What if a potato lands on my head?

Monday night began like this.

Friends and family gathered at the Morrison's in honor of Carly, the graduating, valedictorian senior of the household.

The kids played, we visited, we ate....good times.

After a while, a common scene unfolded. Brek visiting with friends, completely oblivious to his wifey, aka moi, who was holding a very tired baby ready for bed. I can't fault Brek, for you see, he doesn't lack in willingness to help. If I give him Ben, he willingly takes him. The problem, however, is this. When Ben is tired, he wants NOBODY but me. So, no matter how many times I hand him over, he soon ends up back in my arms. After a couple hours of holding him, I, too, am exhausted.

And there lies the problem. Brek so loves to visit with friends, that I simply wait it out, not wanting to drag him away. After all, the poor guy works SO much that I am happy when he gets to enjoy himself. Don't get me wrong....I love to visit with friends, as well. But, Ben doesn't always cooperate.

Anyway, enough about that. On to the meat of the story.

As the evening wore on the party moved outside. A nearby fire engine had drawn our attention, and there was much speculation as to what sort of accident may have happened. We later learned that there was an alzheimers escapee from a local care center, who had taken a serious fall, at which point he was finally discovered.

As that drama came to a close, we watched another scene unfold before our eyes. On the horizon, we watched as "something" rose in the sky. Was it smoke? At first glance, that was our guess. But as the dark cloud quickly grew, we ruled that idea out. Was it dust? Could it be?

The guys and Carly jumped in the car to go investigate. As us moms sat there watching, we all of a sudden realized that whatever it was, it was headed straight for us. We ran to get the kids inside!

As we ran towards the house, the wind began howling. Natalie ran to help the horses. Josh, Scott, and I ran to gather chairs that were flying through the back yard. The wind was so strong, it was almost impossible. Trista and the other kids watched from inside the house as a huge branch broke off a tree in the front yard, and the basketball hoop went flying.

"Get away from the windows!" Trista yelled.

Just as suddenly as the storm had come, it passed.

The dads returned to report that they had seen a funnel (tornado!). As they were driving, they looked out their window to see a wheel line (sprinkler pipe) flying through a field directly toward them. They gunned the car, and the wheel line flew past them a mere ten feet away. The wheel line hit a telephone pole and wrapped around it, sparks flying.

Back at the home front, the power went out.

After the storm had passed, we all gathered to share stories. Some of us were completely coated in dirt. Others (the older boys) couldn't believe they had missed out on the exciting car ride!

We headed home to assess the damage. Matt and Trista returned to a house full of dirt. Their front door had flown open during the storm, and everything was coated!

Once home, we discovered that our trampoline was gone. Where to? Nobody knew. The only sign we could find of our tramp were springs and legs lying in people's yards. Our BBQ was no longer behind our house, but was lying in our driveway. Did it fly over the top of our house? The two satellite dishes on our roof that had been flattened made us wonder.



Our neighbor across the street was missing part of her roof. Her chimney had ripped completely off and was lying on top of her roof in two huge pieces.




The neighbors rushed to help, trying to secure a tarp to protect her exposed house until help could come.

While working on the roof, our trampoline was discovered. It was on the opposite side of our neighbors house bent around a tree. We all agree that perhaps our trampoline had something to do with the chimney fiasco.


Darn tramp.

Scott and Josh were pumped. It's not too often we all survive a tornado, you know! They would run out to help their dad, then come running back in the house announcing that another "one" was coming!

All my kids would run to the shelter of the basement and wait until the huge wind gusts passed. Then the boys would run outside again to help. I don't know what time we finally went to bed. The girls and Luke all slept in the basement....just in case.

Before going to bed, Luke asked, "What if a "potato" lands on my head tonight?"

I am happy to report that there were no more tornadoes or potatoes that night.


Do you want to know what really stinks about this whole thing?!

No satellite Tuesday or Wednesday. Hence, no American Idol!! Are you flippin' kidding me? I am not a big TV watcher, but American Idol is my fave! So, I am trying really hard not to find out who won until I can get to somebody's house and watch it. With my busy week/weekend, it's not looking to promising. But, it's worth a shot!