Snowed In

(and loving it!)  I think having snow days on the weekends are the absolute best--all our basketball games were canceled, as was church, so we had two days where no one had to do anything, AND I felt no obligation to do any school whatsoever!  Plus, I had already typed up my Latin extra practice worksheets because I was afraid the power might go out.  So it was really a break for me, unlike the Great Wolf Lodge vomit-fest!

The blizzard took awhile to get going.  Friday we moved up biology lab because we were worried about snow, and Bob came home right after lunch, because everyone was saying, "Get off the streets!", but there were only a few inches by the evening, not that a small amount stopped any of the kids from going out and playing in it and having a grand time.

Drew woke up crying around 5:30 because he was cold, so I went in and covered him up.  On my way back to bed, I glanced downstairs out the patio door and was disappointed because I could still see the legs of our patio table.  I went back to sleep thinking this was another storm that had underperformed.

When I got up, however, I realized that all around the patio table was completely snowed in, and the only reason I could still see the legs of the table from the angle I had upstairs was because all the snow on top of the table had prevented more snow from coming directly under the table!  In fact, we had over 15 inches of snow, and it was still coming down quite steadily!

 This was the view down our street when Bob and I went out--a big winter wonderland, with snow up to the mailboxes!

 A year or 2 ago we bought this nifty electric snowblower, and amazingly it did a good job of clearing a little trail for the kids to walk up the driveway after they sledded down the front yard.  Bob and I attempted to cross-country ski, but the snow was just too deep.  I made it up the street a couple of driveways before I totally gave up and went inside to help all the younger kids get suited up.  This took forever because even though we have a veritable store of winter gear, not everything fit everyone *absolutely* perfectly, so there were some dramatic tears from certain parties (not Faith, surprisingly).  But eventually all made it outside, blizzard conditions notwithstanding.  

 The boys immediately began a big snow fort, and then the girls started a smaller one against the other tree in our yard.

 Even Verity made it outside, but she hated the snow, and her cute little sled, with a passion.

 "Please rescue me, Mom!  Anyone?  . . ."

 The older kids abandoned the snow fort to go sledding down the hill at the end of the cul-de-sac.  Luke especially worked down there, making 3 trails to sled down and even a ramp at the bottom of one to make the ride more exciting.

 Who needs a snow board?  Jonathan demonstrates his sled-boarding abilities.

The kids stayed out literally the whole afternoon (well, not Verity or Drew).  Bob and I took turns going out and otherwise enjoying the quiet, peaceful house.  It was heavenly-except for having to help a parade of people in and out who needed to go potty, get snow out of a glove, etc.  I loved just sitting by the window and watching the snow fall.  So peaceful!

I also was able to make good use of our family Christmas gift this year--a new HUGE hot chocolate maker!  It held 72 ounces, a big step-up from our previous ones that only held 32 ounces.  I love it!  It was so nice not to have to make 3 pots, like I did for the old one.  In the late afternoon we took a break from hot chocolate and made hot apple cider using a recipe Anna found.  It was very yummy!

 By 9:00 the snow finally started taper off.  There were 29 inches of snow on our deck, although that's not an official uncompacted measurement.  And by then you could no longer even see the legs of our patio table, since the snow was up to the tabletop!  The grill, off to the left, looked like a towering peak, especially from the kitchen window.

 This morning we all went outside again, even Verity.  She liked it all much better, now that it wasn't blowing snow in her face.  Even with her improved outlook, however, she still only stayed out about 5 minutes.  All that work getting her suited up for just 5 minutes . . . sigh . . .

Here's Micah in front of the snow fort.  Caleb was the main builder, and he hollowed out a large space as well as a tunnel around the tree, with another entrance on the other side of the tree.  Pretty awesome!

We're still snowed in, though.  No plow has come through, so our road is completely unpassable.  Unfortunately, school must go on for us.  There are only a few weeks left (7 weeks from tomorrow!) until the National Latin Exam, so I'll have Latin class tomorrow (online through zoom, though, which is like skype, but we have a paid account).  Tomorrow I'm hoping to dig out of the mess that is inside the house as well from this weekend--it looks like a tornado struck.  And then Tuesday we'll still have Rivendell, although again, over zoom.  I am longing for the days when we could just take as many snow days as we wanted to!