Friday, April 11, 2008

SMIIIIII - LE!

They were all so cute - from 2 yo - 17 yo helping to unload produce from the van this morning. I was a bit fatigued from lifting myself, a nice photo op would surely be a good excuse to slack - just a bit. ::snort::

SMILE - STACIA
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C'mon - SMILE! This girl loves photos, but evidently has entered that stage where a photographer saying "smile" will produce strange expressions. I'm a mom of NINE! I've been down this road before. I know exactly what to do. This always produces smiles....
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FROWN, STACIA
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Yikes. Jared asked if I photoshopped her expression - No. ::snort::
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TORNADOES

I don't sleep often these days - but - WHEN I sleep - I SLEEP!

We noted Wed. morning (I think it was, maybe Tuesday) at about 12:30 a.m. that the sirens went off. We had stayed up late listening to the storm....in fact....I'm not sure we'd really gotten to sleep yet. There was thunder, hail, lightening....WIND. The siren went off. We don't remember this happening before, though Deja insists it has happened a few times since we've lived here. ::snort:: Maybe we were camping! Wed a.m. I began getting calls and emails asking if we were o.k. "Of course, it was just a bit of wind - nothing really came of it." ::snort::

Mike and I listened to the siren, we listened for a "freight train", we didn't wake up our children. In fact, we decided it was just another TX storm, and went to sleep while our friends huddled in closets and hallways. God has grace on silly military families. ::snort:: WE DID LISTEN - BUT THERE WAS NO TRAIN SOUND WHERE WE LIVED - AND I WASN'T WAKING UP ALL THESE CHILDREN FOR WIND AT 12:30 A.M.

It appears it DID touch down several places in town... look what we found at a local park....

Light poles don't usually look like this in W TX.
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Roofs are usually not on the ground in W. TX (Zander in the blue)
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And insulation is not usually found in Mesquite trees along with Mistletoe.
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In MY defense, I've lived through many typhoons in the Philippines and this wasn't that strong....so I simply thought "another TX storm."  I do love the storms around here. I will know what the siren means next time, but it didn't touch down on our block, and we are thankful. It did blow down several fences and branches in our neighborhood.
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