What happened to April?

Now that May is half way over, I thought it's time to post a few pictures and comments about what kept us busy in April.

(And when I finished the blog I realized there were a ton of pictures.  So skim and enjoy.)

Summer-time buzz for Colby.

A spring stroll around Radnor Lake.

Easter egg hunt on a sunny day.

Just being goofy.

A stroll around Cheekwood Botanical Gardens during Spring Break.

A camping trip with the Edgertons.  Cold night, but tons of fun.

 

  

I think we may have a rock climber in the family.

Spring soccer season started.  Colby is pretty much unstoppable. 

Grandma Piggott arrived to be here when the baby came.  He took his sweet little time.  We toured the Opryland Hotel the week before it was flooded.

  

We watched our tummies get bigger and bigger.

 

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.