Sunday, December 20, 2009

Snow Day(s and Days)!

Over 20 inches of snow fell on Saturday--and entire winter's worth in one day. Naturally, John was out in sunny California while the kids and I were holed up in the house. I wished he were here, but was glad he wasn't flying around in all the mayhem of the East Coast. It was exciting....watching the news, wondering when the snow would stop.It was relaxing knowing that even if I wanted to run around to do productive things that I couldn't. My choir concert was cancelled. Everything was cancelled. It is a nice way to really slow down. A forced slow down right around Christmas is pretty great. I took the kids out on Saturday in the blizzard, after a twenty minute suiting up session.Outside, it was windy and gusty and blowing snow in our faces. I set Andrew down on the sidewalk. He screamed. I pulled them down the driveway in the sled. Andrew screamed. I put him in the garage with a football and made snow angels with Becca. Andrew screamed. I held him as Becca walked in waist-deep drifts. Andrew screamed. His mittens fell off. He screamed. And then we went back inside. We made Rudolph sandwiches for lunch. We colored. We all took long naps. Later we trudged through the snow to a friend's house for dinner. We lost a mitten (Why has no one invented kid mittens that extend up to the elbow?) Becca and I had a movie night....and that was that! A great day aside from the 10 minute scream fest!

Why am I out here, woman?

Day number 2 dawned today, sunny and quiet and beautiful. Unless, of course, you count the heinous screams of terror coming from Andrew's crib at 5:30 a.m. (On the dot! Every day!) But, for the moment, let's just ignore that and think about the beautiful sunrise on the snow....

(Deep breath.)

Today was not quite as fantastic because I was suddenly looking at 20+ inches of snow and wondering how the hell I was going to shovel myself out of that mess, especially when Andrew apparently does nothing but scream in the snow and there were no other adults here to help/childsit/shovel, etc. I was also quite thrilled to get helpful phone calls from John about whether I was done shoveling yet (????)

I did what any self-respecting woman would do. I hired someone to watch the kids while I shoveled. Wait. That is NOT what should have happened....there should have been a pickup truck with a plow, or someone with a snowblower in my driveway. But, anyway....I am woman! I have shovel! Hear me whimper in agony!


A neighbor did come to my aid and help me finish the other half of the driveway. It took the two of us, combined, an hour and a half. Later I put in another half hour trying to clear the giant pile at the curb from the plows.


I can not lift my arms.

This is what the mailbox looked like after I shoveled. Dudes. I hauled a shit-ton of snow around today. Never, EVER shoveled that much in Alaska.

Becca and I tried making Snow Cream. Two cups milk (we used whole). One cup sugar, one tsp. vanilla. Stir all together and then add lots of snow and mix. It was almost like ice cream. Only more icy and more watery and kind of nasty in consistency. But the kids loved it.

So, now I'm ready to go the gym and work off the ten bajillion cookies I've eaten this weekend (Damn cookie exchange!) I'm ready to get out and see the world again. But alas! School is cancelled tomorrow for some reason. I'm not sure why because as far as I can tell the roads are all cleared. No more snow is expected. Although, this storm did let me in on why people all go running out to the stores to stock up before a snow storm. You really can get stuck in for a few days. That is a new experience for me!

And that's all from our little Winter Wonderland.

7 comments:

Angie said...

That looks like fun! I want snow. And, they do make mittens that go up to their elbows.

Grammy Bonnie said...

Your Minnesota roots are serving you well.

Joel and Angela said...

I am so jealous!!! I wish we had snow here! Just went and saw Santa last night on Marathon. Wondered if you had plans to visit TX during the holidays. Would love to see you! One of those pictures reminds me of our backyards in AK!

Joel and Angela said...

I am so jealous!!! I wish we had snow here! Just went and saw Santa last night on Marathon. Wondered if you had plans to visit TX during the holidays. Would love to see you! One of those pictures reminds me of our backyards in AK!

sgtsharp said...

I what SNOW LIKE THAT!!
I seem to remember you screaming like as a tot 33 YRS ago.

Bevo said...

Andrew comes by it naturally, although I never had to hire a babysitter so I could shovel out the driveway!

Jen said...

Great, GREAT pictures! I can't believe how much snow you got. Pretty.

And nice gingerbread house! Mine have never turned out that pretty.