I moved us into the duplex while Colin was at work last week, and we have been making a lot of progress over the past week. We have gotten most of our boxes unpacked, although Colin still has to go through his books and decide which ones he wants in his office, as it is much smaller than his last office, and which he wants to go in the garage. Then we have to organize the garage and donate things we no longer need or are using. On Mother's day Colin and I spent all day cleaning the apartment after church, so we are done their and are excited that we will never have to pay rent again! From now on, we will only collect rent checks. =)

For mothers day I received a Doctor Who book from Colin and we sponsored our little girl in tanzania for another year with Compassion international. That's what we did last year for mothers day as well, and I cannot think of a better way to celebrate the joy and blessing of being a mother to such a bright, happy, healthy baby than to help another mommy have the same opportunity.

Yesterday there were tornados that touched down just north of Des Moines, and so the tornado sirens started wailing right as we pulled into our driveway. I have never been anywhere where I have heard the tornado sirens go off, so I was freaked out since I was holding my baby and I thought the sirens meant that one was coming right at us! Colin and I volunteered in Joplin after a hurricane decimated that city, and it left me with a healthy respect for tornadoes. I remember hearing that the siren only gave residents a 30 seconds of warning. I remember hearing a story of a dad and his son pulling in their driveway, and the tornado sucking the teenager out of the moonroof while the dad tried so desperately to hold on to him that he ripped both of bicep muscles until he literally could no longer physically hold on to him, and the tornado sucked him up. Even though that was before I was a parent, that story was by far one of the most emotional stories of my lifetime. Because of it, I will always take tornadoes very seriously.

Colin and I - June 2011-  In Joplin

As I was fumbling with the baby in my arms at the basement door - because all of house keys look the same and I couldn't figure out which one went to the basement door (It is outside access), Colin stopped to make sure the car was in the garage to protect it from hail, and ran upstairs to get survival gear. The water was nice to have, and we definitely heard hail, so I am glad he did those things, but man was I annoyed at the time. We had a little bit of flash flood situation, realized we need to water proof the entrance to the garage better, (Colin improvised with some weeds and dirt, which actually worked). At one point It seemed a little post apocalyptic because we live across the street from the hospital and there were suddenly a lot of rescue vehicles running back and forth, combined with the tornado sirens. Which, I think Colin enjoyed it, more than a little. He likes survival type situations. That is why I got him materials for a go kit for christmas. We now know we also need to have seating in the basement, and water and flashlights, a weather radio ect. in case we need to run down their again for a tornado warning. I also need to clean out the basement of spiders, nails and debris. Luckily we were just coming from Colin's parents and we had the pack and play in the trunk so we were able to quickly get it down there and put Finn in it while we bunkered down for an hour or so.

Tomorrow is my birthday and I am going to spend it having the carpets cleaned in the unit downstairs, and visiting with our home insurance company for their inspection. Colin got all of the smoke detectors installed last night after our Tornado drill, and we have two fire extinguishers now - - one for each kitchen. We are going to install a washer and dryer this weekend, and get my moms unit ready for her to move in by buying a couch and a couple of beds and either washing or painting the walls down there.

We have a lot of projects we still need to do with the house, but it is a very nice house. I feel blessed that we are able to have enough house to house Colin and Finn and I, and my mom and my brother comfortably, and I am excited that all I will have to do after my mom moves in is just drop Finn downstairs instead of rushing around town and stressing to get to work on time. Colin gets home around 6:30 and my mom lives on the south-side, so its always a close call to get to work on time right now, but so far I haven't been late yet! Hopefully we can get Mom and William in there before that happens. I will get some pics up as soon as I can manage of the house, but here are new ones of Finn. He is much cuter anyways.

Off to go and pick up Colin, we are going to go see Iron Man 3 for my birthday, as I work all week and we will be waaay too busy this weekend to celebrate anything!