Snowpacalypse 2011

Ok. Enough already.

I am officially over winter. I think it wouldn't be so bad if I actually lived where winters were worthwhile. Here in the Northeast, it's horrible. Especially in the DC area where 3 inches of slush can cancel schools for 3 days. We just can't handle it here. And when things get bad here...they get BAD.

I must've been living in my own birthday-mania induced bubble last week as I was completely taken surprise by Snowpacalypse 2011 that took our power out for 3 days. We were out at our friend's house when thundersnow and lightening hit our town's power substation. It looked like something from Lost---the sky turned green and huge explosion sounded. The only thing we could do was light candles and poor more wine.

Schools were cancelled and our house was FREEZING. By Day 2 the kids were over sledding and just wanted to watch a show in the playroom. Try explaining to a 2 year old the concept of electricity and how it makes a TV work. Yeah, not too pretty. We even emptied our fridge and made mini-coolers in the snow banks.

Worst of all, Lily's 2nd birthday was in the middle of all this. While we did get power back on that day, it wasn't nearly enough time for me to whip up some of my signature cupcakes or even get a little family party together. Luckily, our best friends came to the rescue and we pulled together something for my sweet girl complete with ice cream cake, turkey burgers for the adults and pasta for the kids.

Times like these always remind me to get our CI emergency pack together. We use rechargable batteries on Christian's CI, and always seem to fumble around looking for the disposable batteries in the dark when we need them. I've already put a little plastic container together near our flashlights that has all of our emergency grab and go CI stuff so next time (PLEASE, I CAN'T TAKE ANYMORE!) we are ready.