Raindrops and reindeers!

It’s always such a big deal here when it rains, and we’ve been fortunate enough to have quite a bit of it lately! This morning we woke up to it pouring down, and Cambria couldn’t wait to go out back to check it out. We always love going out on the covered back patio when it rains. It’s so peaceful to stand out there, listen to the sound of the rain, and smell that wonderful clean air smell, while staying totally dry despite the torrential downpour.

Bri wanted me to take some pictures of the rain out the front door, too. It pretty much floods our front walkway.

A kinda cool shot I took.

After we were sufficiently bored of watching the rain (which I fully admit took a while!), we did a fun Christmas craft. The kids made these handprint/footprint reindeers last year, too, so I thought it would be fun if they made them this year and could compare how much their hands/feet have grown in the last year. The other kids were at school, so their reindeer pictures will come later.

We loved our day full of rain/rein!

Crazy Wednesday

Today has been crazy. We headed out to run some errands this morning. I had a load of clothes to drop off at Goodwill and decided to head inside to look for a shelf for Bri's room. I was totally surprised to find exactly what I was looking for (plus a few extras, lol). While browsing, the entire building started to violently shake. It took me a second to realize it was an earthquake! I haven't been in an earthquake since I was in 4th grade. It actually measured 5.8 on the Richter scale! Derk and the kids were in the van waiting for me, so they didn't feel it shake as badly as I did inside. We were all totally fine, and there wasn't any damage to our house, either (whew!).

At dinner time, we decided to watch a movie and eat our dinner in the living room. About halfway into the movie, Bri wandered off. Next thing we know, we hear a big bang and then her screaming. I jumped up to find her, and she was running toward me with blood dripping down her face. She'd been trying to climb up on one of our bar stools and somehow fell and sliced her lip. I scooped her up and looked her over, and she'd sliced it pretty badly. I handed her over to Derk so he could clean her up a bit while I grabbed a sweatshirt, her "baby" and her blanket. Then we headed to the ER.

Luckily she didn't need any stitches. The doctor said it's pretty deep but that she got lucky with the placement of the cut. If it was any closer to the part where the lip meets the face, she would have had to get some stitches. He prescribed some antibiotics to fight infection and sent us on our way. She was such a trooper. She was freaked out and clung to me, but she let the doctor examine her for the most part. There were 2 times when she got really scared and started crying and begging to go home. :( It was actually my shortest visit to the ER. We were in and out within an hour and a half, then we had to wait 30 minutes at the pharmacy. But to leave home at 9:15 and get back at 11:30 is a world record, I think!

Derk gave her a cool washcloth to put on her lip.
She refused to put it down, so I guess it really helped.

After a few minutes, she got super bored. I looked around, desperate to find something to occupy her with when I saw all the latex gloves. I decided to make her a couple of balloons! She thought that was so awesome!

She was beyond exhausted by the time we left for home.

We got home, I gave her some meds, we got her some clean pajamas and then tucked her in. Her lip was already looking a lot better, so hopefully it won't take long to heal. And hopefully it doesn't leave too nasty of a scar!

When it rains, it pours. . .

We don't get light drizzles of rain here in Yuma. Like the old saying goes: When it rains, it pours. Seriously. And since it rains here so rarely (i.e. about 5 days a year), they don't have a drainage system on the streets or in parking lots.

We ventured out to do some Christmas shopping the other day, despite the downpour, and I just had to snap a picture of the parking lot! This doesn't look as bad as it was, but this parking lot is literally at least 6 inches under water.

Despite the occasional flooding (which the kids think is the coolest -- "We could swim in the parking lot, Dad!"), we're still loving it here. Mainly because we're still in the high 70's and low 80's (we're actually going to a pool party this weekend) while the rest of you are freezing your buns off! Neener, neener, neener! :)

Crazy storms!

The weather here is very predictable. I love that about Arizona. It's always hot and hotter, so we always know how to dress. :) But we've had these freak storms that just appear out of nowhere, with absolutely no warning. We'll wake up to perfectly clear, sunny skies, just like usual, and then it will quickly turn to really crazy storms.

Today started like any other day. But by lunch time, the sky was looking quite ominous, the wind was howling louder than I've ever heard before, rain was pouring (and I do mean pouring), power was flickering. Seriously, the wind was howling so badly that I was afraid I was experiencing my first hurricane or something! We have central air conditioning, so the howling wind was really magnified through the vents, which really scared Cambria. You'll hear her calling for me in the video -- she didn't like me opening the door to catch the storm on camera one bit!