Life Without Power

At 8:53 Wednesday morning, our power went out.  That was unexpected for sure!  All during our freezing cold weather and bad rain and wind storm, I kept thinking we'd be without electricity.  But it stayed on.  Until Wednesday morning.  A beautiful sunny morning with blue skies. Not a day for power going out.

But alas, my thoughts on the matter weren't going to bring the lights back.  So I had to make a choice.  I could complain and grumble and bring the spirits of everyone in the house down.  Or I could put on a cheery face and choose to make it a good day.  Just a moment of internal debate was needed. 

I needed a good day.  The kids needed a good day.  And you know what?  You definitely don't need electricity for that.

Owen had been in the tub a few minutes, and I knew that the water it held would be essential for flushing purposes.  I got him out and dried and dressed.  And then I sent Jeffrey to the barn for a 5 gallon bucket.  Jeffrey, Ellie and Sydney helped me use cups to empty the tub into the bucket. 

We discussed what we should do.  I excused the kids from school, since most of Jayme's is on the computer.  We decided art would be fun.  I ran up the stairs and found a book.  Tigress. Tigers would be fun to draw.

I pulled out some paper, black paper strips, glue, and chalk pastels.  We sat at the table, read the story and created art. 

I thought the kids would make tigers.  Nope..Ellie and Jeffrey both decided the dead bullock in the story would make better art.  This is Ellie's.  There was was no blood in the story, but she knows that dead things need blood. 

Jeffrey's dead bullock. 

Jayme's tiger.

My tiger.

Sydney loved coloring with the chalk pastels as well.  Since Owen eats paper, I had him coloring on the iPad.  He had a good time as well!

After art, it was time for lunch.  Thankfully it was Ellie's day and her lunch is cheese, crackers and meat. No cooking required!

Ellie picked Legos for her game.  We sat at the table (yeah for lots of windows!) and built for an hour.  Jeffrey and Jayme worked together on a castle.  Ellie and I were supposed to make a battering ram. Sydney alternated between sitting on the table and going in Owen's room to play MegaBlocks with him.

 Let's just say the castle turned out better.  When we battled, the ram lost almost immediately.  Legos might not be my strong suit, but it was fun! 

The power was supposed to be back on at 12:30.  Around 10 I got a call that it was moved to 2:30.  We moved into quiet time thinking power would be back up before it was over.  Nope!  Another call moved the estimation back to 6:30. 

After everyone got up, I made a big batch of popcorn on the woodstove.  We have a flat cook surface on ours, and I'm very thankful for it! The popcorn was delicious. I did chores early since I needed day light.

Dinner plans were just starting to be made when it happened.  The power came back.  The kids yelled with joy.  And we made dinner and went to church like normal.  A typical day.  But a little special because we experienced life without power.