The first snowfall

Early this week the temperature DROPPED to the low twenties in the daytime, stiffening into single digits at night, and by Wednesday everything was thoroughly frozen. The forecast called for a winter storm. I did two weeks' worth of grocery shopping to fill our pantry before a single snowflake fell, and it felt good to be prepared. Thursday afternoon the snow started and fell thickly until our world turned white. When Amber first saw the snowflakes falling, she said "bubbles!"

 Happily walking home from school in the first falling snowflakes

Jay had been anxiously awaiting the first snowfall of the winter, and in the process he thoroughly wore out both the topic of snow and his parents with all of his questions about when exactly the snow would start falling, how many inches would build up, and "do you think they'll cancel school because of the snow?" We ended up with around five inches of powder and a two hour delay for school on Friday morning.

After doing all of the usual before school piano practice, breakfast, morning chores, and getting dressed routine, we all bundled up and went out to play in the fluffy quiet whiteness (minus Jeff, who was at work). I must be getting old, because the most prevalent feeling I had the whole hour-plus we were outside was COLD. I even wore my homemade down skirt--outdoor stores like REI and Eddie Bauer sell down skirts as winter outerwear. To save $80, I bought a $5 down vest at Goodwill, chopped off the bottom half, and sewed elastic to it to make my own down skirt. It actually worked! (always a shock when it comes to Shaina and the dread sewing machine)

my $5 version (right) of the $80 inspiration (left)

In spite of my pet invention, that 20 degree air was biting every part of my body that was not swathed in five protective layers. I kept a close watch on Amber as she swished around in her thick snowsuit and too-big hat, checking for signs of coldness (and secretly hoping she'd act cold soon so I could take her in and warm up myself...guilty grimace). But Amber was enchanted with the white stuff and followed Jay and Rose around, happily picking up mittenfuls of snow and watching it slide back to the ground. It's so fun to watch kids explore outside.

We visited the trampoline, the soccer field, and the high school "hill." The snow was far too powdery for building, even with my snowman savvy skills. I abandoned the attempt after about ten minutes of piling and patting snow when Amber came over and sat on my snow-heap. Rose took over my dented pile and spent the next half hour carefully sprinkling snow-powder on top till it was a 2-foot tall pointy-tipped pyramid. While she worked, Jay, Amber and I walked over to the high school's little hill to try some sledding. Grampa Dan's vintage Flexible Flyer sled (which we christened The Beast a few years back) can handle any kind of snow--powdery or wet--so it slid smoothly. We tried packing down a pathway for the saucer sled with minimal success. So we each took a quick ride down on The Beast and trekked back to check on Rose. Sledding is most fun when there's more than one sled.

 I ended up changing Amber's hat to a smaller sized old one of Jay's so she could see better.

Rose built this adorable little snowman and named him Powdery. She said it was really hard getting the rock-eyes to stick onto his face.

Around 10am I herded the kids inside to warm up with hot chocolate and rest a little before the walk to school. The two hour delay put school starting at 10:55am, so in order to walk the .6 of a mile in the snow without rushing, I figured we'd want to leave by 10:20am. Bundling up kids always always always takes at least ten times longer than I expect it to, and we didn't start walking until 10:38am! On non-snowy days we have to run half the distance to make it in time if we leave that late. But I avoid driving in snow at all costs, especially since Grandview City does not plow snow. They sprinkle down little pebbles on top of the snow for traction. It doesn't help a whole lot.



Back to our Friday morning walk: after a few slow slippy snowy steps down our street (I was pulling Amber on The Beast), I had Jay and Rose squeeze onto the sled with Amb, backpacks and all, to speed up the process. I was wearing my running shoes, so I started jogging, pulling 150+ pounds of children along behind me on the sled. I managed to jog an entire half mile before gasping in arm-achy, frozen-lung defeat and walking the last tenth of a mile to the school, pulling my children behind me. The kids loved their sleigh ride and sang our family classic rendition of Jingle Bells, reserved just for their crazy mother:

Jingle bells, jingle bells, 

jingle all the way!

Oh what fun it is to ride

in a one-mom open sleigh!

After watching Jay and Rose walk up to the school, I turned the sled around and jogged pulling Amber for another mile before returning home to finish my 30 minutes of exercise with some ankle-chilling running in the snowy field behind our house while Amber played. There are two--maybe three--muscles in my body that are not sore from that run. Amber and I stayed cozy inside for the rest of the day.