Taking a turn up tornado alley...

I just spent the last hour in the basement with the kids during a tornado warning.

I remember being in similar situations as a kid, and thinking they were exciting and interesting, but not so much when I had to little ones to think of and care for! I was talking with my sister and checked my email where I saw a weather alert for a tornado warning for our area and we were instructed to take cover.

I heard the sirens minutes later and hurried to put on my running shoes and grabbed Asher out of his crib ( he was asleep for a nap) and took the kids downstairs. Luckily we have a pretty decent spot in our basement with a large alcove that is underground cement walls on 3 sides with a steel beam across the top. That's where we keep our emergency supplies. We also have a large area rug down there and toys for the kids, so I got them situated and then ran back upstairs to very quickly grab a few essentials ( blanket, binky, diapers, wipes, jackets, shoes for aubrey, and change of clothes for Asher).

I couldn't get ahold of any of my family or Steve, but was able to get through to my sister in Utah despite intermittent service. She was a good support and was able to keep me updated. I stayed calm but Aubrey sure didn't like the sirens and wanted to know why there was "a tornado in this world". She kept insisting we go outside for a walk after the rain ended. : ) Asher was good for most of it, but got whiny towards the end because it was time for him to eat/missed nap, etc. But the sirens eventually stopped and we ventured up to patches of sunny sky. I guess there are more storms to come though...

A tornado actually touched down one main road away from my mom's work. Steve had to take shelter at his work, and my brother and his wife were in their basement was good-sized hail coming down. We didn't get much more than a good soaking but it was still nerve-wracking with the sirens constantly going off! The heaviest part of the storm ( that was producing the funnel clouds) was reported as being in Oak Grove, the next exit down from ours and heading 25 mi an hour in our direction, but somehow it missed us and went North of us I guess. What a blessing. I started doing a home inventory last night, but maybe I should beef up my efforts?! Anyway, definitely an "exciting" afternoon.