FIRE!

Our chimney caught fire tonight.

We had just put the twins to bed when our neighbor called to tell us our chimney was on fire. I immediately yelled at the big girls,who were downstairs, that there was a fire and to get out while I was grabbing the twins out of their beds. Rebecca had been watching Elliott in the living room but we've always told her just to get herself out of the house so it took me a few seconds to find him. I had dropped the twins on the front porch to go get him and when I got out the door my girls were running to the meeting spot just like we've talked about. The fire alarm went off right as I was walking out the door and that was just about the time I first smelled smoke.

I had grabbed one blanket for Elliott and the twins were in thick pjs but poor Kendall was in short sleeves and no shoes. Luckily my neighbor came and we all headed back to her house.

DH was on the phone with 911 as I was leaving (he was also looking for pants because he had just taken off his work pants when the neighbor called). Then he grabbed our 2 fire extinguishers and used both of them to put the fire out in the fireplace.

The twins and Elliott thought it was exciting, Rebecca cried that she didn't want kitty cat blankie and lambie to burn, Kendall cried about something or other. I kept telling them it was just the chimney and the important thing was that we were all safe. Then we watched from my neighbors house as 4 fire trucks, an ambulance, and the fire chief come blaring up to my house. There were no flames at this point. (Of course I now realize that my house is a total disaster from a very crazy weekend and now not only was the whole fire department running through it but now neighbors were stopping to check on things).

A little bit later DH called us with the all clear. The house is a little smoky but it's more of a weird chemical smell from the fire extinguishers. We've had as many windows open as we could. Luckily the little ones went to bed pretty quickly. Kendall's sleeping on the sofa down here at the moment but I suspect it could be a long night with the big girls.

It was really scary but I keep telling them that they did everything right so that everyone is safe. I'm so grateful that our school has a fire safety week because both girls had homework this past fall where we had to talk and practice all these things. When we were doing this back then I realized that we hadn't picked a new spot since we moved here. So I'm glad that we were prepared and I'm so proud that my girls did everything that we'd talked about.

And while I feel blessed that things turned out fine I'm sitting here still shaking and sick to my stomach because it's things like this that the reality of having 5 people so completely dependent on us is just so overwhelming.

PS. Check you smoke alarms and go over your fire plan with your kids.