It all started (you know you're in for a biggie with an intro like that! Ha!) yesterday morning at about 6:00. Actually, some background information might be necessary...

Ever heard of the Balloon Fiesta? It's an annual event here in Albuquerque where people from all over the world (for real!) come to see hot air balloons that have also come from all over the world. It's a spectacular sight and usually draws an attendace of nearly a million people. Can you imagine?! Good luck getting a motel room! It lasts for 9 days and has "mass ascensions" each morning where ALL of the balloons (750 or more) lift off in two "waves."

This is our first year living in the area and somehow we let the first 8 days go by without ever heading into town in the morning to see the balloons. Yesterday was the final day and we thought it would just be flat-out lazy and neglegent to live in the Albuquerque area and go through the entire Balloon Fiesta without ever seeing a balloon. Sooooo...

I got up just after 6:00 yesterday morning and got myself ready to go, then started dragging kids out of bed and getting them ready. "Mom, what are you doing?" "Mom, why are you getting us up in the middle of the night?" "What balloons? Mom, it's dark! Don't you know we can't see balloons in the dark?!"

There were so any gripes that one particular young man was banned from speaking again until we got into town. It was promising to be a fun day right off the bat! Ha!

To make a long story short (the Brother Tanny way! Ha!), we drove all the way up to the Fiesta Park and never did see a balloon. We kept driving around expecting to see hundreds, or even just dozens, of balloons any minute and finally thought to turn on the radio to see if we could find out what was going on. After about 15 minutes we heard somebody say, "Even though the Mass Ascension has been cancelled for today..." HA! We did it! We really did it! We managed to miss the ENTIRE Balloon Fiesta--living only about 20 miles away! Is that amazing, or what?! Hundreds and hundreds of balloons flying all week long and we never saw a single one!!! Joe (the particularly gripy one) was aghast. "You mean we got up in the middle of the night for NUTHIN'?!" And, "You mean people came from all over the world to see balloons, and they get to see... NUTHIN'?!?!?" Ha! We cheered him right up though. We took him to Shoney's for a breakfast buffet.

Hhmmm. He doesn't look too thrilled in this picture, but that's only because he hadn't made it to the buffet yet. And we did manage to see a few hot air balloons after all. See--look!!!





I had thought to dress Katie for the occassion in the balloon socks she bought with her own money last year. Shoney's had balloon decorations up. And Sam drew a picture for us. So it wasn't a total loss! ;-)

We stopped by a thrift store and found a few good pieces of kid clothes, so that was GREAT. Then we went to Hobby Lobby so James--I mean WE (~ahem~)--could look at the Fall and Christmas stuff. We made it out with only one new snowman this time. ;-) James let Katie pick some scrapbook papers out of the 10 for $1 stack, too. Made a very happy girl.

By the time we made it home at about 11:00 James and I were shot! Ha! We laid down and dozed for a few minutes while Katie and Sam made cards with her new papers and Joe romped outside. We got up and had lunch, then I spent an hour or two getting ready for Sunday School while the kids had quiet time.

After that I headed back to the kids' closet. I had started cleaning it out two days before, but got distracted and this was my first opportunity to get back to it! So the kids cleaned their bedroom and sorted through the toy box while I rooted through their closet and pulled out all of the clothes that are too small for them and straightened up everything else.

I have to show this picture because it CRACKS ME UP! Katie had been given a whole bunch of clothes a couple of months ago, some that fit her now and some that she'll have to grow into over the next few years. She was trying some of them on for me as I sorted the closet so I'd know what belonged in what stack. She found this sweater and decided she wanted to try it on even though it was obviously way too big. It may not be as hilarious...

Until you realize that those are LEG WARMERS she's wearing with it! I didn't know it had leg warmers with it and Katie obviously didn't know what leg warmers were... !!! That means, of course, that under the sweater were a couple inches of upper thigh and then some little pink ghandi's! HA!

As we were finishing up the cleaning that evening, we lost electricity due to a bad storm. So we lit some candles and Joe's little toy lantern and finished up the job. The power didn't come back on and so the kids ended up taking their baths by candle and lantern light, too! Ha!

We got the kids to bed at 8:30, but there was still no power. I had a WMB service to prepare for, but that's quite difficult when it's too dark to read your Bible or write anything down and, of course, you can't use a computer. There was really... NOTHING TO DO! It didn't take long for me to be bored out of my gourd. I realize that people lived without electricity for thousands of years... but I ain't one of 'em! Ha! I picked up my cell phone and started scrolling through the names. I decided to call my cousin Lyndi. I only talk to her about once a year and it seemed like time. ;-) We talked for about 2 hours and it was great to be able to catch up a bit.

I had this dread feeling that I was in for a rough night. I knew I needed to blow out all of the candles before I went to bed and that meant the house would be pitch black throughout the night. The kids (Joe, in particular) never handles total darkness very well and we keep a nightlight in the room for him. I also like to have a dim little light in the living room/kitchen area in case I need to get up for anything in the night, so the kids are used to that, too. I decided to sleep on the couch so I could intercept the little weenie on his way to our bedroom if he did happen to wake up in the night.

I'm not sure what time it was, but sure enough Joe woke up and was bumbling his way into our room "just to check" and make sure we were there. I caught him and told him to go back to bed. "But Mom, the whole house is dark!" I reminded him that there was no power and he wanted to know if I'd light a candle. Nope, can't go to sleep with a candle burning. I finally told him to get his pillow and blanket and come sleep on the floor in the room with me. I really thought that would settle it. HA. Every few minutes I would doze off... just as Joe would say, "Mom? Mom, you there?" "YES, Joe--Go to sleep." Just as I'd doze off again he'd call out to check and make sure I was there. "Mom, I can't see you--I just wanted to make sure you're still there." After several great awakenings (!) I assured him that I would BE THERE the rest of the night. I was getting rather agitated and told him to LEAVE ME ALONE and GO TO SLEEP. Thereafter I would just SENSE something. I'd turn over and sure enough he'd be standing there by the couch, staring at me!!! "I can't see you, Mom--I was just checking!" Aaaaauuuuurrrrrgggggghhhhh!!! I was probably way too easy on him (should have "taken care of business" real good a few times and made him go back to his own bed), but I remember being a kid and what some of those fears are like. They're very REAL when you're young, you know?! Anyway, I had a very long, irritable, and restless night!

We got up this morning and there was still no power! I couldn't believe it! It was cloudy outside, so it didn't really light the house up very much. So we took turns usuing Joe's little toy lantern to find our clothes in the closets and get dressed! (Thanks again for that lantern, Tammy--it was a real life saver! Ha!)

We do have hot water (propane, thank goodness!), but I didn't wash my hair because I knew I wouldn't be able to blow dry or curl it! So I went off of yesterday's curl. ;-)

We had a good service this morning and I was SO GLAD that I had done all of my Sunday School prep (collected craft supplies and printed out worksheets) before the power went out yesterday! After church we grabbed a bucket of chicken at KFC and brought it home to eat. STILL NO POWER! Can you believe it?! Crazy!!! We ate our chicken and everybody else went to their beds for nap time and I sat by the window with the best light to put together my WMB service! I've NEVER been so NOT PREPARED before!!! But God REALLY, REALLY helped me and in about an hour and a half I had 6 pages of hand written notes (a FIRST for me--I've always typed 'em out before!) and felt really good about it. Praise the Lord!

This is what the kids accomplished during quiet time...

We had a good service tonight and I hope it was a blessing to everybody. I talked about being an EXAMPLE and being able to say, as Paul did, "The things that you've learned and received and heard and seen in me, DO." I talked about being "a pattern of good works" and how we are to be an example to others of exactly what a Christian should be. Can we say to others, "Follow me as I follow Christ," or would we be a little scared of how they'd turn out?! It gave me lots to think about anyway! Actually, I had to apologize to Joe and James before I could even do the service! Ha! I was just a wee bit snappy with James when--after he'd had a good, full night's sleep while I was up all night listening to "Hey, Mom, you still there???"--we came home and HE stretched out for a nap and had the nerve to say to me while I was cleaning the kitchen, "You gonna get to work on your service, or what?" I'm not sure I was a real good pattern of good works in my response. I was joking when I was slugging him... but only partially! Ha! Then there was Joe. I wasn't feeling very kindly toward him today after the little creep kept me up all night last night. So I apologized to him, too. I told him I was sorry for not being so nice to him... but if he knew what was good for him he'd leave me alone and let me sleep tonight, lights or no lights! Ha!

We went to Target after church tonight to buy a lantern--a REAL one instead of a toy like Joe's. James wasn't too thrilled with the price, but I insisted. I told him the only way to ensure that the power would be back on tonight would be to spend the money on a lantern. If we DIDN'T buy one then the power would still be out and we'd wish we'd bought one. I was right! We bought a lantern, came home and didn't need it after all! After a full 24 hours (is that bizarre, or what?!) our electricity is up and going again! I told James we ought to leave the lights off tonight and go ahead and use the lantern since we bought it. ;-)

And that's about it. I've laughed quite a bit at the kids today (after I got to feeling more kindly, that is! Ha!), but I can't think of what for now. It'll come to me later. Anyway, that's what we've been up to the past couple of days! I was disappointed because I was really, really trying to blog 7 days in a row--I'm not sure I've ever done that before. But you can't blog without electricity, so it threw me off. And I was so close! Oh well. Hope you all had a great and adventuresome weekend as well! :-)