SNOW OVER IT!

So I know I haven't been blogging much lately. A few days ago I sat down and looked at my recent pictures. This is what I saw....

 

   

 

I could have blogged every day and said the same thing: "It's snowy and cold." It has been SUCH a long cold long snowy long never ending winter here. It's way too early for us to feel desperate for spring, but we do. The public school kids have been out of school a lot these past few weeks. So many of our classes and activities have been cancelled. We've been trying really hard to just keep plugging away at our lessons here at home. We've gotten a lot done. But we do have cabin fever. Most winters around here are much more "up and down" than this one. We tend to have bouts of snow and cold mixed in with warm ups and melting snow. But the snow and ice and chill seem to be here to stay.

 

We've done a few winter science experiments, including tossing boiling water in the frigid air and watching it instantly turn to a cloud of snow.... and blowing bubbles and watching them quickly freeze. I blew these bubbles more than a week ago.... and they are still on my porch.

A few storms ago we got to see this cool winter phenomenon ----

 

These balls of snow have a very scientific name.... "snow rollers!" ;) They appeared all around our city one morning when the snow was the perfect mix of wet and dry and the winds were heavy. The wind pushed the snow and created all of these balls that looked like the beginnings of snowmen. I amused annoyed the children one day by driving all around and repeatedly stopping, getting out of the car, and taking pictures. I'm telling you, the entertainment options are slim around here these days!

On another boring icy day I made these colorful frozen hands that I saw on Pinterest.

I thought the boys would just love them and do crazy things with them in the snow.
They did not.
They did not care about those hands one bit.
So I had to go out and plant them in front of my porch.
At least they are adding some color to our yard.
And they make me smile.

I did get the boys interest one day when the temperatures finally broke freezing and I took them to the sledding hill in our neighborhood. This is normally a "Daddy job" reserved for the weekends, so I scored a lot of cool Mom points for doing this. :) Of course, unlike Daddy, I took a book and a chair and huddled against the school building trying to keep warm. Mommy doesn't sled. I did meet some nice neighbors though.

I was absolutely startled when this boy came walking up the hill.
He's not a little kid anymore.
He's a big boy.
My boy.... growing too fast!



The boys met some neighbor kids and had a blast tunneling through the snow mounds in the parking lot. We stayed out a long time. My toes are still numb.

Shoveling. Is. Hard. And. Dumb.
I love my husband so much. He shovels. He doesn't complain. He is often out there shoveling before I get up. The other day, however, we got dumped with 10 inches of snow. With a layer of ice on top. Jon shoveled one side of the driveway in the morning and got his car out for work. (He also parks in the driveway and scrapes his car every morning. Ugh!) He wanted to get home and do the rest before the temperatures dropped lower and froze things more solidly. But.... it's tax season of course. As the day wore on it became obvious that the boys and I would have to get out there. Ugh! Let's just say that I got a workout that day (which I need). But I also need boots that don't mess up my messed up feet. I should have offered up that dreadful job for the souls in purgatory or my own numerous sins.... but I grumbled a lot instead. And I decided that we need to buy a snow blower. With our luck, that purchase in itself will drive winter away and we're likely to have very mild winters for the next ten years or at least until the snow blower warranty expires. You all can thank us for that later.

I should have had the boys take a picture of me shoveling.
I was not smiling.

 

This week was capped off by our Friday morning co-op being cancelled due to very cold temperatures and very un-plowed roads. Let me just say that none of us were happy about this. We all really wanted to see our friends.... and I had prepared some awesome Olympic materials and activities for our Geography class. We did end up going over to visit some friends for a little "donut play date." Later in the day, I declared war on OLD MAN WINTER.

 

Off went the snowflake tablecloth.

 

This cute snowman got thrown down to the basement, literally.

 

 

And the cute little snowman candle that's been sitting on my kitchen window ledge got the torch! Check out this very professional time lapse photography ---

 

 

 



Somehow he's still smiling, even though his wick has completely gone out now. I may have to chop him up or something.

Lastly, this cute little note pad on my fridge sums it all up.....

Notice it's hanging right next to the Disney Cruise magnet. I'm trying not to even think about the fact that my dad is in Hawaii. It's just too much to bear. ;)

Seriously, this is all tongue-in-cheek fun. I'm sick of this winter stuff, but I know there are people really suffering from it and I am not. My prayers are with those who are without homes, without power, without family and friends, without food, without so many of the comforts I take for granted every day.

And the next post will show so many fun things we've been doing despite the horrible weather.