleaner is NOT flammable." To which, Cassie and I quite loudly exclaimed that it is and to put it down. He ignored us and sprayed the cleaner directly at the candles. And absolutely nothing happened. "Ok, maybe it isn't..."

We decided we better go check on mom and dad... so Caity and I grabbed lightsabers and off we went. And let me tell ya - it was freakin' DARK out there. Even in the light of the sabers, we couldn't see. We finally saw the Yield sign when we were right next to it... up till then, we didn't even know we were near the road.

After over two hours of no power, we decided to send the kids off to bed. Bedtime snacks, and general procrastination over, the troops start heading up the stairs in the dark.... and the power comes back on. :)

It was a very fun and funny time.