oh yeah, it snowed!!!!

Yeah, we live on the coast.  Yeah, it's not as cold as other places in the winter.  Yeah, I should suck it up.  BUT... it has been 10 degrees below our normal every day for over a month.  That is cold to me.  When I have the winter wear for our normal winter, 10 degrees below is not a happy time.  I have been saying that if it's going to be this cold then it REALLY should snow.  And I KNOW that there are many that are DONE with the snow and have had TOO much of it... But last Saturday, we got ours!  I love snow!  It was the one thing that made winter bearable when we lived in the mountains.  I love how it makes everything white and pretty and somehow quieter.  Friday night the temperature dropped and the snow started falling.  I didn't tell the kids there was even a chance of snow.  I didn't want to set myself up for failure.  But snow it did!  And Saturday morning, as much as I would have much rather stayed in bed and slept, I woke up, looked out the window and directed the kiddos to do the same!  "SNOW!!!!!!" 

So we ate breakfast, got dressed and headed out to play. 

  Grace wasn't so sure about the cold stuff, but Elijah was all about playing.  It was the perfect crunchy, packable consistency to sled, build a snowman, and of course, have a snow ball fight.

Shortly, Jerry came out and joined us and immediately was bombarded with flying snowballs, to which he reciprocated at amazing speed! (I knew he could move fast if need be!!!)

Eventually, the Dadu won though!  And so in attempts to keep the troops spirits up, We busted out a big piece cardboard and found that sledding into the ditch (that had quite a bit of slush in it... but ya know... we shall not be deterred from our hill!!!!)

While you can't tell, Grace IS in front of me.  Elijah jumped on at the last minute and we all got wet.  Shortly after, and at the encouraging of Jerry, we changed over to cookie sheets and used the cardboard to block the water at the bottom.  Man the baking sheets went fast!!  Much faster than the cardboard.  Elijah was not really a fan of the speed but did go down a couple of times, as long as I was at the bottom to catch him.  As you can see there was no snow on the roads.  I think that it would have been fun to drive to...well, somewhere, where there was a hill, but hindsight and all...

Grace decided that the cold stuff was much more fun enjoyed in her swing on the porch.   But quickly decided that we were having a ton of fun making our little snow family and wanted to help... for a little while!

After about 3 minutes "helping" Grace wanted to be held, Jerry figured out that she was cold, so he set her up with blankets on the front porch.  Meanwhile, Elijah and I finished the whole family complete with hats.

We used a lot of the snow... in the front yard.  So we moved into the back yard for a little bit!

Grace said she wanted to hang out with Dadu inside for a little bit, so Elijah made some snow angels.

And then some snow soccer, of course.  I mean, what's a good snow without soccer, right?  Grace warmed up enough to venture out... for a photo op and then back in.

Once inside, I made some snow cream (thanks for the recipe mama!!!) and Jerry had brought home some "Dadu chips" (a.k.a Doritos and Fritos)  for a snack.

After a nap (or the attempt at one anyway) it was back outside for as much snow play as possible.  The sun had come out and the temp was definitely over freezing (probably about 45 actually!)

Elijah wanted to go sledding again, but the little bit of slush in the ditch in the morning, was, well, not so little with the rapid melting... alas.

BUT it hasn't melted enough for SNOW BALLS!!!  But, there is still more snow in the back yard.

On our way to the back yard, I snapped a shot of the poor sad melting snow family:

Be on the look out for the new Olympic sport of snow base ball.  I'm sure that it will catch on fire!

Keep your eye on this up and comer.  Good stance, eye on the snow ball...

"Hey batta batta batta...SWING!!"

It's a messy sport, but SOOO much fun!

So after a little snow base ball, it was the obligatory self portrait with mama.

I love my little scrunchy face boy and my smilie face girl!!  They rock!!

We continued with some snow base ball and then ended the day with a huge snow ball fight... everyone for themselves.  Jerry would say that he won, but I gotta say that we all got some good shots in!  There were no pictures of the fight as I needed both hands to take down the enemy play in a nice fair game. 

We ended the day with some take out and snuggle time.  The next morning the snow was almost completely gone and by Monday the temps were in the 50s.  So, snow, while you were here, we had a blast!  Thank you for coming and staying long enough to get a good days memories made!  We hope to see you again, but maybe you wait a year!!  No offense, but we are ready for Spring!!!