How the Shepherds survived the flooding

Many friends have asked how we fared during the recent historic flooding in Tennessee.  Overall we were very blessed with everyone safe and very little damage.  Here's how it affected us.

It started early Saturday morning with rain and thunderstorms.  And just kept going and going and going.  The kids thought it was great fun to play in it.  "Kids" meaning Bryan and Sienna, and to some extent Colby.

 The kids' soccer games were canceled in the morning, so Bryan spent the time putting together a glider that we bought the night before, with lots of helpers.  Wanting to get out of the house, we went out to eat for lunch then rushed through the Adventure Science Center for about 45 minutes before needing to return to make it in time for a birthday party for Sienna.  At this point it was still just a rainy day to us.

As we were coming home we saw huge flooding along the side of the freeway.  We knew things were serious when we passed the YMCA about a mile and a half from our house and saw the flooded parking lot.  We could barely see the tops of some of the cars.  This was where Sienna's birthday party was supposed to be at.  It was obviously canceled.

There was a ton of water on the road leading to our house (Wilson Pike) that we drove through, and shortly afterward the power steering in the van went out.  It was actually from an engine belt that came completely off that left us with only one car for a few days (a 5-seater car, when we're now a family of 6 plus Grandma!)  We also noticed a leak in the van on the passenger side near the feet. 
 
We were worried about our house but it stayed dry.  The water from our sloped driveway streamed to the lawn instead of into our garage.  There were streams on three sides of the house, which is typical during major downpours, although the water level was much higher than usual, rushing quite fast and deep.  We also had standing water in the yard.  It seems like anyone with a basement had flooding.  Bryan spent a few hours in the afternoon helping a neighbor move things from their basement and vacuum it out.

During a lull in the rain Sienna and Bryan went outside to play and walk around in the water.  Eventually they got some Styrofoam from the glider packaging and made boats to race along in the streams.  

At around 6 Sunday morning the tornado siren went off.  We went back to sleep and sometime later the power went off.  It stayed off until around 2 pm.  Everyone was encouraged to stay at home and not drive anywhere.  Church was canceled as well as school the next day.  Late that night a large, rain-soaked tree branch fell against the house.  It fell completely to the ground a couple days later, pulling off part of the gutter.  We're still not sure what kind of damage it did to the roof.

 
I was scheduled to go into the hospital Sunday night for an induction.  The hospital called to cancel (they had flooding as well) and told us to call on Monday.  So the next day we drove downtown to see what else the storm washed up...

In the midst of having a new baby in the family Bryan was left with the projects of fixing our van, cutting down a tree, as well as trying to meet a grant deadline at work.  He's been kind of busy this week.

So even though the storm affected us, we were definitely blessed, especially considering the many homes that were completely ruined and the lives that were lost.  We appreciate the calls and emails from friends and family out of state checking to see how we fared. 

Introducing...

Dallin Earl Shepherd

Born Monday, May 3, 2010

7 lbs. 3 oz., 20 1/2 in. long

Sienna, Colby, and Ashley are happy to have him here.  (Ashley really is happy, she's just sporting her usual stoic camera face.)

Of course so are Mom, Dad, and Grandma.

Mom and Dallin are home and recovering nicely.  Dallin seems in perfect health for which we are very grateful.  We're glad he didn't come a day or two earlier during the Nashville downpour that caused historic flooding.  It would have made it a lot harder to get to the hospital!

March picture highlights

Besides birthdays, here's a glimpse of what we've been up to in March.

Colby has been building blanket forts.

 

Sienna's been climbing trees.

 

The kids have been out riding bikes.

We celebrated St. Patrick's Day with green oatmeal, green eggs, and green milk.

Bryan took a work trip to Barcelona, Spain.

Ashley's been potty training.

And I'm getting bigger by the day.

Happy Birthday Colby!

Four years ago this little cutie joined our family.

Happy Birthday Colby!  Grandma and Grandpa Shepherd were here to celebrate with us.  We took advantage of wonderful weather and headed to the zoo.  His big birthday gift was a soccer goal, which he loves. 

 

Look who's 6!

Six years ago we brought home this tiny girl.

We celebrated Sienna's 6th birthday on Monday.  Unfortunately she woke up feeling sick and spent much of the afternoon like this:

She perked up a bit when the festivities started: dancing to her song ("Brown-eyed girl"), spanking machine, getting measured on the wall, opening presents, handprint on the birthday tablecloth, and cake & ice cream.

Sienna requested a Strawberry Shortcake Cake (as in the character, not the typical dessert).  A Strawberry Shortcake hat was as close as I could get.

Speaking of 6 years...
Ashley has been potty training and is now in underwear during the day.  It has been 6 years since I haven't had to regularly change diapers.  And I'll have about a month to enjoy it before #4 arrives!

Artists in the making

Anyone who knows Sienna knows she loves arts and crafts.  She can spend hours at her desk coloring, cutting and drawing.  This month one of her pieces of school artwork was selected among 12 from her school (2 per grade) to be shown at the Williamson County School's Art Show.  It was held at Nashville's Frist Art Museum.  She definitely gets her artistic talents from her Dad.  Although I'm pretty good at stick figures! 

Here is a link to her artwork.
And here she is at the Art Show.

Funny how a simple drawing can sure make a momma proud.

A few other recent crafts:
A doll, bed, and quilt for Ashley's birthday:

Paper earrings for us all:

Colby is not far behind.  He will also sit forever and draw cars, butterflies, boats, and curious looking people.  And lately he's been using reams of tape for anything and everything.  Gotta love his "smile" in the picture above.

Highlights from February

Valentines Day.  Although Bryan and I did enjoy a date over the Valentines weekend, Sienna probably got the biggest kick out of the holiday.  She made Valentines galore and planned a Valentine party for us at home, after having so much fun at her school party.  She had everyone dress in red or pink, we all had paper hearts added to our clothes, and everyone exchanged Valentines.

Injury.  Colby tried to do a running jump onto his chair and missed.... hitting the table with his lip.  It wasn't pretty, but it's healing nicely.

 

Snow days.  There have been several this season.  We spent one of them at the bowling alley.

 

Dancing.  Bryan went with Sienna to a Daddy-Daughter Dance at her school.  Sienna was so excited and was looking forward to it all week.  And Bryan was a good sport. 

 

 

A birthday.  Ashley turned 2!  We had a couple families over to help celebrate and eat cake and ice cream.

Cabin fever.  We headed out to Percy Warner Park for a little hike.  It was still kind of chilly but everyone was happy just to be outside.