Picturesque Snow

I had to play around with the camera on the gorgeous snow days.  I mean, let's face it...  Dallas doesn't get snow like this very often. "Heavy" snow and wind??

The shimmering, glittery glints of sun on the snow are probably my very favorite thing about snow.  Or it may tie with how God's handiwork just happens to have each and every snowflake unique...  I will never cease to be amazed!

We've had the camera for awhile, but I never really have time to fiddle with the settings.  I sure enjoyed it on these days!

Even the river birch seemed especially beautiful...

Knowing it would be the last year in our current house made me a little sentimental, too.  I know we'll get snow in the new house, but I did want to make sure we had pictures to show the boys where they'd spent their youngest years.

Many, many wonderful memories have been made here.  We won't miss the lack of storage space in this house, but the patio and yard have been beautiful.  We planted a Japanese maple for each of the boys after they'd been born. (wish we could take those with us!) We have funny memories of landscaping woes, from the infestation of black widows in the mossy rocks one year to the mini lake that forms between our yard and the neighbor's.  But we've had even more fun memories, like the impromptu baseball game with Aunt Lala, Uncle Matt, and the cousins one Memorial Day weekend, visiting with grandparents, family, and friends.  God provided a great place for us to inhabit for these past nearly 10 years. 

More Snow Days!

At the end of February, we had even more snow!!  We ended up having ice, then snow on top...meaning two snow days from school.  Reid was in snow heaven with all this white stuff he could play in.  You couldn't really pack the snow at first, so he made a backyard full of snow angels.  Then we went to the front and he created a snow angel totem pole. 

Jason works quite a ways away and must drive over several high ramps, so he was glued to the traffic reports on tv all morning.  Around lunchtime, we decided to venture down the street and check out the closest main road to our house.  Reid "ice skated" part of the way there.

Once we saw the main road...with very little traffic at all, it certainly didn't seem like a good idea to be driving far in this mess.

A few cars did indeed brave it out of our neighborhood...

Carter took good naps that day, so we had lots of time for snow fun.  Once the sun came out, the snow was perfect for packing.  Reid wanted a snow family, so we created all of us...even a snow Dixie.

Reid and his own snowman

Just before lunchtime, we thought we'd let Carter give the snow another try.  He was still NOT a fan.

So Reid and Jason started a snow fort, then Reid and I made it bigger, and bigger, and bigger...

I tried to convince him to build a really tall snowman, but he was more into the fort.  This was about as tall as he was interested in.

He loved getting his baby brother up from his nap, too.  I couldn't resist snapping a pic of the monitor, and then recording a bit of the silliness.

I was quite grateful for the two snow days with the boys.  The second just happened to be on my ONE year old's birthday (which was great for me, but kind of ruined the celebration we'd planned) and I felt extra grateful :)

February Snow

Our winter weather was crazy in February!  On Friday the 27th, we had a pretty good chance of snow. Of course, it began right after we'd arrived at school.  The kids were crazy, our phones rang off the wall all day with parents checking kids out early, and by 3:30 when I could leave, it was still coming down pretty good.

The roads seemed reasonably good, at least by my school, and I was grateful because I'd spent the previous Monday and Tuesday finishing up my preparation for the huge consignment sale I'd paid my entry fee for.  It had taken hours to gather, sort, enter all the information/description of items, print/cut labels, and then pin them to hangers.  We had a small window to drop them off on Friday and I wasn't sure up until the end if they were even still having the sale or not.  It's seasonal and only happens twice a year, plus we desperately needed these things out of the house since we were about to put it on the market.  Thankfully, they were indeed open and accepting items.  But then I got to my car and began second guessing myself when I saw it!

 

All turned out well and we got everything dropped off.  The views were pretty unbelievable, especially for Texas!

Once I picked the boys up, we raced home, dug out the snow gear (this Texas snow never lasts long and I was afraid we'd miss it the next day), and played until dinnertime.  Someone was NOT a fan...

But I couldn't resist making his first snow angel :)

 

Here's what he thought...

 

Reid was a happy camper, even though the snow didn't really stick together well.  He enlisted Jason to help make the snowballs so they'd stick together.

He was really into making snow angels and was quite proud of his first independent one!

The aftermath:

And the design builder creations just keep getting better...  He's made car hotels, spaceships, you name it!