The National Weather Service issued us a warning. . .

So in March we had a birthday party for Daniel's 3rd birthday. He was/is kind of into Mickey Mouse, or as he likes to refer to him, "Dickey Mouse." I had an old Wilton cake pan of Mickey Mouse that my mom kept which she used for mine and my sisters' parties growing up. So it was a simple decision as to the Dickey Mouse theme.




What was trickier was who to invite since at this point he wasn't technically our kid yet and in fact could, at any judicial hearing, suddenly not be in our home anymore. To keep from having to "un-invite" folks and because I was still at that point hosting a party for someone who may or may not be allowed to be in our family, I kept it small. If you are a friend and reading this and weren't invited, just know it was because of all the red tape. As in judicial-red tape, not party-red tape like crepe paper. As you read on, you will be counting your blessings as to why providence kept you at home!



The day started out great. We had Mickey Mouse ears, as modeled by cousin Libby Kate.

We had cousins galore and a few family friends to party with us.

Take a good look at this crew. These are the few, the proud, the hard-core birthday party attenders because they braved tornadic weather to come. That's right, on the day I planned lots of outdoor fun, we had tornadic stormy weather that started right after people got in the door until after the party was over. We literally had the party in the middle of a tornado. This was the day/weekend that Atlanta, Rockmart, and all sorts of Georgia cities got hit with 3+ tornados in one day. One came right up the highway leading to our house. Although instead of turning left at the intersection headed toward us; it turned right. It was a very serious weather day. The tornado took some lives and destroyed a lot of property and homes. I am in no way trying to make light of it.

I am just poking fun at myself. I threw a party in the middle of a tornado for Pete's sake. I must say that is a first. I kept running to the bedroom where the weather tornado tracker was on and then running back to the living room to read a story or play a game or hold a pinata for kids to attack. At one point I made up a new game called, "Let's See How Many Kids Can Fit in the Bathtub While We Read Some Books." They were not so amused by that one. The lap babies seemed to like it though, perched on their mothers' laps.

Meanwhile, Daniel was the picture of Stormy Weather at his own party. Observe his face while we sang to him. It stayed that way the entire time.

For those of you who haven't heard; it is all official now with Daniel. Things were wrapped up in mid-June. We have his new birth certificate and new id information. It is finished!