Harward Family: November 2009

So, I'll tell the story how it happened, this way I can refer everyone who asks "what happened?" to my blog and get tons of traffic. =) Gruesome pictures of our mess soon to come. (camera issues)
Early Sunday morning we heard Egan get up and go to the bathroom, he was in there about 30 seconds, and went back to bed. (Normal Happening) He left the bathroom light on, and went to turn it off. (has nothing to do with the story besides I was a little awake) About 5 minutes later our smoke alarms go off, and I see light coming from the kid's bedroom. I run in to the room and Egan is standing looking at a huge fire on the bottom bunk of their bed that is rapidly crawling to the blankets on the floor by the door. I scream "There's a fire! Evelyn?!" Evelyn is still asleep on the top bunk. Aaron is right behind me, and jumps in to grab Evelyn (the smoke was so thick that he had to wave his arms over the bed to find her) and we all ran down stairs. My mother had stayed the night the night before due to a storm up in her area, she was in town watching the beloved werewolf movie with me (I'm sure you all know what awesome movie I'm talking about). She grabbed a blanket and her bag and covered the kids up while handing me her cell phone. Aaron grabbed the fire extinguisher and went upstairs, he quickly came back down stairs, "Its too hot!" We were then outside in the rain without shoes or anything. Stupid me, I went and grabbed my coat and purse by the door. We waited what felt like forever, but really only 3 minutes for the firemen to show up with our neighbors who we woke up at 7 in the morning. 2 Fire trucks and an ambulance came, (Egan wasn't as excited to see the firemen this time) They got the fire out quick, and we waited while they aired it out, and pulled up carpet and threw all the burned stuff from the kids' bedroom out the window. We were able to grab just a few things like shoes and purses quickly. The paramedics checked us out and recommended that we head to the emergency room right away. Evelyn had singed hair on her head and up her nose. Aaron has a burned lip and like sunburn over his face. All of his hair on top got singed, half of an eyebrow is gone, but he is fine. Because I was emotional and freaking out a bit they put me on oxygen and monitored my stats for a bit. The kids were in a separate room, but with my mom. Thanks mom! We were there only a short while and were able to make phone calls to our ward and family as well as insurance. Luckily we have invested in renters insurance for the last 8 years of marriage and have a great policy that covers us. Almost instantly we were blessed by the wonderful people in our ward and our great family. We are now staying with my dad about 20 minutes from our house. By the time we were showered and in my dad's pjs our insurance guy had shown up to give us info and support. We were also visited by a fire marshal who is investigating the fire. She was able to talk to Egan about what happened and we found out that he had taken a match from the bathroom.. (I had them there for a candle for you know what purpose) and had stuck the match in the electrical socket immediately starting a fire. If it had not been for the 3 alarms that went off, we would not have gotten up in time. I had fallen back asleep, and had it been 30 seconds later, Evelyn would not have survived. I want to stress now check your smoke alarms.. make sure they are working. So important. The fire marshal told us that she had 3 fires that night, and we were the only ones without a casualty because we had a smoke detector. Egan now has to take an age appropriate class at the fire department so he can understand the importance of fire safety. Fun fun. =)
We have been sorting through our stuff with tons of people in and out of our house going through our things, taking pictures, and asking questions. There are insurance guys, tech cleaners, clothes and linens cleaners, furniture cleaners, construction workers, movers and packers, owners and landlords all over, in our messy house looking at everything. Everything is covered with a sooty black mess that needs to be cleaned. Our insurance provides a service where all your stuff gets packed up and cleaned in a warehouse and then packed and delivered to your new residence. They do it all. They will let us know what can be saved and what can't. We have been there the last two days taking inventory of everything we know is gone, and helping all these people sort through our mess. Fun crazy times.
Our ward family brought us dinner Sunday night, and bags and bags of donations of clothes and bathroom items for our family. We are still receiving wonderful gifts that overwhelm us and warm our hearts and what seems like unlimited free babysitting! We plan to pass this spirit of service along, and never forget the lesson learned of what is most important: Family and Friends, kindness and service, health and safety, the gospel and our Heavenly father. I am truly thankful for all of my many blessings this Thanksgiving Holiday season. Thank you all for your prayers and kindness in our behalf.

Halloween came and we enjoyed it!

This first picture is the pattern I picked up on sale for the kid's costumes. Egan had the black cape with the hood for his Harry Potter Costume. Evelyn begged and begged for the pink thing in the top left. I wanted to make the bottom right.....

So we compromised. Isn't she cute? When people asked her what she was "I'm a Pink Witch!"

I let Egan play with his costume for a few weeks before Halloween, and his glasses didn't really survive it. I gave them each a chopstick for their wands. I crouched Egan's scarf, and actually made myself a Ravenclaw scarf and hat.

Egan casting his spells "Redicorous!"

Evelyn all ready anticipating a full pumpkin.

The kids Got a TON of candy. We separated and checked out each piece, and then refilled the buckets with a piece of each kind (probably half full) and hid the rest for another day. We gave the kids their buckets and let them have at whatever they wanted. Told them they could eat whatever, or save it for later. "You'll get sick if you eat it all right now"

The common theme we heard that night "one more piece." Needless to say, both kids didn't sleep too well, and had "tummy hakes" in the morning. Here is a picture of Evelyn crashed on the couch after her sugar rush the previous night. I'm hoping next year they will remember their "tummy hakes". Only Egan has asked for more "just one piece" of candy since that night. Evelyn wont have anything to do with it. Funny Kids.