The Big One

The Big Winter Storm of 2011 has hit. The Blizzard of North Carolina has reared its ugly head. The treacherous roads have kept kids out of school for three days. In fact, when Grady Lee looked out the window Monday morning he exclaimed, "There is one hundred and one hundred more pieces of snow on our deck!"

Our family has simply sat back and enjoyed every minute of it! But, now that we're on day three of leave-the-house-and-drive-only-if-you-must conditions, I'm ready to get back in the swing of things. 

Confession: I left the house the past two days. And I didn't leave on foot - I drove. *Gasp!*

The snow and ice kept Grady working from home. If no one else from his banking team was going to be in the office, you can bet he sure wasn't going in either. Annalyse, for one, enjoyed having a bit more daddy-daughter time these past couple of days.

Although the boys were ready to don several layers and head out into the snow first thing Monday morning, I nixed that idea and said we needed to wait until it was a tad warmer later in the day. Truth be told, I had no desire to trudge out in the snow at 8:07 am. 

The boys stayed occupied coloring giant snowmen instead.

 

A while later they were asking, once again, to go outside and play in the snow. But, by this time Annalyse was down for her morning nap and I couldn't venture outside and leave her inside alone. I know, I know... you're asking why Grady couldn't keep an ear out for Annalyse since he was working from home. The short answer is that he had several calls during the day and was holed up in his office.

So, rather than listen to two little boys ask every six minutes if Annalyse was awake yet, I opted to bring the snow inside. The glee and the joy and the what-in-the-world-is-our-mom-doing look on my boys' faces was priceless! And, the hour they spent playing with the snow on the kitchen floor was priceless. (All four beds got clean sheets and three loads of laundry were folded during that hour!)

 

Later that day we ventured outside for a little bit. But, since the boys don't have boots and snow pants, they were ready to come in after a half hour.

They were quite productive in that half hour, however. They had the entire backyard mowed and in tip-top grooming condition. And to think most people wait until the Spring to manicure their lawns...

 

Ahhh... the nasty sight and dreadful smell of "outside." You know the smell.

It was at this moment that I looked up and said a silent prayer of thanksgiving for my Mom. Growing up in Michigan, snow was an everyday happening for five months of the year.She dealt with this lovely mess day in and day out and I don't remember her complaining about the snow we drug in and the constant stream of wet clothes we had.

Cold outside - but cozy inside! Nothing beats hot chocolate, actually, lukewarm chocolate, after playing in the snow.

Grady Lee lapped his tongue around his mug to be sure he "got all the chocolate pieces stuck to the sides." Naturally, kid, if you don't have hot chocolate the chocolate powder doesn't melt and dissolve like it's supposed to.

Micah guzzled his and promptly asked for more, "only this time I want wots and wots more marshmallows, okay?"

The boys decided to turn the fireplace on "cause it's berry, berry cold!" and get busy doing puzzles. A lot of puzzles. A whole lot of puzzles. Thank you Melissa & Doug for making this moment possible.

Our afternoon snack was some yummy-in-my-tummy Snow Cream. Fresh snow, evaporated milk, sugar, and vanilla... add a few sprinkles and some chocolate sauce and you have some Snow Cream Sundaes.

 

We went to bed last night listening to freezing rain pelt the windows and we knew it would be another cold, stay-at-home kind of day.

The boys made some "Cold Hands, Warm Heart" window thing-a-ma-jiggers. Grady Lee, not quite grasping the whole concept said, "My heart is already warm because Jesus is living in it and he doesn't like it cold."

 

Grady broke from some work in his office and took the boys out for a walk this afternoon. Even being the die-hard Northerner that I am, I have to say it was actually slippery and dangerous on the roads today. Everything was a fine sheet of ice. Grady said he lost track of how many times the boys slipped and fell just on our driveway.

 

When they came inside later on, Micah enthusiastically said that "it was weally fun to ice skate in the woads!"

 

And tonight, we cozied up for a movie before bed. Well, as cozy as you can get while watching Bob the Builder. The boys both wanted to wear polar bear jammies for the occasion and sit under "the warm, fuzzy blanket that's just like a polar bear's fur, except that our blanket is brown and polar bears have white fur."  

And, as I've heard, schools and several offices are still closed tomorrow. I just may have my boys use their sand shovels and help dig this city out from this Big Winter Storm!