Just call us Tornado Alley...

2011 has been the year of crazy weather for Rome. It started with a week long adventure with snow and ice in January. More snow in February. (Both of which I didn't mind one bit. I love snow!) In April, we were ravaged by storm after storm. Multiple run ins with straight line winds and tornadoes. My beloved Alma Mater was in the middle of the destruction. This summer brought weeks of rain and weeks of no rain. We had seven+ inches fall over a short period 2/3 day period at one point this year. As we headed in to December I was some what relieved and ready for 'winter' weather.

Well, I should have known better. The first day of winter was unseasonably warm...low 70s and rainshowers. That evening I was suppose to go by myself to Cartersville to coupon/shop at Publix and go to Target. Andy was going to stay home and I was going to get a night to myself. That changed around 4:30 when the weather picked up. A few minutes before five I checked the weather and it said that the conditions were favorable for a tornado. About that time the wind picked up and I thought that the roof was going to be pulled off the house. I couldn't see outside the windows. The lights flickered three times and then went out. I tried getting a hold of Andy and he said that he was trying to make his way home but that the weather was crazy on their side of town too.

By the time he got home the power was still off so we packed the kids up and headed to Cartersville. Thinking surely by the time we returned that the power would be back on. After dinner at Chick-fil-A, Target, and Publix we loaded the kids up and headed home. We had been checking our phones to find info on the Rome News-Tribune but found nothing. Well, we got home and no dice. Power was still out and AG was running around thinking it was the best thing ever. Ha. We finally got everyone in bed and then we crawled in to bed. Andy turned on an app he had on his phone...which happens to be the police/fire dispatch. Yep, we laid in bed trying to hear if we could catch any info on to what was going on. I was sure that we'd wake up in the middle of the night and the power would have been restored. I slept horribly. In the morning Andy called the office and told them he was going to be at home due to our lack of power. He picked up breakfast and then we took the kids out to do some errands. While out I decided to drive down our old street to see how it looked. I was near tears as I drove down our old street. Every house that surrounds the house we rented was hit...including the house Andy lived in when were dating. Late in the afternoon we got word that it was indeed a category F2 tornado that ripped across West Rome. Right at the 24 hour mark our power was restored and I was forever grateful. Thankfully, the night before the temps were moderate and it wasn't a big deal to not have power. However, the next day the temps began to plummet and we were seriously contemplating packing up and heading to my parents because we couldn't stay a second night without power.

My plan to finish making Christmas presents was foiled. Everything was kind of thrown off including my baking and cooking for the weekend. In the end what we could finish was finished and I didn't worry about the rest. I was just immensely grateful that we were once again spared. This year has been incredibly challenging for our little area. I'm praying that this next year is not as eventful...although I wouldn't mind a good snow storm. :)

Short on words...

Don't know when I'll post again...there is a massive storm racing toward us after the one that we already suffered this morning. We faired well this morning but our beloved Berry didn't and if I think about the images that I've seen today I may start to cry. The reports on the news don't begin to touch the scope of the actual damage at our alma mater. Today I was reminded about the magnitude of our God's infinite powers and reminded of his grace and mercy as no one at Berry was hurt.

I'm a ball of emotions and contractions.

Praying without ceasing. Psalm 121.

AG's on the mend and we are grateful. Off to gather the last of our supplies...pray for us.

Straight Line Winds...

I had never heard of straight line winds until Saturday when it was determined that a tornado was not the cause of the damage on our side of town. Just winds blowing straight at 80 mph! For you weather gurus that puts the winds whipping around Rome equivalent to what you would find with Category 1 Hurricane. This was our third storm of the month and the second time we lost power for an extended period. We ended up leaving the house to grab dinner at Waffle House on the other side of town since EVERYTHING on our side of town didn't have power. Including half of Turner McCall. Here are some pictures from this latest round:

Pea sized hail was everywhere.

Our house is covered in leaves due to the winds.

Our neighbor's tree fell and it took out our power. It also made traveling down Terrace impossible.

Update on life these last few weeks...

Hmmm, well in my last big update I stated that the coming weeks would fly by as we head towards the holidays. It's true because I have not given a real update in almost a month. So here's an update on all that we have been up to these last few weeks:

--AG is doing great and growing like a weed. I swear he is heavier everytime I pick him up. He had an ear infection a couple of weeks ago but seems to have recovered nicely. He was 22lbs and 15oz that day at the doctor. We go Monday for his next well baby check up and I'm curious to see where he is on the growth chart. Now that he has teeth he is starting to learn the whole "chewing" process. It's funny to hear him make little crunching noises as he eats his MumMum Bars.

--Speaking of teeth it looks like the top two are coming in. We were up twice last night with him because of it. I'm also already seeing signs of the next two on the bottom and top. At this rate the tooth fairy will be visiting us before kindergarten. (For those of you who don't live in Rome AG's future kindergarten teacher, Mary Niedrach, is the tooth fairy. She pulls all the teeth at Berry Elementary and ask any child in any grade who the tooth fairy is and they will tell you Mrs. Niedrach with out batting an eye. Guess it's a good thing she lives just up the street.)

--AG is cruising like a pro these days. We got him a lion push toy that he can practice walking behind it this week. He is starting to figure it out. He already knows how make it play music and is starting to "dance" to the music. It's fun to watch. As for crawling he has mastered it but doesn't do it for kicks it has to be purposeful. He crawls to a location so he can pull himself up and cruise. He would rather be up right than on his hands and knees.

--We've had visits from GiGi, GrandNan, Uncle Tommy, Aunt Caroline, Cousin Ronnie, and Nanny in the last two weeks. We are looking forward to spending time together with all of them this holiday season. Now that AG and Ronnie can "play" it is humorous to watch their interactions together. I have a feeling Christmas is going to be much louder this year than it was last year. Ha.

--College students...at the end of September we celebrated Viraj's birthday with a dinner party.

Complete with a scrumptious cake from Honeymoon Bakery. AG is still not a fan of birthday candles. Ha. Seems to be the only thing that really and truly upsets the little man. We have some hysterical pictures from the party to prove it. I guess they'll be fun to show off 20 years from now. :) Hopefully, we'll be able to celebrate Viraj's LSAT score in the coming weeks. Our Thursdays are in full swing with our college girls. We still do dinner at Moe's and then everyone heads over here for Grey's and Private Practice. I've really enjoyed the new girls that we are getting to know this year. It amazes me that even now that we've been gone for several years we have a whole new group of students to love on simply by word of mouth. All the students that we work with now were still in middle/high school when Andy and I were at Berry.

--This past weekend we took AG to his first wedding. He did great! He even fell asleep on our friend Chris late in the evening. We enjoyed showing him off to some of our Berry friends that we haven't seen lately. Noel was simply gorgeous and we were honored to be apart of her and Michael's special day. We love you guys and look forward to seeing you soon!

--This weekend we are headed to Gwinnett. Andy has to coach and it happens to work out that we can celebrate birthdays while we are at it. (We have four family birthdays next week.) Also, Friday we are going to the Buford vs. Thomson game to support my brother-in-law. Costello coaches for Thomson and we are looking forward to all being together to support the Bulldogs. It'll be AG's first football game. So far he's seen a couple of baseball games and we are planning to take him to see a (Mighty) Ducks game when we are on the West Coast in March. Andy was hoping that maybe the Thrashers would be playing them then but they aren't. No worries it should still be fun. More about that trip in the coming weeks.

We are blessed. Life is great. I'm hoping the weather will cooperate next week so that we can take AG's 9month pictures in the leaves on campus. We've had at least 5 inches of rain in the last few days with more on the way. The rivers are already experiencing mild flooding...good thing we live on such a high hill. Rome is the city of 3 rivers and 7 hills. Anyways, hope everyone has a great rest of the week.

Side note--I wrote this on Wednesday and didn't get around to posting it due to my desire to put a slideshow with it. However, we've been dealing with a very cranky, teething child and it hasn't happened. Look for a long slideshow with my next post. Last night we were up two and half hours Andy ended up strapping him into his carseat and taking him on a ride. Apparently, he crashed out near the soccer fields. We are going to give the local remedy, Dr. Star's Teething Lotion, a try...I'm swinging by the only local pharmacy that still compounds it on our way out of town. If it works expect a post all about it. AG's friend, Emma, got her bottle of it yesterday...at this point Ginny and I will try anything. Here's to the weekend and I hope that we may get some sleep. And Ginny too! :)