Snowy Days!

Along with the rest of my Texas friends, we have been amazed at the snowfall we received this week! It was a snow like no other, and we had SO much fun!!

On Thursday morning, when I woke up early to find snow on the ground, I was so excited to tell the girls. I remember so well, when I was little, the feeling of seeing the morning snow that came while I was sleeping. There is just something so special about that! And, as you can see, the girls shared in my excitement. :)

I especially loved that the snow was blanketing our whole city, but the "black ice" that usually comes with it wasn't there. We were actually able to drive around all day in the snow and see its beauty! That is a rare thing in our state!

Kendyll still had school on Thursday, so Carlie promised to wait until after school to do any playing. She was SO ready by the time 3:00 rolled around, and so were her sisters! We couldn't get bundled fast enough! Look at these smiling faces!!

Now, there was one complication to this awesome snow day: Daddy (the fun one) was out of town! I felt some real pressure to fill the fun one's shoes for the day! (Mark is just a big kid in times like this, and really does get in there and play hard with the kids, while I have to work at being playful. Isn't that sad?) I realized that I rely way too much on Mark to do the "playful entertaining", while I just provide the tools to do it with. :) So, this time I got all bundled up too, and did everything the kids did...well, except roll down the hill in the snow. That was way too cold for me.

We were outside for hours, taking little breaks to come in, have hot chocolate, and dry our clothes....only to put them right back on again and head back out. This continued until it was too dark to see the snow anymore. :)

I decided by the first evening of this in-and-out fun that living in a cold climate would make me crazy, if for no other reason than the amount of stuff it takes to be out in it. This was just one pile of many!

There were a couple of times where the girls got a little too cold (probably from the hill rolling I mentioned earlier!) and their skin was stinging and tingling. This did not go over well with Miss Carlie!

Of course, I think she was the coldest of all, because of stunts like this one:

She would stand up and then fall straight down, landing face first in the snow. I tried to tell her that it may hurt later...but I guess she figured it out the hard way!

We had soup for most of our meals, with "snow coke", which was like a coke icee. This was a BIG treat for my girls, because they don't get coke EVER. So, they had a shocked look on their face when I told them I made them snow cokes. (The surprised look was followed by the comment "You're the most awesome mom in the whole world." Okay, okay. I may have told them to say that so they could have their cokes. Whatever it takes...)

Throughout the night, we sent pictures to Daddy, and let him know how much we were missing him for the fun! He was actually in New Jersey, and we had as much snow as he did! Crazy!!

The next day, we enjoyed the slower pace that snow days bring with them. I was excited to sleep late and not have to be anywhere. And, of course, the girls woke up at 5:50 am!!! They were so ready to hit the snow AGAIN! What?!

Since I am a huge homebody, I absolutely love the excuse that snow gives me to just be home, and relax. There is no need to rush around town, run errands, or even put clothes that match on. I love that God gives us those little breaks sometimes...

We had a great time repeating the activities from the day before. Snow, snow, snow, warm up, dry off, do a craft, and go back out again.

A snow castle, and two snowmen were built...

(Abby Kate built hers all by herself, with no one else allowed to assist. When she finished, she announced that her snowman was named Amy, in honor of her favorite 2 year old preschool teacher. :)

And, if you know my girls, this will not surprise you. They found a way to still play Little House on the Prairie, even in the snow. They hid out under the juniper trees (see below), and pretended to be sheltered from a winter storm.

They collected berries and twigs for their food, and said a whole lot of things about "Ma and Pa". Not sure what all was going on up there, but they had SO much fun. I love listening to them play together.

After we dried off yet again, Kendyll and I spent the whole afternoon reading (we're almost to 1500 minutes for week one of reading rally!), while Carlie watched a movie and asked AT LEAST 500 times if Daddy was on his way home yet. She was dying for him to be here and really wanted the snow to still be here when he did arrive. And, he finally did make it home late on Friday night. It was nice to have the fun one back. :)

Today, they fit in some Daddy fun before the snow melted, and perfected the art of flying down our hill on a taped up tarp. See, I told you he was more fun. I love those smiles!!
Tonight, Kendyll thanked God for the beautiful snow He sent, and for the fun days they had. And, then, she asked for it to come again this week. :) I hope you all enjoyed some fun family time indoors and out, as we all got a break from the hustle and bustle!