Snow Day

On Tuesday afternoon, it began snowing. The flakes were huge and the wind was blowing, making it hard to see outside. We were supposed to get anywhere from 8 - 15 inches of snow. While the girls and I were excited for some large amounts of snow, Calvin was grumbling. He and snow are not friends. He dislikes the amount of time that it takes to clear it all out to get anywhere. Add to that the fact that he has to clear out the school and church parking lots too (because he's a trustee) and he really doesn't like snow. Wednesday morning we woke up to high winds, blowing snow, and still more falling snow. School was cancelled for Aubrey, and we even convinced him to stay home with us. The girls were so excited for our snow day, especially since Daddy was home with us! I made waffles and bacon for breakfast, and Calvin got the girls dressed. We spent most of the morning in the basement by the fireplace with the girls playing, Calvin working on bids, and me finally using the new DVD editing software I got for Christmas. It was so nice just being together. After lunch, the girls took naps (or rested as they tend to do these days) and Calvin went outside to begin digging us out of the huge snow drifts all around our house. He spent several hours working on it (thank goodness his dad came with the blower on the tractor or it would have taken even longer!) and then doing chores. In the meantime, the girls got up from their rest and turned the couch into bunk beds, which is something they've been doing for the past week. They use the stepladder and stepstool to get onto their "bunk beds" and then read books and play with their babies on there. I'm not sure whose idea it was first, but they love doing it! All in all, it was a very relaxing day and I was so glad to be snowed inside my nice, warm house with my family.

The entire south side of the house was buried in a snow drift about knee deep. Calvin could barely make it out the back door. This is the northwest side of the house. I normally have three evergreen bushes that you can see, but they are buried and you can only see the tops.

The big mountain of snow that came from clearing the lane. The girls are pretty excited to go and play on it.

Our tallest drift by the horse barn was almost as high as the round pen, which is about shoulder high on me.

The other big drift was in front of the cow barn. It was so high it covered part of the trampoline frame.

This is normally a cone-shaped tree, but the snow was so heavy it made it spread apart.

The girls and their bunk bed on the couch

Aubrey's part of the bunk bed

Chloe's side

Playing in the Snow

Yesterday the girls convinced Dani and me to take them outside to play. It was actually a good day to go outside - it wasn't too cold or windy. The snow was melting, so it made the snow pack really well. We were finally able to make a snowman. Aubrey, for the first time, was able to roll a ball for the head all by herself. She also was able to climb the snow pile by herself, get to the top, and then slide down. Chloe wasn't so sure about that - she doesn't like to go down normal slides, and this one was even higher. They also loved being pulled around on the sled. Dani pulled them much faster than I normally do. They got tipped off every once in a while, which they loved and thought was great. They had a blast!

Slipping and Sliding

The end of last week finally got warm enough for us to go outside and play without the girls complaining of being too cold. We went outside Thursday and Friday for a couple hours and played in the snow. It had begun to melt, so it packed great! Aubrey wanted to make two snowmen - one for her and a little one for Chloe. She helped me make hers (we had to bring out a carrot for the nose and use rocks for the eyes and buttons), but lost interest in making Chloe's, so I had to do that one myself. After our snowmen were finished, we made some slides in the big snowpile we have. The girls absolutely loved that! Aubrey would go down the slide first and then catch Chloe for me. Most of the time, Chloe went so fast she toppled Aubrey at the bottom. They both had a blast though! Too bad it wasn't like this when the boys were here. Maximus would have loved sliding down the hill. Oh well! The second day we went out, I convinced them to ride on the sled. Aubrey insisted on pulling me - I didn't move at all - until I convinced her it would be much more fun to ride while I pulled. They loved it when I ran while pulling, but that was hard work. I guess it was a good workout though. :) Both of them are ready for some more snow.

Playing in the Snow

The girls aren't quite sure about the snow. They get very excited about it, but don't last very long actually playing outside in it. I'm pretty sure it takes longer to get them dressed than it does for them to play outside. :)

Aubrey decided she wanted the sand toys to play in the snow.

Riding on the sled.
Playing in the snow with Daddy

Riding in the sled pulled by Uncle Nic

Aubrey and Maximus