Snice and Row

First we had the snow that wasn't really snow.  It was like ice that masqueraded as snow.   My children were excited because it looked like snow and they thought it was snow, but I knew it was something altogether less fun and more hazardous.  It was like snow plus ice or, "snice."

That hazardous ice from last week turned out to be a lot of fun from a sledding perspective.   When it did melt, it was quick and done with.   It wasn't too long until another weather front promised not only snow, but lots of it.  There was to be the teaser the night before of a little more or less than an inch.    It came and it was the real deal.   It was soft and fluffy and fun to play with and we made snow cream and it was everything fun snow should be, only there wasn't much of it.

This too, melted, but the next day there was the promise of up to twelve inches (in some forecasts.)  Forecasts of twelve inches in the south is almost always wishful thinking and the actual depth we got by morning was more like three inches.   Only it was a messy three inches.  

The first several hours the temperature was above freezing so the snow was more like rain plus snow or, "row."  It fell down fast in big snow flake clumps and thudded into the ground.  It stuck to everything and covered things with a slurpy layer of white stuff.   This went on until close to midnight.  I would look out the window and see how fast the precipitation was falling only to see snow descending at almost rain-like speeds.    But eventually there was snow.

About that time I went to sleep.   It wasn't all snow though because as I rolled over in the night I would hear precipitation hitting the house.   Snow doesn't make sounds.    At any rate, in the morning we had a nice covering of sticky, almost melting snow.     We also had no power.    Lots of people had no power and it didn't look like we were going to have power for some time so we got dressed and went out into the snow.

The sticky snow made snowballs and snowman mounds exceptionally easy.   It rolled up so well it took some of the grass with it because snow that sticky just adheres to everything.   We went outside and had fun playing in it.  

We came inside to warm up in front of the gas fireplace because the power wasn't back on yet.   Then we got a call from my running friend that they were sledding in their back yard and we should come over.  We did and we sledded and made a huge snow fort/igloo thing with the crazy snow that loved nothing more than to pile together into large globs and connect to other piles of snow.

We came home and put our wet clothes in front of the fireplace because we still didn't have power.   Then we got another message just before dinner saying our other neighbor was having a get together at their fire pit and to come on over.   We went and had pizza and marshmallows roasted over the fire. It grew dark and we wondered if we would have power before tomorrow and then suddenly, all the houses were lit again.   We all cheered, packed up and headed home.

Tomorrow most of the snow will melt, but today we made the most of the weather with friends outdoors.

The Big Boy Update:  My son wet his pants for the first time in a long time today.  He was so focused on the lego model he didn't take time to go.   My husband said to him, "you need to practice listening to your body."   My son replied, "but my body doesn't want to listen to me."

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:   My daughter told me, "I need carrots to make me happy."  I told her by all means, she should go to the refrigerator and get some carrots in that case.