Moment of Realization

Do you ever have one of those moments when you have to sit back and sarcastically say, "Well, isn't that great?" Today I had one of these most wonderful moments. Of course, right before the moment happened I was in a small state of panic running amok through the house while screaming, "ALEX!! WHERE THE HECK ARE YOU?!?" So on to the moment. I'd like to think of our house as kid/baby proof as it can be. But naturally, kid proofing doesn't always work despite all your well laid plans. The layout of our house leaves us with two exits. The front door and the back door. The front door is well protected from any clever escapee children. The handy-dandy hook and eye on the screen door (way up high) has proved useful multiple times. (Though it is only a matter of time before the monkeys figure out how to construct a climbing apparatus that leads them to the key for escape.) Now, our back door leads out through a carport that goes directly to the backyard. It is in a mud room that is off limits to the kiddos via baby gate. Well, as the story begins, we had just come inside so that I could make dinner. I went into the bathroom to help Abby wash her hands. All the while I was hearing Alex complain in the front room that, according to him, he had to "take his basketball outside and play." (Ah ha. You see where this is going, don't you?) After I get done washing miss Abby's little fingers, I go to find Alex so he can do the same. So begins my hunt. It began very simple by checking under the beds and in every room of the house. Then I hollered for him. Then I yelled for him at the top of my lungs upon receiving no answer. Enter: State of panic. I checked the front door and it was still locked tight. I checked the back door and it was still baby-gated. A wave of realization hit me when I remembered hearing Alex's plea to go outside. I stopped and listened and heard the sound of a basketball being bounced on the sidewalk outside in the backyard. This would be the part where I shot off outside like a mad mama bear. And there, merrily bouncing his basketball in the backyard, I found my clever little escapee. I instantly lost my panic but exchanged it for a sense of sheer ire. I took two deep breaths and asked him what the heck he was doing out there and he simply said, "I'm just playing some basketball, mom." I ordered him inside and explained to him that he is to never leave the house without our permission. But when I asked him how he got outside he looked at me with the 'duh' expression on his face and said, "I climbed over the baby-gate and opened the door, mom." This is the moment where I couldn't help but smile and think to myself, "Well, isn't that great?" I guess it's time to install a bell on the door so I know when these two little monkeys plan another jailbreak.

Home Photo Booth

I feel like I need to share some photos with everyone. I utilized the handy little features of my snazzy camera to take some family photos. Thank goodness for the picture delay feature, right? I am in desperate need of a family photo to grace the presence of my walls. And seeing as how going to a professional seems a bit out of the price range for the unemployed, I took it upon myself to start taking family photos in hopes of finding one that I deem worthy of a frame. I'm not sure I've found one quite yet, but here is one session. No fancy clothes. No perfect hair. No cheesy poses. Just us.

Just call me the crazy cat lady

Josh took this picture of me the other night. I was eating cheese. It draws all five cats out of the woodwork at any given time. I think this is the definition of crazy cat lady.

I'm so rarely the subject of the photos. Awesome.

Parenthood

Have you ever seen the movie "Parenthood"? Well, if you haven't, then you probably won't understand anything I'm writing about. Basically it is a movie about...well...parenthood. That sums it up for the most part. Well, today as I was watching my kids run amok through the house and outside and seeing how much trouble they can get into, I stopped to take it all in. Sometimes, when I see other people and their children, I can't help but feel like they have their act together and I don't. As I watched my kids today I saw how completely crazy they can be. (I know, I know...it's called 'being a toddler.' But still...) At one point in the day, Abby was happily banging her head into the wall to make Alex laugh and shortly after, they were both standing on my computer desk jumping up and down on my laptop. I think I really did pull a small chunk of hair out of my scalp at that point that I later clogged my vacuum with. So, as I was putting these moments into perspective, I remembered a scene from 'Parenthood'. Steve Martin's little boy has a bucket on his head and is repetitively banging his head into a wall for no apparent reason. Rick Moranis' character is asking his wife if she wants to have their perfectly behaved, and highly educated child turn out like that. I just happened to have the Steve Martin children. I really do feel like I have out of control kids sometimes. I could call them adventurous or even imaginative. But am I fooling myself? Or does everyone else out there have children who enjoy a little bucket-covered-head-banging? I suppose I will never truly know. For now, I will continue asking my kids the same question I seem to ask them at least once a day: "What on Earth are you doing?" Or my second favorite: "What part of your brain told you that was okay?"

Renaming the Toddler

Dinnertime. Ugh. I tell ya what. If ever there was a time that makes me want to smack my head into the table, dinnertime would be it. It has made me realize that who ever gave children the term 'toddler' was way off. Oh sure, they toddle around when they start living the mobile life. But that only lasts a relatively small portion of their years. So I've decided that they should have named them 'dawdlers'. Every time they eat (not just dinner) it takes them forever to finish eating. But by far, dinner is the worst. I kid you not. We will sit at the dinner table for anywhere from half an hour to an hour every night while they slowly pick away at their food. And this has nothing to do with me forcing them to eat. These little monkeys get down from the table whenever they are ready. Whether they eat two bites or lick their plates clean, it's totally up to them when they are done. I sit with them until they are done because it's supposed to be family time. But they dawdle, dawdle, dawdle the evening away. So let's put this new name for the toddler into perspective, shall we? When you are taking a lovely stroll down the sidewalk, they stop every ten inches to pick something up or examine it closely. Dawdling. When you say, "Okay kids, time to go inside now," it takes them three times as long to go inside as it did to go outside. Dawdling. When you try to get them to go to bed, they find every single thing possible to distract them away from actually reaching the ultimate goal of their beds. Dawdling. Yup...I've decided to make it official. I no longer have two toddlers. I have two dawdlers.

Funday Sunday - Pizza Chicken

I have been making this (slightly modified) dish for the last couple of years because it is super quick and easy to throw together with little to no effort involved. I think it's pretty darn tasty and the kids actually sort of eat this. I don't have a vast number of meals that I can make that are both kid friendly and milk-free. I have a dandy little list that I have on my fridge and every night I pluck one of my few and limited meal ideas off of it and serve it up. Keep in mind that, though they taste good, they aren't exactly as wonderful as creamy mac-n-cheese. (Golly I miss mac-n-cheese) Unfortunately the kids don't really agree and not a single meal, short of hot dogs or chicken nuggets, is eaten eagerly. So I settle for what I have and hope that one day they will grow to love the meals. So this week I give you...

Pizza Chicken*

6-7 Frozen chicken tenderloins
1 Jar of pizza sauce (14 oz.)
Pepperoni
Sliced black olives (opt.)**

Preheat oven to 375°. Place the frozen chicken in a casserole dish. You can use as much or as little chicken you want/need and can also use whole chicken breasts if you choose. You will have to up the cook time though for thicker meat.*** Cover the chicken with some pizza sauce. Place slices of pepperoni over the top of the chicken and then sprinkle the black olives over it too. Place in the oven uncovered for 40-50 minutes until the chicken is cooked. Serve and spoon excess sauce over chicken for dipping.

*This recipe originally called for shredded mozzarella cheese that you place on top about half way through cooking, but obviously I can't use it. I've tried soy-mozzarella options, but it sort of just disappears into the sauce during cooking. Pretty much a waste of $6.00 fake cheese.
**If you don't like black olives, then you can use any other pizza topping that you might enjoy more. (i.e. mushrooms, bell peppers, or onions)
***For an even quicker meal if you are in a hurry, you can defrost the chicken in the microwave and then subtract about half of the cook time. Most frozen bags of chicken have cook times on the back of the bag, but thawed is between 20-30 minutes.

Third Time's a Charm...right?

As the old adage goes: The third time's a charm. I suppose that in many cases this is true so I can only hope that there is some good in our recent 'third time' event. Perhaps this will surprise you more than it surprised me. Once again...Josh has lost his job. He was laid off on Friday. Again. Upon receiving his phone call at an unusually early hour in the day, I was less than surprised by his news. He said that he'd gotten the news around 9:00 in the morning that he got the ol' heave ho. After the first two lay-offs, I believe that the news will no longer surprise me. And here I was thinking that the economy was supposedly getting 'better'. Either I was badly mistaken or we are having an abnormally long strain of bad luck. Since Josh's first lay-off from his three year job, I have become skeptical at best as to whether he will ever keep a job for a lengthy period of time. I do suppose that things happen for a reason. If you follow the blog, then you will know that we were hoping to find a more spacious house to move into since Josh's job was starting to look more permanent. If not a house, then a storm shelter to help us through tornado season. Nothing came up and the storm shelter fell through which made me a very unhappy mama. The one thing that really drives me nuts is knowing that Josh will be on the bench for an undetermined period of time. It's not the lack of work that bothers me as much as not knowing what kind of hope there is for getting a job. Looks like we better get used to unemployment. I feel another month of waiting around the corner. Hopefully I won't go into a massive depression and gain my 11 lost pounds back. (Jjust kidding)

Clock Watcher

Alex has become quite a little conversationalist lately. He's always telling some story about his day. He is also trying to have one on one conversations with me that end in him learning something new. I'm also noticing how hard he is trying at understanding things. For example, telling time. I look at the clock when he asks me if Dad is going to be home soon. After looking at the clock I tell him that he will be home at 4:00 (or whenever). He's starting to catch on to what the clock does I do believe. This is a conversation that I just had with Alex in the kitchen where there is no clock.

Alex: "Mom, will dad be home soon?"

Me: "Well, I think he should be home soon, buddy."

Alex: "Oh. I think dad will be home soon."

Me: "Okey dokey."

(Alex runs out to check the clock on the wall)

Alex: "Yeah mom. Dad will be home. It's fifty o'clock!"

I'm Beaming!

Whether you know this about me or not, I am a huge Star Wars fan. The fan life hit me when I was rather young and watched Star Wars through new fan-friendly eyes. I knew about it's existence most of my life but never truly appreciated it until one fine weekend when I sat down to watch the trilogy back to back. I was hooked and never looked back. I joined the fan club, dusted off my older brother Russell's vintage toys that was officially passed to me, and began my pursuit of developing a crazy collection of my very own. It's been a wild ride and one that has helped me to spend a small fortune on toys, cereal boxes, and other worthless countless collectibles. As I've grown and now have children of my own, I not-so-secretly hope that one day they too will enjoy Star Wars as much as I do. As crazy as it sounds, I enjoy joining my fellow crazy fans outside of the movie theaters as we wait eight hours for the midnight opening of movies. I've done it countless times for many movies and miss that part of my life. With kids, this isn't exactly what I like to call: realistic. But a little shimmer of that muted fan resurfaced this weekend. We were visiting my parents for the day and they had Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace playing on the TV. I didn't think much of this as far as Alex goes, so you can imagine my surprise when he became engrossed in it. What drew him in? Anakin. He's a kid in that movie (for those of you that don't follow the awesomeness that is Star Wars). Alex loves, loves, loves, anything with kids in it and he was instantly hooked. When it was time to go, Alex protested and begged to watch the rest of the movie. Now, just in case you were wondering, ol' George Lucas created Episode one for the kids. It fully explains Anakin and Jar Jar Binks. Josh told him he could watch it when he got home and guess what? He's in love! Since that night, he has been pretending to be what he calls the "Star Wars kid". (aka: Anakin). He searched the house for things to wear that would aid him in his pretend play. He gets out his scooter and pretends it is his podracer. He found a helmet and some old swimming goggles that he wears as he rides his 'podracer' and tries to fix it with his toy tools - just like Anakin does.

*sniff, sniff* *wipes tear away*

I couldn't be prouder. So here is a picture of Alex in his 'Star Wars kid' gear and then a picture of Anakin in the same for a comparison shot. Even if you aren't a Star Wars fan, you gotta admit that this is just too darn cute. So begins my process of corrupting a young mind into a love I shall pass on. He is my padawan. (And yes...that's a Star Wars term) Yup. I'm positively beaming!

Aww...Mama's little podracer. They grow up so fast. Pretty soon he'll be moving out and battling the galactic empire as a Jedi Knight. *sniff*

Grandpa's Birthday

Nice family photo, eh? Even Milo (the dog) got in the spirit of making a silly face. Creepy puppy.

Sorry folks, but I'm fresh out of ideas for Funday Sunday this week. I will have to dig a little deeper if I'm going to keep up with that theme. So until then I've got some pictures from my dad's birthday. It wasn't exactly a party, but we had a good time with cake, ice cream (soy for my wee ones), and a few people to celebrate it with. My mom made some pizza for everyone, but seeing as how it was the exact opposite of milk-free, we sat that out and ate dinner at home before we went over. I was on cake duty so I made a tasty chocolate cake. As you can see, the kiddos were perfectly happy to enjoy their fair share of it. But then again, who doesn't enjoy a plate of pure sugar?

Abby was just thrilled to get to spend a little extra time with Grandpa. She sure loves her Grandpa!

On the complete opposite side of the spectrum was uncle Josh. He came over too and Abby had a bit of an issue with him. She wailed and sobbed every time she was near him for the majority of the time. For some odd reason, Abby has a horrible fear of just about any grown man other than Daddy or Grandpa. I think she'll outgrow that just like Alex did around her age. So hold on for just another year uncle Josh and uncle Aaron. She'll come around. But we have proof that she did start to warm up to him by evening's end. See? She's in the same room with him and not screaming.

Of course, that was as close to him as she would get. Alex, on the other hand, was more than thrilled to have another buddy to play with him while he was there. He stayed busy handing Josh just about anything he could find and had a merry ol' time.

Aaron was there to celebrate as well and seeing as how I never get a good picture of my mom, here they both are.

We all had fun. Last year we got to have my Aunt Rhonnie there as well, but she's away on business and couldn't make it this year. Don't worry Aunt Rhonnie...I ate your piece of cake for you. :-) It was really good. (he he he) Seriously though, we wish you could have been there. Once the kiddos were dosed up on massive amounts of sugar and ready to climb the walls, we headed home. But of course, we got a nice family photo first. The best one is at the beginning of this posting. For some reason, I enjoy the 'make a silly face' photos more than the 'smile for the camera' photos. But here's the normal one just for good measure. I hope everyone else had a great weekend too!

Happy Birthday!

Today is my Dad's birthday. He turns...another year older. :-) How's that for discreet? It is also my Aunt Rhonnie's birthday. How's that, you ask? Why, they are twins of course. So from our house to yours, a great big bunch of birthday wishes go out to my wonderful Dad and my awesome Aunt Rhonnie. From Alex, Abby, Josh and...ahem...me of course, we'd like to say that we love you and hope that this day is as wonderful as the day you were both born! We are all truly blessed to have you in our lives.

And the 'Mother of the Year Award' goes to...

Anyone but me. You would think that three years of careful food observing would make me a pro. Apparently, even the seasoned pros can slip from time to time. At least twice a week, we have 'peanut'-butter and jelly sandwiches on our play dates with Mandy's kids. I still use soy-butter because of our little past peanut testing issues. Now, I was so inclined to believe that it was purely a fluke and that Alex's 'reaction' to peanut-butter was more along the lines of getting some stuck in his mouth that felt funny. So, according to the doctor, I was to loosely avoid giving him peanuts. Meaning...don't give it to him, but I shouldn't worry about residues or 'may contain' warnings. Wesley, being blessed with no food allergies, gets a peanut-butter sandwich. The real deal. So Mandy brings his sandwich to our house just as I bring Alex and Abby's to her house. Well, lately we have been cutting the sandwiches into dinosaurs with a handy dandy sandwich cutter I found. I cut our sandwiches first and then move on to Wesley's sandwich so as to avoid cross contamination. His sandwich not only has peanuts, but also milk in the bread. Today, I merrily chopped the sandwiches into their fun dino-shapes and put them on the plates. Peanut-butter and soy-butter really are too similar to notice much of a difference. So I quickly checked to make sure it was the right one with a good whiff, gave them their food, and...

...I was wrong.

Alex took a big bite of the sandwich in front of him and promptly told me his tongue hurt. I thought he just bit it so I just said, "Well, don't bite your tongue, silly." After checking his tongue for the bite mark, (fully expecting blood due to his loud complaints) and not seeing a mark on there, a small thought burned brighter into my mind. My world slowed down around me and I could hear my heart beat pounding in my ears. I tasted his sandwich and ran to the kitchen in a full state of silent panic. I dumped some juice into a cup to try and wash down the residue while I busted open the bottle of Benadryl and rushed to medicate him before more damage was done. I swear to you that in my mind, things were happening in one of those slow-motion dramatic movie moments that, at the time, don't seem realistic. Anyways, after he was medicated and no longer crying, my body started to catch up to my brain. I felt the oxygen levels rise and could see the world spinning in front of me. No, I didn't pass out. But I sure felt like it. Adrenaline. That stuff is dangerous, I tell ya. In the end, he had ingested milk and peanuts at the same time. So I have zero idea what he reacted to. For an unplanned food challenge, I totally epic failed. From now on I will have a special plate that Wesley will have to eat off of. It will be the one plate that I will always place his sandwich on before I do anything else so that I know exactly what plate of food not to give Alex. Purely in my head, I'll be calling it the 'poison' plate.

*whew* What a day.

Oreo

We have a new addition to our furry family. No...it's not another cat. It's a pony! When Winter, our old gentle mare, died this winter, I realized that the kids wouldn't have a horse to ride when spring and summer came around. Abby has already been asking about riding the horses at Grandma's house. I don't believe you can explain to a two year old that the horsey died, so I went with another route. My mom has been wanting to get a pony for all the grand kids to ride when they visit Grandma and Grandpa's house. That, combined with my hope to have land of my own in the future, made me realize it was time for my wee ones to experience the joy of a pony. I didn't get that joyful experience quite nearly as early as they are getting it. But I figure, what the heck!

So let me introduce you to my recent purchase. His name is Oreo.


Not very original. I know. But that's the name he came with and Alex and Abby already know him by that. I bought him this past weekend. My sister-in-law, Heather, told me that her three girls enjoy riding horses when they visit Aunt Jessie. Well, I couldn't very well disappoint them, now could I? Abby is already smitten with the cute little furball. He is a Shetland cross pony and they are fuzzy little butterballs in the winter. When we went to see him for the first time, my heart went out to him. He wasn't exactly living the high life. He was in a smaller pen with cockelburs from head to toe and overgrown hooves.

Look at those cockelburs! Insane, I tell ya.

So I talked the guy down slightly from his asking price and we picked him up the next morning. He's a sweet, gentle creature and was more than delighted to be groomed and pampered for the three hours it took us to get the cockelburs out. Of course, my camera died before I could take an 'after' shot, but trust me. He's even cuter now that's he's all cleaned up. I'll update pictures when I go back and see him this weekend. I saddled him up and let the kids take him for a couple rides. They, much like their mama, are hooked!

Abby kept giving him hugs and kisses. She was absolutely fearless. Chip off the ol' block, I'd like to think. :-)

They already want to go back and ride some more. He's about 12 years old and you couldn't ask for a sweeter pony. He's the perfect addition to our furry family. Welcome to you forever home, Oreo!

Here's a little video I got right when we pulled up to my parents' house. Abby couldn't get unbuckled from her car seat fast enough. She even beat Alex out to the barn.

If I Were Rich

This is something funny I was thinking about the other day when I was driving to do my weekly shopping. Growing up, I was well...let's just say...not rich. So I would often hear my parents say, "If we won the lottery or publishers clearinghouse, we'd...(Fill in the blank)." They'd come up with all sorts of fun ideas. So still, to this day, I find myself thinking the same thing when all is quiet and my mind wanders. Only, seeing as how I don't play the lottery or send off for Publisher's Clearinghouse, I say, "If I were ever to become rich, I would...(fill in the blank)." Well, this time as I drove along, I thought of all the things I would still do, even if I were rich. I think if everyone did a list like this it would be interesting as to what they might actually stop doing just because they finally have the funds to live the high life. So, here's my list of things I would still do if I were ever to make it big.

IF I WERE RICH, I WOULD STILL...

• go to garage sales and be excited about it. Especially for toys and kid clothes.
  
• wear my tennis shoes for 2 to 4 years before I buy another pair.
• wear Star Wars and other movie t-shirts, jeans and sweats.
  
• pull my hair back in a ponytail 95% of the time.
• buy store brand foods if it's cheaper.
• shop at Wal-mart.
• have holey socks...as long as my feet don't slide out.
• wear barely any make-up.
• buy cheap particle board furniture.
• drive a mini-van.
• cringe when I fill up my gas tank.
• complain about the price of gas.
• play my Super Nintendo.
• use a manual can opener.
• decorate my walls with movie posters.
• wear my contacts for way too long before I change them.
• more than likely have cow poop residue on my shoes.
• look at Craigslist.
• feel guilty about large purchases.
• eat hot dogs twice month.
• clean my own house.
• eat canned vegetables.
• still live in a small town.
  

Funday Sunday - Pizza Casserole

Pizza's great and wonderful and all, but sometimes it can get a little old. So here's a nice little recipe for something that is like pizza...only not. I have no memory of where I picked up this recipe, but I've been making it since I was still living at home with my parents. It's pretty tasty. So tasty, in fact, that the hubby asks for it fairly often. It's called Pizza Casserole. It's another one of those recipes that you can add or subtract with any ingredients you feel you want. Enjoy!

Pizza Casserole**

12 oz. Fettuccine or egg noodles
1 Package of pepperoni (3 1/2 oz pkg.)
1 1/2 jars of pizza sauce (14 oz jars)
12 oz. Mozzarella cheese or soy cheese substitute; shredded*
1 Can of mushrooms (4 oz)
1 Can of sliced black olives (2.25 oz)

Cook the noodles and drain. Cut the pepperoni in halves. Add sauce to the noodles. Add as much as you prefer, but I like my saucy. Add the pepperoni, black olives and mushrooms and mix well. Then add half of the cheese and mix into the casserole. Put it in a 9X13 pan and top with the remaining cheese. Cook in the oven at 350° for 30 minutes or until the cheese on top is melted and slightly browned. Serve with some garlic toast and green beans or a nice salad for a tasty meal.

*This recipe is great without the cheese as well for the kids. Naturally, due to milk allergy, I don't add the cheese for the kids. I put some in a separate dish for the kiddos and set it aside. Sometimes I add a soy cheese substitute, but they seem to like it better without it.
**You can get more creative with this recipe. Think about a pizza you like and put those ingredients in. Example: Peppers, onions, sausage, pepperoni, mushroom, & black olives= Supreme pizza. Canadian bacon & Pineapple= Hawaiian pizza. Be creative and enjoy!

Photo Time

I haven't been posting very many pictures lately, have I? Well, I shall break that no-photo streak today. I'm feelin' like a photo day so here ya go!

Three little amigos eating lunch on a play date.

This is how monkeys share.

There is a shortage of guitars in the house so they made their own 'guitars'.

Best friends.

Logan and Alex. Logan is Alex's quiet time buddy.

One more use to the ultimate toy. Bucket reading time.

Lucas. He's my buddy. (Not that I'm picking favorites among the five cats.)

Nice hair, huh? I call this photo, "Pretty". She's still as cute as a button though.

It's a pull-your-hair-out-bang-your-head-against-the-wall kind of day.

Yup. You ever had one of those days? I don't believe I've ever truly had a pull-your-hair-out-bang-your-head-against-the-wall kind of day until I had kids. I woke up this morning to two kids whining on the baby monitor. That is never a good sign. Every time they asked for something it was with the annoying nasal whine to their voice. You know the one I mean if you've ever had children. No food was good enough for them and no amount of time outside was enough to help make their day any better. With every whine and every annoying moment, you get closer and closer to pulling your hair out just to save the last shred of sanity that is left inside your brain. I spent all evening battling with them about why they had to eat their green beans if they wanted pudding. Five green beans, fifty tears, and two temper tantrums later, they both had a belly full of dinner and pudding. *sigh* But in the end, when I sit on the couch with them before bed (my hair looking quite frazzled and my head pounding) and both of them look up at me and say, "I love you mommy," or "Thanks for reading books mommy," it wipes away all of those feelings and you realize how blessed you are to have two wonderful kids - even if they are whiny all day.

The good news is that generally, six hours of sleep is enough to reset my frayed nerves back to full tolerance so I'm good. Tomorrow will be a good day.

Decisions

For the last couple of months, Josh and I have been considering our options when it comes to our home. It's no secret that our home is on the small side. And let's face it. Having two kids in one room can only last for so long when they are not the same sex. We've lived here for three and a half years. And every year it feels like the walls close in on us just a little more. Winter is naturally our biggest test of sanity when it comes to lack of space for the children to roam freely in their natural habitat. So after surviving our fourth winter in this house, it has become apparent that we may not have too many more winters we can 'deal' with it. Most times, I'm just grateful that we have a roof over our heads, no matter the size. Regardless of whether or not we ever escape our two bedroom house, Josh and I love to think about our options. (no matter how unrealistic it seems) My greatest fear in this house is based solely on protection from our fun-filled spring and summer weather. To be more precise - Tornadoes. I've lived in tornado land my whole life and only witnessed one real twister from a distance. But now it is even more nerve-racking to think about it with kids in the picture. How will I hold on to two children if we get hit? I hate thinking about it and always end up downing a couple of Tums after fretting about it. So we looked at our options.

Option one: Get a new house. Yeah, with Josh's uncertain job future, it doesn't seem realistic to get a new house out of our current price range. Totally sucks, but we keep hoping some miraculous house with three bedrooms and a basement will pop up. That's gonna take more luck than your average person has.

Option two: Get a prefabricated storm shelter put in to our generously sized yard. Awesome idea! Love it! But they cost at least $3,200 dollars on the low end. I actually had it settled. I had a company that I talked to and was ready to purchase one in the next month. Then we wondered if it was a worthy investment that we would be able to afford to make. It may or may not ever get used. It would simply be a 'peace of mind' purchase.

Option three: Stay here, pray for the best, hope we don't get sucked up into a tornado before we can find a safe place, and hope that someday we get to move into a nice three bedroom house with a basement.

Yup...decisions, decisions. So what option beat out the rest? Option three. *sigh* I guess we have another year ahead of us of dodging the storms. But I am purchasing a storm radio. I weighed the $3,200 storm shelter against the $30 storm radio. Turns out that my checkbook had a rather opinionated fight with me about the decision. The checkbook won.