Snow Day

Only in Texas can two 70 degree weekends be separated by a week of below freezing temperatures and snow.

After the cold front that blew in last Tuesday, temperatures in Austin stayed below freezing (day and night) until Friday afternoon. Thursday night brought with it snow.

I'd like to say that the snow fall was magical. That I went to bed on Thursday night and woke up to the sight of everything covered in a white blanket of snow on Friday morning. The reality is, I was up at least three times that night so I saw the snow falling on multiple occasions--so it was no surprise to me to see about an inch of snow covering the ground on Friday morning.

I realize, though, that that didn't make it any less exciting for Reese.
During Paige's naps we ventured outside twice to enjoy the snow. Our first trip was into the back yard. There were some major power struggles in the effort to get Reese appropriately clothed for the occasion--including whether or not she was going to wear a scarf. In theory, she wanted to wear one, but once it was on there was nothing but complaints.

Once outside, Annie ran in circles in the backyard and even rolled in the snow. Reese squealed, picked some snow up, and then promptly slipped and fell on the deck. In an effort to keep her feet dry, we both wore our rain boots outside--maybe they weren't a good choice, though, because the snow accumulated underneath forming chunks of uneven ice, hence the fall. Round one in the snow was short lived since the fall prompted a massive panic attack about being covered in snow. (And, yes, I did take a picture before coming to her aide--bad mom move, but I couldn't help it.)

Later that day we ventured out into the front yard and built a snow man. Reese had very specific ideas on what our snow man should look like. Specifically that it should be "huge." She was very interested in overseeing my work, but didn't want to make snowballs herself. Each snow ball I made for construction was met with "No, bigger!" Our knee-high snow man isn't "huge," but in the end it was good enough.

After our snow day, here are some of my personal conclusions:
* Getting kids bundled up for snow-play is a pain. Particularly when they only want to spend 15 minutes outside in it.
* I don't like playing in the snow. Snowmen and snowballs are something I'll do for the kids, but I think snow is for skiing, or maybe sledding. (BOth activities hard for toddlers and infants.)