Birthday Afternoon

After the party, there was still lots to do. Some friends of ours were in town visiting, so we went to see them and their kids for a little playdate in the afternoon.

There were more kids here, but we couldn't get them all in the picture at the same time.

Just before we left, it started snowing! By the time we got home there were a few inches of snow on the ground.  Jason and the kids and Grandma Di went out to play. I stayed inside where it was warm and took pictures through the window. :)

Comparing snowsuits, or lack thereof.

Abby stayed inside for awhile too, but eventually decided she wanted to play a little.

 


We couldn't believe we had snow on their birthday weekend, especially after we had gotten them so many outdoor toys! They had fun playing in the snow this winter, but I think next year I need to get them real snowsuits that fit and waterproof mittens - they kept getting frustrated that their fleece mittens got wet. They made a cute snowman, though!

Big Snowstorm

Once we got to March we hoped the worst of winter was behind us. Alas, the biggest snowstorm this season hit us on March 6. And of course, this was a week when Jason was out of town Mon-Fri. Since we knew the storm was coming, my mom stayed with us Tuesday night [I didn't want to pack everyone up after work to stay at their house]. We woke up in the morning to no power and 6-8" of wet heavy snow. It kept snowing throughout the morning, and I think our total was maybe 8-10".

Our back deck

It was a rough wake-up. The kids woke up way too early, and they were scared when they saw that their nightlight wasn't on. Then we started hearing weird noises outside. We realized that our beautiful birch tree in the front yard had split down the middle, and one huge limb and all its smaller branches was scraping against our house, right along the kids' windows.

View out the kids' window - the branches were rubbing up against it

So, we were all up for the day at 6am, no coffee for the grown-ups, and no hot breakfast for anyone. Our water is from a community well, so we didn't have water either - no power = no water pump. We were able to get little trickles from the faucets though.

The kids didn't understand why we couldn't watch TV - Abby said "it needs new batteries" and "it's ok, we can watch a show on the big TV downstairs". My mom played piano for awhile, but then they wanted to listen to a CD, and we had to have the whole "no power" conversation again. We tried to lay around as much as possible, reading books and dozing. My mom and I rationed our diet cokes, and we ate lots of PB & J sandwiches and chocolate chip cookies.

After lunch, I went outside to start shoveling. Thankfully, the neighbor across the street was out shoveling too and he came to help me. We were able to shovel out the driveway enough to get the van out of the garage. Our prospects for getting power back before dark seemed slim and the house was getting colder, so we didn't want to spend the night there if we didn't have to. My parents had power at their house, so that's where we headed later. But first, a little playtime in the snow:

They didn't last long outside: "It's cold!" "It's windy!" "My mittens are wet!" They enjoyed tromping around a bit in their boots though. Poor Abby was stuck inside with a fever.

By late afternoon we made it to my parents' house and I enjoyed some hot coffee while the kids turned my dad into a short-order cook. Then they took a bath, with Annie supervising.

We ended up playing musical beds that night. Here's the bed they all started out in:

Eventually, Zoey ended up in bed with my parents, and Lucas and Abby ended up in the full bed with me. Abby was still feverish and sick, and by bedtime Lucas had a fever too. So I was also sweaty all night - sleeping with two hot toddlers who kept waking up throughout the night was exhausting!

Notice the sick, glazed look in Abby's eyes. Poor baby.

Unfortunately I had to go to work on Thursday. I went back to the house in the morning and the power was back on. So I went on to work while my parents brought the kids back to the house. It was a tiring week. Thank goodness Jason got home on Friday!

Snow Day

It's been a mild winter here, as it has been across the mid-Atlantic. We finally had snow a week ago, so I was determined to get everyone outside to have a real winter.

First, by way of comparison, here are snow pics from last year. You can see they were a little confused...



Getting them dressed this year took about a million hours, and I think I overdressed them because it wasn't actually too freezing out. Or maybe I was just hot by the time I got everyone dressed and outside.



After all that work, they were considerably displeased by the snow. They didn't want to walk on it, or touch it, or even look at it. They were much happier when we went back outside later in the afternoon and much of the snow had melted. Oh well, maybe next year.

Snow Day

We got our first snowfall of the season today. 3-5" was predicted, and I'd say we got toward the lower end of that range. Still, being that we're in the south, all the local schools were closed. I decided that nothing I had scheduled at work was critical, so I canceled my meetings and stayed home. I didn't want to miss the babies' first snow!

Our snow family during last year's first big snow. (see the 3 baby snow people?)


Mojo had the right idea about the best way to spend the snow day.


Thanks to Grandmas Di and Peg, the babies received snowsuits in the mail yesterday - just in time!

Lucas was not thrilled to wear his snowsuit indoors. He looked like a miniature sumo wrestler.


Zoey was not thrilled either.


Abby was the only one who didn't mind wearing a snowsuit indoors.


The snowsuit council met to discuss optimum snowsuit styles.


They weren't cranky at all when they were outside - they were very curious.


Poor Lucas. His snowsuit is so big and bulky that he kept falling over.


It's hard for me to take a picture of myself with the babies while trying not to fall over in the snow


1/2 mom, 1/2 Lucas


Jason said it looks like Lucas was trying to make snow angels.


Watching Casey play fetch