Come On, Irene

 With a hurricane right around the corner, we figured we'd just put them in the staircase to sleep for the night and they'd be fine.

Sike.

What we DID do was uber-plan for this hurricane. We got sooo many emails from the township manager and phone calls from family and friends with great tips on how to preserve our refrigerator, exist without power, and ride it through the night. Irene was set to hit us on Saturday night, but we'd been making preparations since Wednesday. I don't think I had EVER heard winds that loud... they were sooo strong. Luckily, the kids slept through it all and no major damage was sustained at our home. But the power did go out at 11PM, and did not come back on for almost two days. Most of the day Sunday we had strong winds and occasional rain.

So we had a lot of time to do things like this:

 Glue macaroni onto paper. (See? I am a crafty momma sometimes!)

 Play puzzles in the sunlight.

 Jump over said puzzles and attempt to capture that in a blur.

This last pic I just had to take.... we filled up the bathtub on Saturday night just in case we needed extra water... I then decided to clean the jets out (we have a jacuzzi tub) and put in some bleach and dishwasher detergent. I pushed the button and came back two minutes later-- to this!

Overall, we were spared. My heart and prayers go out to those who are now living with the devastation.