Little Man turns 4 this week. Where has the time gone?!

We started the weekend with him requesting a cake with sprinkles inside it, and he wanted blue frosting with sprinkles on top. OK, Little Man…We can make that happen! So, Friday afternoon, he helped me bake his cake!

Saturday morning, he helped Mama and Daddy build his new climbing dome. We had been looking for a nice swing, but Menards was all out of the two we had been eyeing. This climbing dome, however, will give him hours of play in the backyard! That afternoon, we went to a local gun show. We didn’t adopt any lovely and needy firearms, but I did pick up a sharpening stone for our knives. When we got home, Little Man helped me make the frosting, and he threw a bunch of sprinkles on top!

Sunday, we drove out to the inlaws to celebrate Mother’s Day and Little Man’s birthday. We were greeted by a cute little frog sitting on one of their patio chairs. Little Man thought it was the neatest thing! After a great dinner of steaks that were cooked on the grill, I pulled out the birthday cake. Little Man was so surprised and excited to see that Optius Prime and Bumblebee were on top! He forgot all about eating the cake and opening his the gift from his grandparents.

In a garden update- all my beautiful flowers up front were flattened from the huge rain storms we got in the middle of the week. My garlic looks AMAZING as it is coming up. It’s just been a week, so no sign of any carrots or onions…but I’m crossing my fingers we get SOMETHING. The walking onions haven’t made an appearance yet, but I’m keeping an eye out. And my blackberry and raspberry out front haven’t died yet.

Those storms we got midweek, though…Wednesday and Thursday night we were under tornado warnings all night. Wednesday, I threw a few things into a backpack for Little Man and myself, just in case we had to head down to the basement if the sirens went off. I did the same thing Thursday night. But, that morning, Squatch and I had a chat, and we have decided to pull together a small duffel bag with just a few things for each of us, and keep it in the basement bathroom. That way, if the tornado sirens go off, all we have to do is head downstairs, and not worry about bringing anything with us. Our town takes tornadoes seriously. We had some big ones come through in the past decade, and so the siren gets tested daily at 12:01.

Squatch and I had an interesting conversation with the inlaws about tornadoes yesterday, though. We had mentioned the bag I had packed for Little Man, and MIL and FIL both told Squatch “You’re SOL, because she’s only looking out for herself and Little Man.” Now, should we have go bags ready to go at all times? Yes. Do the inlaws understand that concept? Not at all (and for more on this, be sure to listen to Fireside Freedom tomorrow night at 7pm, as we discuss dealing with normies). But they questioned why we would even have a bag ready with things if there was a tornado. “If we lose the entire house, at least we’re not starting over completely. Plus, we’ll have some clothes and toiletries ready to go. It’s better than not having anything,” we replied to them. Their heads just shook, thinking we are crazy. Their loss…

This weekend, we’re putting together the duffel bag, and it will have a mini trauma kit, water filters, clothes, and phone chargers in it. It will be reviewed monthly, especially with Little Man growing so fast, to make sure the clothes in the bag are seasonally appropriate AND the right size. Once Bug is here, there will be some baby clothes, diapers, etc. added. It is better to be prepared an eventuality that is most likely to happen, than not. Being ready for a tornado, and having this bag, means that if there is a fire, some reason we have to leave town in an emergency, etc., we’ve got a bag ready to go. It will be one less thing to have to pack up, and we can make a hasty exit.