WWMD?

We woke up Saturday morning to a few good inches of beautiful, white snow!  The first of the year - so pretty on the trees and ground.  We had breakfast and couldn't wait to get outside.  Dear Husband was gone deer hunting so the new snow would provide some entertainment for the long weekend ahead.  It was that heavy, wet snow and it kept coming.  I think we got 8 inches at least!  While we were building Frosty, we could hear the branches crack and break off hitting the ground behind us.  I made sure I told the kids to not play in the woods.  It was a really fun afternoon that turned into evening.  I considered ourselves lucky that we still had power since I noticed on facebook that people were without it.  As it got dark I decided to put Violet in the tub upstairs, put a movie on for Henry downstairs, (Don't yell at me for leaving Violet in the tub alone for a minute -with our floor plan when the bathroom door is open upstairs you can literally see downstairs through the railing and I constantly talk to her every 1/2 minute when I need to get something from another room quick) - anyway... I just hit the top of our stairs again when.....flash, flash... EXTREME QUIET AND PITCH BLACKNESS.....  My first worry was Violet and although I was close by, I was worried she would stand up and slip and crack her head or something which I wouldn't even be able to tell since it was PITCH BLACK.  (OK - you can yell at me, I should NEVER leave a little kid in the bathtub alone!!!  What was I thinking?!!)  I very calmly yelled directions to both children, Vi to sit still I'd be RIGHT there, and Henry to the whereabouts of the flashlight.  Luckily I knew where one was but he'd need to get to it in the dark, turn it on, and get it to me upstairs as I tried to fish Violet out of our clawfoot tub, crying, wet, and scared (me too).  Well Henry saved the day and appeared in less than two minutes with a flashlight.  I curse myself for not having that all ready when I knew power was going out in other places in MN.  ANYWAY... crisis diverted.  Got Vi dressed, had the kids carefully follow me around while I dug out candles, tried to find matches, etc.  got it all set up for a cozy evening.  We got out all the blankets and set up camp in the living room.  We tried to play candy land but the kids were fighting over what was blue and green and to be honest  I couldn't tell either and I kept worrying about the candle starting them on fire - they are so squirmy!  So 7:00 bedtime kids!  I tried to read a book for as long as I could but kept worrying about us getting cold overnight etc.  Oh, and country living, no cell phone reception, no running water - our well is electric - and heck if I'm going to try to drive somewhere with two little kids on the snowy icky roads at night with the Honda.  So we are stuck.  Hey, it's not so bad.  WWMD? What would Ma (Ingalls) Do? But it HAD to be back on by morning, right?

Camping with every candle we can find... fancy, huh?

The camera flash makes it look so bright - I literally could only see the kids slightly illuminated by candlelight here.

Well, we made it through the night!  Still no power.  At 7 a.m. it was 59F in our house.  I decided I'd try to make a fire.  It's not that I don't know how, I just get nervous because we've had our house fill with smoke before 2x due to updraft, backdraft, whatever that is, and I didn't want to start the house on fire and not be able to call 911.  But cold overruled us and I did it!  No smoke either.  Hooray!

Around 10:30, I started feeling extra tough and adventourous so I decided to heat up some leftover wild rice soup on the woodstove.  Excellent.

Although I know you don't open the fridge/freezer when the power is out, after I snuck the soup out I noticed that nothing was cold in there... in fact, the milk was lukewarm at best.  I hate to waste food, so I decided I'd put the good stuff (milk, cheese, etc.) in a laundry basket and bury it in the snow.  Why do I take pictures of all of this?  Well, we had a lot of time on our hands without the bother of t.v., computers, phones, washing hands, or FLUSHING TOILETS after 22 hours.  Bet you wanted to know that, huh?

My feelings exactly.

We were getting creative with our snowmen, the one on the left is how I was starting to feel.  ugh.

After a while of playing, Violet just slid down and slumped there, defeated.  We didn't want to be outside anymore, we didn't want to go inside either.  Then we started cracking up.  She can always make me smile!

After Jere returned from deer camp, I showed him all the pictures.  He got a good laugh at this one and said I should show his Dad because this was his old coat.  Here you go Bruce!  Not my cutest moment, but very warm, very warm indeed.  Here is where this long, rambling story comes to an end.  Our power came back on around 5 p.m. Sunday night.  Jere got home only 2 hours earlier.  Figures!  :)  What's the big deal with all of this anyway, you ask.  Seriously?  Meet Henry and Violet, ages 5 and 3.  They're lovable, but wild, stir-crazy beasts!  They wake up at 6 a.m!  Take them for a day, I'll even let you have electricity and you tell me if you're tired... I was stressing out imagining another night in the dark and started to pack a bag for my mom's so we could at least go brush our teeth and wash our faces.  But... just as quick as it turned off, it was ON!!! HOORAY!  No more photos because we literally scrambled around turning on the t.v. (Henry), computer (me), drinking water from the faucet, jumping up and down, shouting cheers, flushing toilets... ahhh. we love us some electricity... we are spoiled with it... and we appreciate it so so very much.  The End.