Here were are, still trying to manage from the weekend storm and they are calling for more tomorrow.   Even worse, they keep UPGRADING the estimates – once upon it a time it was 4 to 6″, now they are forecasting 10 to 20″!!!

Our street is plowed – at least one lane’s worth, but many others are nearly impassible.  Mike dug our minivan out over the weekend, but I didn’t try and get out until dinnertime tonight, when I dashed out to the store to restock the milk and a few other essentials.   When I came back to the house, I couldn’t back the minivan back in the driveway because the cleared area was so narrow.

Not looking forward to more snow!  Praying for the heat to stay on and for sanity to be maintained.   Here’s a few more pictures from Sunday.

Well, around 5pm, the snow stopped.  I think they called for it to last til late evening (maybe?).

Anywho. shortly after my post about how we were all hunky dory, the power went out.   Dang it.   We were out of power for about 2 hours and it just came back on.   Thank you, Jesus!  We would have been alright, but I definitely wasn’t looking forward to doing it “prairie style” (ala Laura and her Little House).

Since I’m updating, here’s a couple of snow video clips I took.   Enjoy them:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Off to put the kids to bed and watch “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers”.

“Bless your beautiful hide…. wherever you may be..”

ps -if you didn’t follow the link I included my last post, you simply must check this out.  It pretty much sums up how the media and the better part of our region reacts to a snowy forecast:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Well the blizzard has arrived, delivered on it’s promise, and hasn’t left yet.  The media is freaking out about it, but we are enjoying the novelty, for now.  (Ask me how I feel to be snowed in on Monday).

So, apparently a blizzard is heading our way.  Perhaps even The Mother of All Blizzards.

My local jurisdiction sent out an emergency alert warning, “Another severe winter storm, with near blizzard conditions, is forecast to hit our area Fri., Feb. 5 through Sat., Feb. 6. Be prepared to shelter in place for 3 to 5 days. Please stay off the roads….”  Zoiks!

Having grown up in this area, I am used to hearing forecasts that chronically oversell and under deliver snowstorms.  So I shrugged and went about my business.  But as I listened to the non-stop coverage that guaranteed imminent disaster, I began to drink the K@@l-aid.  A little.  Enough to think we ought to at least be prepared.   So, like every other fool in the area, I ran to the grocery store to stock up on a few “essentials”.    Thankfully, we were already well-stocked in the ice melt, sled and snow shovel department, because I hear those were selling out like hot cakes.  I went to the library and cleared their shelves of any DVD that looked remotely interested for grown-up or child.

The decision to cancel school came Thursday afternoon – at least 16 hours before the first sky was even forecast to arrive.  I raised my eyebrows and groused with every other parent when this morning dawned without a flake in the sky.  However, the snow arrived, right on schedule, around 10am.   Mike’s work closed down early, so he was home by lunch.

Now we are all home and ready to hunker down.   The wipers are up.

So we are ready for the snow.   Blizzard, are you going to deliver the promised 16″ to 24″?  Can’t wait to find out…

Sunday was a beautiful morning, with perfect conditions for sledding. Sunny, not too windy, and not so much snow that we couldn’t drive our minivan to the nearest bestest hill in our neighborhood. It took some effort to get all of the children into their snow gear and out the door, but finally, we made it to our destination (~1 mile away). Amazingly, everyone had a great time. There were a few spills, but mostly laughter and smiles.

We are dug out and getting around, but it is still pretty snowy around here.  On day two of the big storm (Sunday), there was nary a plow in sight.  Lucky for us, one of our neighbors motored by in his bobcat and helped to dig us out.

The snow has been fun, but I have to say, it makes me glad I don’t live in Minnesota.  I’m ready for some warmer weather!

Unless you live under a rock, you probably heard the East Coast got a whopper of a snow storm.  Our area got up to 24″;  I estimate our house got closer to 15-17″ but it sure felt like more.   This is how we spent our snowy day.

By 11am, we had 8″ of snow.

This is what 8″ looks like in the backyard.

The front yard looked snowy too (go figure!)

It was a good day to relax in front of the fire.

Although some shoveling was done.

There were also preparations necessary for tubing.

We broke tradition and opened a Christmas present early. Can you guess what they got?

We decided to head out and attempt a little sledding. The getting ready process was painful, so we broke up into two parties. The girls headed out first.

Visibility was bad, so sledding backwards was better preferred.

We didn’t last long, but did get a few fun runs in.

On our way home, we ran into the boys, who were just starting to head out.   They were not all happy to be out having “fun”.

Wendy was glad to come inside.

Sam didn’t enjoy his outside time much either.

And Logan wasn’t too thrilled with the weather either.

Back inside, we found ways to amuse ourselves.

The nativity set was played with. Rescue Hero Billy Blazes says, “No more people in the inn – it’s a fire code violation!”

Lots of baking was done.

After dinner, there were new plans afoot to go outside.

Sam thought it would be fun to go out without his jacket.

He lasted two minutes.

Wendy thought she didn’t need gloves.

She was wrong.

The smart ones hung out by the fire.

At 9pm, it was still coming down.

According to my yard stick, we got 41 inches! Er.. make that centimeters, roughly ~16 inches.

The front yard snow also measured 15″.

The house looks pretty with all the snow – it’s rare to see snow and Christmas lights at the same time.

Our neighbor’s tree looked magical.

It was a beautiful snowy day – we were thankful for the chance to enjoy it.

Last Saturday (8 days ago).  We had a snow day.  When we left our house in the morning, it had only just started to come down.

Fast forward a week to yesterday.  The snow has all but melted and our snowman is a distant memory — only a small mound of frozen mess as a reminder.

While Mike & I worked on getting our Christmas lights up (in the dark, cuz that’s how we roll), the kids had fun cannibalizing Frosty.

It’s been bitter cold this winter, but not so snowy.  FINALLY, on Tues 1/27, we got our first real taste of snow.  The kids were ecstatic!  I was not too excited about the prospect of bundling everyone up, but we still had a great time (I waited until the baby’s naptime so I wouldn’t have to schlep him around outside).

The kids really wanted to make a snowman, but alas, the snow was pretty dry and I couldn’t get a good snowbal started for them.  I consoled/distracted them by offering to make them “Snow Shakes.”

Enjoy the pics (and read the captions for the recipe).