The Jarrells: May 2009

Weather has been really crazy here the past couple of weeks....well, it would probably be accurate to write months. Lately it's been rain, storm, thunder, lighting, wind, clouds, even a little tornado in the city of Madison and very (I really mean very) little sun. I love all the sun we usually have here. Being from Germany where it's cloudy pretty much for weeks and months and when it starts to rain it might not stop for 3 weeks, I really appreciate the sun. But there is not much I can do about it, so I better deal with it.

Yesterday we had a bad storm again. It didn't last long, but it was strong enough for me to seek shelter with my kids. We had a nice little story time in the bath tub, which I filled with some blankets and pillows. The light was off, the door closed and I used a flashlight to read. It was really fun, even though it wasn't comfy. And the bathroom is just not big enough for us three and the dogs to be in. The air got really bad really quickly. Anyway, I'm glad we did it. Not much happened, but at least I tried to keep us safe. The trees at the pond were uprooted and we had a few bigger limbs in our yard. A little further west was where the little tornado touched down. Thankfully it didn't last and nobody got hurt.

Gabi thinks that moving and staying on top of the weather is enough to worry about, but apparently Luke and Lani don't. We ran some errands this morning and went to Walmart to get the last couple of things to take with us to Germany (which is something else I am getting ready for, since we are leaving on Tuesday). The kids are doing very well, considering all the craziness and changes, but that doesn't mean they are being angels. The shopping trip was challenging. We had a lot of: stop it; we don't say that; don't touch,..... Finally the kids figured out that they had pushed it too far, when I got quite upset. We were in the aisle with the cleaners, ant killer and such. I'm looking for something when I hear Luke saying: Spray it, Lani. It turn around. There is my sweet (but definitely not innocent) little girl pushing down on the ant killer spray. Of course the nozzle was directed toward her face. You can imagine me freaking out. Thankfully the spray missed her eyes and face. Okay, now I feel better. I believe this was my therapy for today and now I can move on. Thank you!

Oh and I have a flat tire. That's another little thing I was presented with as I got home. We're only given as much as we can handle!! I guess the guy up there has a lot of faith in me.

This is the first time you'll hear that from me. I love company, but right now......we are living in the perfection of chaos (if that's possible) right now. There are boxes, packing paper, dog kennels, toys and worst of all odds and ends everywhere. If you've ever moved you know what I'm talking about. But this too shall pass.

Here some recent pics. Enjoy!

Luke with Maggie Moo (she "owns" the local ice cream shop, which the kids cannot pass without begging for ice cream)

Daddy, L & L in front of a tree at Panoply (of course I forgot exactly what the tree represented)