SNOW DAY!!!!

I can remember just a year ago when my daughter would pretend to make snow angels on our carpet, throw fake snowballs at us, and beg for us to pretend to make snow men. It seemed like I was always promising that it would snow one day and she would get to do the real thing. Last winter, she only got to play in the snow once (I think it might have even been on her birthday).

Brad and I have always loved the snow, especially when we get to go skiing in it. So, I'm not surprised by her love for the snow. I can remember having the same feeling of excitement she gets when she sees the snow... I still get it, unless I'm driving. As kids, my brother, Cory, and I would play out in the snow for hours and hours. It was great growing up in the country on snow days. Not only did we not go to school for weeks when we got a lot of snow, we were able to go out and play in it without much supervision, sledding down hills, having huge snowball fights, and making up tons of games (typically scenarios involving one of our dogs pulling us on a sled through Alaska - the poor dogs just looked at us like we were crazy when we would tie a leash to them and yell for them to run while we sat on a sled). Those were some great times that I wish I could hand over to my kiddos. I'm sure that with Bailey's creative imagination and Jake's ability to copy everything his big sister does, they will most certainly have their own fair share of games in the snow. It will be different though - there are no hills to go sledding down (also no trees, briar patches, or fences to dodge!), there's not a country store to ride their go-cart to, and there are no grandparents living in the same house or nearby to fix hot chocolate, sandwiches, and oatmeal cookies. There are things that I am sure my kids will grow up and reminisce about that I never had. Those things will be the city things that we didn't have access to - dollar theaters, gymnastics classes that included bars, beam AND tumbling, soccer, cable television, and every toy imaginable. It's good, but it's different.

Here are a few shots from the dusting of snow we had today. Yes, the kids were absolutely not going to be told no about playing in the snow. It wasn't enough to put together a snow ball, but they enjoyed it for the short amount of time we were playing in it! There might be more on the way, so there's a chance they'll get to play in more. We shall see!


Bailey and Jake in their snow gear... Jake looks like a little blimp!


Jake saying "Cheeeeese" for the camera.


Bailey attempting a snow angel amidst a small amount of snow. She was not happy with the result.


Gloves are hard to come by for a kid Jake's age... they always come off or he doesn't get his thumb in the right spot. No matter what, he always gets mad about wearing them.


Bailey was trying to make a snowball to throw at us. Nice little evil look she gives us when she's scheming...


A closeup of Jake.


Another complaint about these gloves - the snow sticks to them and makes them look dirty. No... our OCD man truly can't handle that.


And Bailey loves it that the snow sticks to her gloves... she can lick it all off and tell me how yummy it is. Only thought going through my mind is that I saw rabbit poop out in the yard last week. Great... hope that's not the area she's stuck her hand in to get snow. :)