Be Prepared

With a two year old and a three year old you have to find the right balance when discussing extreme weather. You want them to take it seriously, but to not be terrified.

Ironically, my kids know what a "twister" is because of an episode of Wonder Pets. They enjoy singing the line, "They go round, round, round picking stuff off the ground." They know that sometimes there is a tornado warning which means that there might be a tornado nearby.

Last night a series of storms pushed through our area and we decided we needed to upgrade our plan of going to the basement with the kids and huddling in the darkness at the bottom of the stairs. We cleaned out the basement closet and put blankets, pillows, flashlights, snacks, water bottles, and a couple of just-in-case diapers in there. We also loaded up the iPad with episodes of Handy Manny.

Of course, by the time we got all that done, the storms had pretty much passed through, but by then the kids were excited about the "hidey cave" and so we went down there anyway and watched an episode of Handy Manny just to test it out. The kids loved it and protested when it was time to leave.

All in all, it was a pretty good upgrade of our What to Do When There's a Tornado Warning Plan and a great dry run. Now we just have to figure out what to do with all the stuff we pulled out of that closet and tossed into the center of the basement.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe Needed

Does someone have a great chocolate chip cookie recipe they'd be willing to send me? We lost ours. In our first year of marriage we made the best from scratch chocolate chip cookies. Then I got pregnant with Michael. Then we moved in the third trimester and three months later Michael arrived. Ava arrived 15 months after that. We went almost four years without even looking for that recipe.

A couple of weeks ago, unable to locate the recipe, my husband tried the recipe on the Toll House Chocolate Chips bag. Definitely not the recipe we wanted. Then we tried the one from the Better Homes & Garden cookbook. Also not right.

So now I'm looking for suggestions.

Please?

Seriously?

First I wrote about how I really did need to find Ava a regular playmate.

Then I wrote about the miraculous discovery only a few days later that a little girl Ava's age lives only a few houses away in our neighborhood.

We had one very nice playdate and then a few weeks later we had another very nice playdate. We seem to have some difficulty coordinating regular playdates, but I can live with irregular.

Then one day last week as I was driving by their house on the way to ours...