Snow Storm

We got hit by snow this past week. It's quite a story actually with lots of plot twists. If you are patient with my storytelling, you are welcome to sit and read awhile. But I don't mind if you just skip to the end if you want. It all ends well incase you were wondering.

It all started Thurs. morning. Patrick was scheduled on a flight for LA and left early for Newark Airport. At about 8 am I texted to see if he was on his plane. Infact, he was not. He was standing in line looking at a departure board red with cancellations. He said he would be catching a cab to come home instead. Of course I was ecstatic to not have to deal with all 3 kids on my own for at least a couple of days. Patrick arrived home just minutes before the really big snowflakes started to fall. And then it snowed for the next 24 hours straight.

Later that night at bed time, Ronin announced that he was sick and then instantly puked on the living room rug. After getting him settled in bed with a barf-bucket (thinking we had seen the worst of it) the power went out. Ronin is deathly afraid of the dark, so this sent him into a complete panic. We raced downstairs with a flashlight where he proceeded to throw up two more times. The special thing about our house is that we are below the sewer line at the street so we actually have an electric pump that pumps the sewage (toilets, washer, dishwasher, sinks) up to the street. This of course does not work when the power is out. SO image yourself with a 5 year old that has the stomach flu that quickly turns to diarrhea. Not the best combination. The power was out for 3 hours. All three hours of which Ronin continued to throw up. We were rinsing buckets of puke and throwing them out the front door. Thankfully at midnight the power came back on and Ronin only had 2 more hours of throwing up left in him. We did get some sleep that night and woke up to this:

This is the view from our driveway. All the way at the top you can see just a hint of the street. Our driveway is almost covered with fallen trees!

This is the view down the driveway... you can see me standing at the bottom. Not the greatest way to start your day. The snow continued to fall lightly for most of the next day. We had a ward member come over with a jeep that had a snow shovel attachment and it still took him 3 hours to clear our drive. There is NO way we could have done it ourselves. We are very very grateful he was willing to come and help us out because the events of the day just kept getting more challenging!
We did get a chance to play in the snow a bit. Cache LOVES snow. Here he is STANDING in it. Yes that's right. He is actually standing up and the snow depth goes to his waist. We got a lot of it!
This photo makes me smile! This is all Cache does when he plays in the snow. It's yummy!
So that night we had a friend and his dog come for a sleepover. His parents house still was without power. This is when I realized how blessed we were to have our power come back on after only 3 hours. We are SO grateful! After about an hour of our little friend being here I smelled a really horrible smell coming from the basement. It wasn't natural gas, but it was definitely a burning smell. As I went down the stairs it got stronger and stronger. Patrick had gone to the store which meant I was alone with 3 toddlers, a newborn and a dog with a strange smell wafting up the stairs. Freaked out, I called Patrick and told him to "COME HOME NOW!"  He didn't know how long it would take him to get home (there was a downed tree that had shut down our major road) and that I should call 911. I commanded the kids to get shoes and coats on and they did not hesitate in the least. 

I wrapped the baby in a blanket, grabbed the 72 hour kit (luckily it was out already from the previous nights power outtage) and shuffled the kids to the garage. I called 911 and they sent out the fire department. This is the moment I was even more grateful to have a clean driveway. I piled the kids in the car where we sat and waited. Patrick pulled in right before the firetruck, but got the car stuck at the top of the drive (guess it wasn't as clean as we thought!) He ran to the boiler room to be sure it wasn't on fire while I watched 5 firemen with pick axes file into the house. After all was said and done, we had one bean bag that was smoldering under a clip lamp in the boys room I guess one of them switched it on and left the room. All of this was thrown onto the back porch and doused with piles of snow by the fire men. It took quite a while to get that cleaned up and the smell was atrocious! We had to air out the downstairs and we finished our sleepover in the living room.

 It was quite a traumatic moment for me. Mostly because I know that had someone not been watching out for me, Patrick would have been on the west coast during all of these events leaving me to survive by myself. (And considering everything that happened, I wouldn't have forgiven him easily). I can handle a lot of things, but I don't think I would have made it through this weekend if he hadn't been here. He was constant in finding solutions and helping out in every way. I would have cried myself into a corner after the first puking incident and would never have come out!  There are so many things I am grateful for. So many tender mercies that were shown to us. I am humbled to know that things could have turned out so much worse, but they didn't and I am so so grateful. 
The snow is melting and after a bit of the stomach bug yesterday, I am on the mend both mentally and physically. Today was Patrick's last day of paternity leave. We are all dreading the start of work for him tomorrow and a long business trip next week. Hopefully we will have no more snow, no more flu and no fire!