Every Day with Eli: May 20

Still no power. It went out at 5:00 am yesterday, and we woke up this morning - 24 hours later - to still no power. Luckily, the weather was lovely so being outside wasn't an issue. We took precautions to make sure we wouldn't lose any of our perishable food by moving everything into our deep freeze until it was nearly full, then packing it with several bags of ice. The internets told me that it was good for 48 hours that way. The clock was ticking, though, and we prayed that we wouldn't lose the 40 pounds of grass fed ground beef I just bought last week.

Then there was the matter of feeding ourselves. Our gas stove still worked (with a little igniting help), so I tried to make bacon in the dark.

Cooking bacon in the dark = burnt bacon, FYI.

We also had a pretty full day planned. First, swim lessons (the YMCA still had power, thankfully!) Later, Caleb was invited to a "Nerf Battle" birthday party today, BYO Nerf gun. Only problem? We don't play with gun toys around here. So I ordered him a basic model, and handed it to him to try out. We quickly discovered that his fine motor weakness meant that cocking the gun and pulling the trigger with hard for him. In the midst of a Nerf battle, that could get frustrating! So before breakfast we practiced and practiced and practiced until he got the hang of it.

No power = we spend lots of time together.

We also went for a family walk, and discovered that they were getting rid of the giant wooden picnic tables at the neighborhood pool. These beasts easily seat 10-12 people, and were ugly but in decent shape. Happily, our neighbor was there with his trailer to get a table for himself, so he helped us bring one home for our family.

I have big plans to spruce this bad boy - and the back yard - up.

Step 1: remove tree.

Step 2: clean, sand, and stain deck.

Step 3: strip, sand, and re-paint the table.

While Caleb was at his party, and Eli napped, I snuggled with my girls:

While Lily napped, Daisy had a tea party with the tea set Grandpa gave her for her birthday.

Thanks to the cream pitcher in her tea set, she has discovered that she likes cream in her tea. Also, tea parties are her new favorite thing. We are working on learning to be a good hostess.

And then, in the middle of naptime, our power came back on! We spent 33 hours without power, but we survived. Hooray!

After naps, we played baseball outside. Eli is really into being "Cardinals Boy" lately.