-insert snarky comments about Monday here-

Oh yes, Tim and I had a bad case of the Monday's yesterday. It didn't start out too awful. Both kids slept great (ooooh, just jinxed myself huh?) and they were super excited about the snow, which didn't cause Tim any problems on the way to work. Everything was going swimmingly until about 11 am when I decided to take the kids outside to play for a bit.

Just before they wandered. 

We doubled up on all of our layers, grabbed hats and gloves and went outside to check out the very white and very cold stuff. The dogs also needed to go outside so I let them follow us out the door. We don't have a fence yet (that will be remedied, hopefully, by the end of this week) and while I was putting Lauren into her swing the dogs rounded the corner of the house and were gone. I didn't think they could have gone far so we walked around the neighborhood but we never saw them. I loaded the kids up in the car and drove around for almost an hour before heading back home.

Tim decided to leave work to come help me look. We were both really worried since the weather was so cold and dreary. While he was driving around his car decided it was a good time to just stop working. He messed with the spark plugs, glared at the gas gauge, then he walked home and called to see if his dad would tow him to a gas station. (It's a natural gas car so he had to go to a special place to fill up.) Filling up helped and he was able to get it to a mechanic.

Meanwhile, I was sitting at home alternating between posting pictures of the dogs on Craigslist, whining on Facebook, and standing at the back door yelling for them. Not exactly the best way to find them, but I had no way of leaving the house while the kids were napping.

Around 4 pm I received a call from a very nice man that had found Riley. I thought he was just across 111th in the closest neighborhood but I was way off. They didn't just get out of the main gate, they actually crossed highway 75. I'm still shocked that they didn't get hit by a car. He had also seen Romeo but unfortunately Romeo ran off. I drove around for another hour yelling out the window while Riley rested in the backseat with our two happy kids.

"A" is our house. "B" is where they ended up. The yellow  line in the middle is a VERY busy 4 lane highway.

(During this Brenden starting singing, "Roooo-meo, where are you? We have to bring you ho-ome." to the tune of Scooby Do. Sad. Cute. Heartbreaking.)

Eventually I had to get Tim from work, which just made feel even worse. It was getting darker and colder and the thought of Romeo having to spend all night outside made me tear up. We decided to grab some food and then continue looking for him and while I was driving back the same family called me again to tell me that Romeo had showed up on their porch.

They were so extremely nice and we were all so completely grateful. Such an awful day ended on such a good note. Everyone is at home, both cars work, and at the moment we're all pretty healthy. *knocking on wood*

And you better believe we're sending them a big old thank you card. The kids even drew them some pictures. Thank goodness for kind people.

The kids Thank Yous!