Water Water Everywhere, But Not A Drop To Drink

So, funny story. I realized last weekend that I hadn't posted anything in quite some time and thought maybe I should do something about that. But then I couldn't think of anything to write about. Rob's birthday was on Tuesday so I thought I would just wait until I had some material from that. Before I could post anything about that, I got way more material than I ever could've imagined. First though, Rob's birthday.



It's tough to get much done during the day but I decided we had to do something for Rob's birthday. I took the kids out and got a cake, balloons and posterboard to make a sign. The idea was to put Rex and Wyatt's handprints on the sign, but as soon as I tried it with Rex I realized it was not the best idea I ever had. Rex wanted to basically fingerpaint all over the sign rather than just make handprints so that was a struggle. Then the paint, which was face paint, wouldn't really come off his hands too well so I decided we would just skip Wyatt's part in the sign-making process. The sign didn't turn out quite how I imagined but I'm learning that is just how it goes when you are working with kids. We had dinner at home- Rob had to buy and cook his own dinner. It sounds terrible, I know, but listen to me first. He picked up the groceries on his way home from the massage I booked him so that's not so bad, right? Then he had the option of cooking or watching the kids while I cooked and he picked cooking. Not like I know how to grill up a steak for him anyways so that all worked out for the best. Here we all are with the birthday cake.



I took two pictures like this using the camera's timer and this was the better one since 3 out of 4 are actually looking at the camera. The dinner and the cake were yummy and I think Rob had a very good birthday.

So on to my really big and crazy news. It's flooding here. It is CRAZY. Our house is completely fine. There was a small puddle in one corner of the basement- so small it could just be wiped up with a towel- and that was it. We are very thankful for that. Rob was able to make it to work on Wednesday by going way out of town and around and then back again only to discover that there was no power where he works and nothing really he could do. He left work around 11:00 a.m. and they ended up telling all the employees not to come in at all on Thursday. This is what it looked like all over town on Wednesday- lots of flooded streets and lots of people looking around at it all.



The worst news was still to come though. Because of all the flooding, there was a chance our water supply was contaminated and we have been under a boil water order since Wednesday afternoon. Thank goodness Rob was home because he went out to the store immediately to stock up on bottled water and bought a few gallons in the milk jug type containers too. We can only use very little water while they try to get the water towers (which were nearly drained empty) filled back up and then flush the whole city water system. You can take a shower but it has to be less than 5 minutes and you better keep your mouth closed while you are in there. How do you wash a 2 year old and a baby though? With store-bought gallons of water apparently- at least, that's what we did last night. They can't keep their mouths closed the whole time so we bought a bunch of water on Friday to use for their baths last night. It was either that or go rent a hotel room in another city so buying the water didn't seem so expensive after all. We have been using paper plates/bowls and plastic silverware as much as possible to avoid getting any dishes dirty. It's a lot like camping around here. They hope to have everything back to normal by Tuesday evening which is far later than they first predicted. They also thought there was only one water main break to begin with too so there you go. Although it is all incredibly inconvenient and annoying, I am very happy that is all we are having to deal with right now. It could have been much worse and I know there are a lot of people not very far from here who are dealing with much worse circumstances.