Snow

I mentioned that it started snowing while we were at the children's museum.  It was a really wet snow, and wasn't sticking to the roads (it was above freezing), but when we got home, it snowed enough to go out and play in.

They mostly wanted to throw snowballs.

At me.

Greg got some snowballs started for them to make into a snowman.

I think the snowman was half dirt, but it was a blast, and a nice surprise on a Saturday afternoon.  The snow was falling just faster than it was melting.  It stopped snowing while we were out there, and by the time we went inside, we had "used up" all of the snow in the front yard.  The back yard was barely covered, between having less grass and the fact that it was above freezing.  Most of the snow had melted by that night, and the snowman hung around for only a day or two.

Snow!

We decided to drive up to my parents' house the day after Christmas to get a quick visit in.  I will spare you some of the miserable details, but it was the day that the big tropical storm moved up the east coast.  We were in the car for 18 hours.  And it rained the entire way.  Pretty much pouring rain.  Until we got within 15 miles of my parents.  Then it turned to snow/sleet/ice.  But we all survived and got there in one piece.

The first thing the girls wanted to do was go sledding.  We took the girls over to a baseball field to let them play.  The baseball field is right next to a church, and there's a hill from the church down to the baseball field.  So, of course, now "going to church" means going sledding.  Sigh.


 (I swear I fixed the exposure on these in iPhoto, but they're still showing up as gray snow here.  Not sure what I'm doing wrong.  And I'm too tired to figure it out right now.)

They made me "test out" the sled first to make sure it "worked."  And that was all it took before they fell in love with sledding.  It was fun just to watch them.

Yes, my children are sledding in sneakers.  And without snow pants on.  If you believe it, we actually do have snow pants, but I forgot to pack them.  We didn't have boots though, so Grandma and Papa took the girls to Walmart and bought boots.  I'm not sure if I have a picture of them later in the week, but they bought them "boy" camo-edged boots.  I don't remember the whole story - I think they were on sale.

 We made snow angels (you know, just to make sure we got soaked all the way through).

And helped Grandma make a snowman.

 And had a snow fight.

Of course, hot warm tepid chocolate was in order once we got back.  I don't know why Emma is wearing Greg's hat.

What We've Been Up To

So, I think I left off with "Snowstorm 2011" as the news called it. No catchy name for this one. Anyhow, the sun finally came out last Wednesday and started melting the snow and ice. We were still getting pretty cold at night, so all week long it was a lot of melting and refreezing. The roads were still kind of scary (for me at least) on Wednesday, but Greg needed to get in to work, and daycare was open, so we took the girls in around 10:30 and then went to work. There were still patches of ice and chunks of snow/ice between worn down tire tracks through Monday when we got lots of rain. More rain yesterday took care of most anything that was left. Seriously, though, it was a good week of dodgy roads. Schools were closed all week. What gets me, too - on Thursday morning, I finally saw sand on the roads that wasn't there on Wednesday. Yup, Thursday. As in, 4 days after the snow.

We went out to dinner on Friday for pizza, and it was a scream fest. We haven't had a meal that bad in a long time. I worked a little later than usual, so we were running late. Plus, the pizza place changed to table service (from order at the counter), and it took forever. And the girls get SO upset when they bring the food out to the table and they can't eat it right away.

Grandma and Grandpa G got here on Saturday morning, and the girls were so excited to see them, after their initial shock. They're used to seeing them on tv, and it took maybe 5 minutes for them to figure out what was going on. Since then, they've been in heaven with "gamma" and "papa" wrapped around their fingers.

On Sunday, it was warm enough to go to the zoo.
Becca and Grandma



Grandpa was showing Julie how to make snow balls.


Julie was yelling "I love you wack wack!" at the ducks.


Julie still won't get anywhere near the bear.


Becca with hands in pockets. She's looking so old lately.


Emma and her friend the cat.


More soon. Need some sleep.

Snow Day

We got a good 6 inches of snow, starting around midnight on Sunday night. At the moment, there's a nice crust of ice on top of the snow. Day care was closed, and Greg and I both stayed home from work. The roads were just snow first thing this morning, but then the ice started. The rest of this week looks like it's going to be cycles of melting and refreezing.

We took the girls out this morning. They weren't really thrilled. A lot of whining and wanting to be picked up. We stuck it out for a half hour or so... you know, since it took us a good half hour to get them suited up. Until this morning, we hadn't even dug out the real winter coats. When I went up to get them, I actually found two pairs of snow pants that I didn't know that we had. They were a 2T and a 3T, so unfortunately Julie was out of luck. Emma was swimming in the 3T, and she looked like a big pink marshmallow.

My pictures aren't great. My camera was in a plastic bag, and looking through the viewfinder through a plastic bag was nearly pointless.



E: "Please someone get me out of here!"


R: having fun, if only for an instant.



"Daddy messy!"


The neighbor's dog came out.


Pushing daddy over was our favorite game.