Bad Storms

I took Katie to Target tonight to buy her lunch bag for school (I've got to pack her lunch starting Tuesday unless we want to pay $3.25 PER DAY (!!!!) to buy her lunch, which I so don't want to do... pay that is.) and after we found the perfect bag and picked out a cute ladybug ice pack, we spent a lot of time in the shoe section trying on heels (or tall shoes as Katie calls them).

We also had to buy band-aids.  Katie had a pack of 10 and somehow 6 of them managed to become attached to her arms and legs.  Now 4 of the 6 are attached to the floor and couch.  Surprisingly, there were no visible injuries after the removal of the band-aids.  So anyway, now she's got Dora band-aids and there are 26 in that pack and if I hide it really well, maybe we won't run out in the next 2 days.

And on the way out of the Target parking lot, Katie said "Mommy, I really miss Target" with a wistful tone.  All I could think was that I do too...

Then I heard the *tornado* sirens.  And we kind of hurried home because *tornado* sirens aren't a good thing.

I saw a bunch of people on the street watching the storm and staring at the sky in the area right near our house and as I got closer, the lightening got worse.  Then it was drizzling but nothing too bad, just not great.

We got home and into the house and John didn't think the storm was serious enough for us to go downstairs (big relief since Jake was sleeping) so I was putting clothes away in the bedroom when he told me that we should go down.  Like NOW.

So I took the kids, the diaper stuff, and my phone (you know, the important stuff...) and we headed downstairs.

By the time we got settled and turned on the news Katie was getting worried.  She was nervous about the "bad storm" going on and she kept asking if her toys would be okay upstairs and if our house would be okay upstairs.  It was pretty much the topic for the 40 minutes we were down there.  I read a book, stopped Jake from getting into the TV hutch, reassured Katie, stopped Jake from standing on one of the chairs, reassured Katie, asked John to bring down Lambie... and Big Bear (the only huge, child-sized bear we have and Katie worriedly asks "Do you think daddy knows who big bear is?"), cuddled Katie, folded a load of towels, changed Jake's diaper, reassured Katie, called Grandma and Grandpa to say hi, and finally, packed everything back up to bring upstairs once John gave the all clear.

Katie was still worried and she insisted we watch the news.  I tried to change the channel but she kept asking "Where is the news?" so I didn't try again till the storm had really calmed down.  That meant she heard the words "tornado, hail, trees down, tornado, tornado, tornado!" and I didn't think she understood all of this stuff but I think the weatherman repeating everything 500 times might have helped the phrases stick.  She didn't want me to change the channel downstairs either.

Now she's sitting next to me because she's scared to go to bed by herself.  Tonight I'll give her a break.  I've been making her go to bed at 8:30 or so but tonight she's had a bit of a scare and it's nice to sit here snuggled up with her.

She just said "I love you mama."  Awww.

Now she's asked "Can I lean on you?" and I said of "Of course" (because she's not really into cuddling with mommy much anymore, she's too busy keeping toys away from Jacob).

I'm really surprised she didn't also ask me for a popsicle.  She's been loving those today and has eaten many more than one kid should eat.  But her throat is sore and it makes her feel better so I've been letting it go.

Now the kids are in bed and I'm getting sleepy.  We've had a busy evening and it's hopefully going to be much MUCH calmer tomorrow!