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My kiddos have survived their first tornado.

T's parent's got to our house yesterday around 2:15pm as they were going to watch our kids for a few hours while T and I attended a wedding.  Our kids were sleeping soundly, T and I were about to head out the door, when the tornado sirens went off.  Okay, I should have panicked a bit more than I was, but this was the 3rd time the sirens went off in a week and no tornadoes had come, so I didn't think this time was any different.  I decided to turn on the television anyway, and of course seeing that I have satellite, no channels came in.  Luckily, my sister who lives in another neighborhood called me to let me know that the tornado was headed my way.  Thank goodness for sisters who are looking out! 

T and I got the kiddos who were sleeping in their cribs, and brought them downstairs into the basement (seriously, all houses should have these), where we got on the internet and watched the storm.  We hadn't been downstairs for 30 seconds when I could see through a small window that it got orange outside, before turning pitch black.  Before I knew it, it sounded like a train was going down our street, and I kept hearing these popping noises, and I'm still not sure where that was from.  But it was loud popping noises, almost like a gun going off.  10 seconds later, it was quiet outside, and the sun came out. 

According to the new's reports, the closest tornado touched down half a block from my house.  There were many trees down, and debris everywhere, but my house, and many others in my neighborhood were completely untouched. 

Parts of Minneapolis have been closed off to the public, and for the most part, my neighborhood is just outside that area luckily. . . although they did close the exit/entrance ramps to the highway by my house, making it hard to get to and from work.  Here are some pictures.

My thoughts and prayers are with all of those affected by this storm, and also with all the people in Joplin, MO, and the people still cleaning up from the storms in Mississippi. We were closer than I would have liked to have been, and let me tell you, having kids makes this mama even more nervous about these types of things.  Praying for all the people who lossed loved one, homes, and all those affected in any way by these destructable storms.