Well, much of the snow has melted and it no longer looks like the frozen tundra around here. There is still some snow on the ground as well as the lingering signs of snowmen that once were. However, most of the snow has melted and left lots of water in its wake. Parts of our yard are muddy where there was not mud before. Water is gushing down the sides of the street into the storm drains. We couldn't help but find fun ways to play in these slushy remains.
Nicholas and Daddy made paper boats to ride down the river to the storm drain.
Nicholas named his boat, "Star Boat". I love how he spells phonetically.
Rachel found some muddy spots on the sidewalk. She had fun walking back and forth and back and forth through the slush and sludge. I love how she purposely walked into the puddles. She fell a few times and got very wet and muddy but it didn't seem to bother her at all.
From the Dallas Morning News: "The area's official snow total, measured at DFW Airport, is 12.5 inches -- the most snow ever in a 24 hour period. And on Thursday alone, we got 11.2 inches, which is a new record for a single calendar day. The storm has also pushed this winter to the second snowiest on record."
This was what we woke up to.
Of course we've spent most of the day in the snow. And Rachel still didn't want to wear her gloves!
Nicholas and Daddy made a robot snowman with Tinker Toys.
Rachel took several breaks to warm up inside. She wanted to be inside but as soon as we got in she wanted to go back out. I just love these pictures with a forlorn expression on her face.
Nicholas, on the other hand, never seemed to need a break. I think he could have stayed outside all day if we had let him.
Unfortunately, the fort's roof wasn't nearly as tough. The weight of the snow tore the edge of the tarp.
Rachel got her second wind.
SNOW FIGHT!
Daddy made a snow tunnel for the children to crawl through.
He also made an igloo for Nicholas.
Nicholas decided that he wanted to be closed up in the igloo so he could "bust out". So Daddy completed all sides of the igloos with Nicholas inside.
It has been snowing steadily all day! It's so beautiful! Nicholas likes to go out for a while and then back in for a while then back out for a while and back in for a while. Did I mention earlier that it takes about 30 minutes to get everyone in their snowsuits and gear? He has decided to just keep his snow suit on when we come inside so he can make a quicker run back outside once he thaws out.
Patio table...
Roof of the fort...
Of course, Nicholas has always enjoyed eating snow...
Here's a quick video of the snow falling in our backyard. This is mostly for Daddy's sake since he can't be here to enjoy it. Big snowflakes. So pretty.
If you drove around town today, did you happen to see the FOOLS up on The Mound?
...That was us! We brought some makeshift sleds to the top of the snow covered Mound. The top of our turtle sandbox seemed like a good idea. Alas, The Mound had some rather tall grass poking up through the snow and it isn't as steep as you really need to go sledding. I wish we had come up with some way to attach a rope to the sled. It would have been fun to pull Nicholas around on the turtle top. Maybe Daddy can help us come up with something when he gets home from work. I still can't believe he didn't get a snow day!
On the way home, I pulled over in a shopping center to take some pictures of some of the snow. One of the stores there is a pet store and they made their own snowman decorated with dog treats and raw hides. Cute!
Look how thick the snow on the top of my car is!
I just love how beautiful the snow is on the trees. Sometimes it just seems to shimmer. Nicholas says it's looks like frosting. I think he's right!
Rachel is napping now and the boy and I will surely be out in the snow again soon. I just heard him rummaging around in the kitchen so I checked to see if I could fix him something to eat. He said, "No, I'm going to try this lime juice I found!" Ewww! I tried to warn him but then I figured it would be good for him to try it and see that he doesn't like it. He's seen that little green plastic lime in the fridge for a while now and he always asks to try it. Here he is with his lime and a cup...
Now he says, "Ewww!" too. Nicholas has decided that he doesn't like lime juice from the little plastic lime.
We woke to a beautiful snowy morning. A winter wonderland, indeed. Yay! No school! Unfortunately Daddy still had to go into the office. Boo!
It took about 30 minutes for me to get two kids and myself all gussied up in our snow gear. Whew! I was exhausted before we even got out there. But we had a blast once we were out. Nicholas made a bunch of giant snow balls.
Rachel just stood there at first. She didn't know what to think.
But eventually even she got into the fun and started trying to make her own snow balls!
We are taking a break to warm up and dry off. I think some hot chocolate is in order. The snow is still coming down heavily so I'm sure we'll be back out soon (sooner than some of us would like).
