They wouldn't have made good pioneers

This afternoon, we had a heckuva storm blow through. It actually passed through pretty quickly, but it was strong. I was sitting in our bedroom nursing Evie when it first started to come through, and Stephen came in to show me (dramatically) how the tree in the back was blowing around (complete with sound effects).

When the thunder started, it was really loud. Normally, the kids (especially Marc-Adam) are afraid of thunder, but I've been trying to calm them down about it every time it thunders. The best thing I could come up with was to tell them that it was "just a sound". I told them it was a sound just like the quack of a duck is just a sound...don't ask me why I compared it to the quack of a duck, it just popped into my head.

So now, anytime they start to freak out about thunder, I say "Quack quack!"

When the thunder started today, they all stayed totally calm, Marc-Adam came to me smiling and said, "Don't worry! It's just a duck, Mama!" :) Love that boy.

Shortly after that, we lost power. At first they were a little lost and confused. They kept saying, "Well we can watch a DVD!" (as opposed to being able to watch the satellite.) Or, "The computer might still work!" And they still attempted to turn the lights on in every room they went in....but then again, so did I. Finally they gave up and we started reading some books and playing silly games like singing everything we said instead of talking. Once they wandered off to play, they kept getting so excited when they found a (battery-operated) toy that worked. Then, when Marc-Adam went to the bathroom, he came out screaming, "The toilet works! The toilet works!"

When dinner time rolled around and the power was still out, that's when the whining and grumbling began. By that time, the storm was long gone and the sun was even shining and we were all starting to get a little sweaty with no A/C and no ceiling fans. I didn't want to open the fridge or freezer so we had to eat of the pantry. We ended up with peanut butter on crackers and a can of fruit salad (I could've come up with more/better, but I'm lazy when I'm hot). Stephen tried to turn on the dining room light and started grumbling about it when it didn't work. I asked him if he had started feeling grateful for all the stuff we take for granted every day. He said, "Yes, but I still want it to come back on now." I told him that there were people in the world right now that live without power every day. Zachary asked me what their names were.

When the lights finally came back on, they weren't even excited about being able to turn the TV or computer on. They were seriously happy that the A/C kicked on! And that they could eat something out of the refrigerator.

It was a fun little break in our day, but I'm so glad I live in the time with all our modern conveniences!