The Latest Snow

After the cold snap in early January, the temperatures went up to way ABOVE normal for a couple of weeks. It rained, the pond levels rose, and we started to wonder if we had seen the end of winter. But then it came through again last weekend, and we got about 5 inches of snow overnight on a Friday night. It was snowing when Abby and I went to play practice, and REALLY snowing when we headed home (we are thankful for Dan's 4-wheel drive Blazer!). We woke up to a beautiful covering of snow, but the roads were plowed by the time we headed out to play practice again, and then the sun came out while we were inside, allowing Dan to take these beautiful pictures.
As I write this, it has almost all melted, but it is snowing again, though no accumulation is expected... but I have more pictures to post of our snow adventures last week -- another post.

The kids and Dan created this giant snowman after a day of sunshine made the snow perfect!

It is finally snowing!!

We are finally getting real snow. The forecast told us it was going to happen, but in Missouri, I've learned to be very cynical about precipitation forecasts. There seems to be a line that follows I-44 that usually gets a mix of snow and ice during a storm. Sometimes it makes for beautiful ice storms, but rarely do we get an honest-to-goodness snow! We got 1/2 inch of sleet last night -- for those of you living in a different weather pattern, sleet is like sand in its consistency, but consists of little ice pellets. It doesn't pile up quite as fast as snow, and isn't nearly as fun to play in. We watched it sleet all day and kept hoping for a change to snow, which finally came late in the day. It has been snowing steadily for a few hours, and I am looking forward to cross country skiing tomorrow!

December Arrives

Some of my friends think I'm crazy, but I love snow! When we decided to move to Missouri 4+ years ago, I was excited about the possibility of snowy winters. What I didn't realize is that Missouri is actually a Southern state, at least as far as climate (well, a lot of other things as well!). So, although we sometimes get real snow, usually we just get a nasty combination of rain, sleet and snow which makes driving treacherous and isn't very pretty. Occasionally this nasty combination is beautiful, like when it freezes, but then the roads are even more dangerous, and we're lucky to get out of our driveway, which is ever so slightly uphill.
In 2008, though, winter is off to right start, at least in my book. The snow flurries started on Sunday morning, though they didn't stick because the ground was still too warm. But by evening, it started to accumulate a little bit, and Monday morning we woke up to a beautiful sight!

Isaac is now at the age where he can dress himself, so he was out the door as soon as I let him go, after breakfast and family devotions. Eventually Elizabeth wanted to join him, and the first thing she was to imitate Isaac, and make a snow angel. But she stayed out and played with him for a good 1/2 hour before I heard her crying -- and Isaac said to me; "I think you forgot her gloves." When I went to investigate, she was gloveless and crying because of cold hands -- time to invest in one of those string mitten sets, I guess!