Unexpected Visitors

What started out as a lazy morning turned into some craziness around here.  Jonathan was in training uptown this week so it was just the kids and I at home during the day.  This morning we made pancakes and were playing around the house when we heard a repeated beeping noise coming from the basement.  Being the paranoid mommy I can sometimes be, I rushed the kids upstairs to Katelynn's room and explained to Katelynn that she and Justin should play up there while Mommy went to make sure the basement was safe.  I wasn't sure what the beeping noise was, but it seemed possible it could come from someone's cell phone, which was freaking me out!  I crept down in the basement with my cell phone ready to dial 9-1-1.  As it turned out (thankfully considering what was going through my head of what it could be), it was just our carbon monoxide detector going off.  I say "just" but really that's scary all on it's own!  We have one on each level, but the basement was the only one going off.  Our basement though is on seperate gas heater so I was still concerned.  I had gotten the kids dressed (but as you can see by the picture, Justin was still styling his bedhead), but I was still in PJ's.  I quickly changed clothes, called 9-1-1 (as a non-emergency call ) afterall to ask for the fire department to come on out.  Katelynn was pretty excited that a big firetruck was coming to our house.  We had rushed outside as soon as I had gotten dressed just in case there was any carbon monoxide leaking into the house, but I have to admit that being a camera-crazy person, I was really bumming that I didn't have my camera to take pictures of Katelynn in awe of the firetruck (and Justin who cried when he saw it pull up).  The firemen were super nice, had stickers for both kids, and made sure to talk to the kids as well.  They tested our entire house and thankfully did not find any harmful levels.  They checked out detector and informed me to leave it outside in the fresh air for an hour, saying that it was possible it just got moisture in it from the basement and couldn't read correctly.  If it happened again, they suggested we replace it.  So far so good, but boy did it make for an interesting morning!