Snowmagedden 2011

I love all of the names that the media has come up with for the 2011 blizzard. I debated in my title for this post between Snowmagedden and Snowtorious BIG. :) On my third snow day from school now and quite happy about it! I am going to need to go on some kind of snow diet after all of the food I have consumed during the past few days as we were snowed in. It has been fun to have extra family time since Jay has been home, too.

These pics were taken before the storm hit. We got about 2 inches on Monday night (in addition to what has already been sitting on the ground for weeks) so I told Holden I'd take him out for a bit. Our neighbor, Hannah, came out to play, too. It was really cold but we had fun anyway. They discovered that beach toys make fun snow toys, too.

Around 2:30pm on Tuesday the big storm hit. These pictures don't do it justice whatsoever. I wish i could have captured how hard the wind was blowing the snow. I've never seen anything like it. We actually had some lightning, too. I didn't hear the "thunder snow," but some of my friends have said they did. Apparently it's a thunderstorm but with snow instead of rain, and the thunder makes the snow come down at 5 inches an hour. Jay went out at 4 to do his first round of shoveling. The bottom right hand picture is when he went out again at 8. That was the best I could do out the front door. The wind was blowing the snow so hard that all you could see were snowflakes. Hunter really took a liking to the cancellations flashing across the bottom of the screen. He was trying to "catch" them as they moved by banging his hand on them. :)

My little window watcher. While Holden napped, Hunt-man and I watched the blizzard unfolding out the back window. Later, we carried the boys across the street and four houses down to Jay's parents' house for dinner. Jay was going to take us in the van, drop us off, and put it back in the garage and walk down, but already the snow was so high that we started to get stuck. I was carrying Hunter. I threw a huge blanket over his entire body and head, and he was squirming like crazy. The snow was up past my ankles and the wind was SO strong..I couldn't see the hand in front of my face. I literally was sweating by the time we got to Memaw and Pepaw's house. It was a workout! I just kept thinking about that couple from Vermont who got stuck in the snow with their baby and had to leave their car and walk to safety with the baby in a garment bag. I so would have died!

On Wednesday morning, we woke up to a winter wonderland! The garage roof is out the boys' bedroom windows. Holden was in awe when he woke up and looked out to see half his window covered. Our back door was blocked, too. I remember how excited I was as a child to wake up to snow. This snowfall was taller than them in spots where it drifted.

Views from our back door and (bottom right) out my bedroom window. There was a lot of drifting. We have not even attempted to go out there.

The front yard and neighbors' yards. You can see the wall blocking the garage when we opened the garage door. This was after Jay had shoveled twice the night before. There are also two of Pepaw walking to our house.

Later in the morning, the sun came out! Everything was so sparkly and pretty. Holden and I bundled up and went out to play.

The plow came through after Jay had everything shoveled and dumped a nice pile at the end of our driveway.

Twice. But I we are grateful that our street got plowed so quickly; I have friends today that still aren't plowed out. And Holden sure thought it was cool to see up close!

Oh, to be a kid again. Little Holden. Big snow. He had a blast.

We made our way down the street to play with Brady and Kylie. We also saw Isobel. I don't think there is much cuter than little kids all bundled up for the snow. I had to carry Holden through parts of the road/yards on the way there because it was up to my knees and almost over his head where the drifts were! We had a lot of fun.

Our mailbox

I'm adding this last one because it makes me laugh. Jay came out to thank our neighbor for snow blowing our driveway after the plow came through. Apparently he a) missed the weather memo, b) forgot he is a BEARS fan, and c) maybe thought the socks would keep him warm? His entire getup cracks me up!!!! And I'm pretty sure that is MY t-shirt he is wearing!

I was off again today because a lot of areas, including the schools, were not plowed yet. There is speculation about tomorrow; out of 23 schools, only about 7 are plowed at this point. It will be interesting to see if they are able to get them done or not for tomorrow. I have also heard rumors about broken pipes in some of the schools. Assuming I would have heard if any affected my classroom. I sure hope not! Yuck! A lot of people have been complaining that they are going nuts at home, but I am loving it. Of course it helps that Jay has been home, too. Adult company makes a big difference! I have had a great time playing inside and out with Holden, enjoying quality time with Hunter (mainly watching him get into things he shouldn't and eat cat food), visiting with neighbors, eating my weight in things I shouldn't eat, taking naps each day, and not getting out of my pj's. A little mini winter vacation. I think acts of God are fabulous. :)