January Spending Freeze, Day 23: A timely snow day

We don't get a lot of snow around here.  When we do, it's a major day of excitement for the kids--almost on par with Christmas morning or a trip to Disney World.  Also--and this is my favorite part--even if the snow (or ice) we get isn't decent enough to play in, it's an excellent excuse to have a day-long pajama party because all prior commitments are cancelled anyway!

So that's what we did last Friday and Saturday.  Jordan had the day off work Friday, when things were just starting to get icy, so we stayed in and relaxed.  By early Saturday morning, enough snow to have a little fun in had fallen!  We got up early, put on waterproof gear and coats, and grabbed our sleds.

There was just enough snow to pull the kids around the neighborhood in their sleds.  They made snow angels too, even though around here our snow angels usually end up looking a bit dirty because the snow is so shallow.

Suzi even made an adorable baby snow unicorn!

Snow cream...  Very cheap to make; the main ingredient is snow!

When they were tired of playing in the snow, they came in to dry off and Jordan made two big batches of snow cream.  It was wonderful!  Then we watched the movie Snow Day.  

We did make it to church on Sunday, and then to my mom's house for lunch, where we discovered that her snow was much better than ours and still had not melted!  So the kids got to play all over again.  It was an ideal snowy three-day weekend that even ended up helping us out with our spending freeze.  Yay snow!

WW: Playing in the freak snow

The date: 1/10/11

Inches of snow: 6

Consecutive snow days in my old school district: 5

Days Jordan got off from work: 2, plus two 2-hour delays

Times this has happened here before: zero, at least during my lifetime!

WW: Way too many snow pictures

Friday night, we let Suzi go out while it was still snowing (with her umbrella to keep the snow out of her face)

She ventured out into the yard

Close-up snow is so beautiful

Building a snowman was at the top of our to-do list, so we all pitched in

Our Mr. Potato Head parts came in handy

Suzi was really into eating the snow, which she said tasted just like cupcakes!

This is what our little snowman looked like the next morning

Bought these boots in college. Worn them maybe 10 times.

She was so cute trudging through the snow in her little snowsuit. It's a good thing these suits sell for about $10 in like new condition at consignment sales here in SC. She could roll all around in the snow and not really get wet.

One of Jordan's favorites

In our neighborhood, looking out at the trees

Looks like little hills of granulated sugar. I love it!

She learned to throw snowballs, and I threw them at her too. She'd squeal every time one hit her and then she'd run up and squish one on me.

"I don't want to make a angel anymore!"

And there are still more pictures, but I don't have time to put them up right now.

Our annual snow quota

In our area, we've come to expect one decent snow a year, decent being at least two inches. It may last as little as six or eight hours if it happens overnight and the sun comes out the next day.
This year, we had finally accepted that there would not be any snow. Then this happened in the afternoon on March 1st...

All of a sudden there was a fine covering, and by the next morning...

Wow!


Suzi was duly impressed with the extra-large flakes.

Okay, ready to play in snow now!

Of course, we don't have a sled. What would we do with it for the other 364 days of the year? It's a purchase we can't justify. So we took Suzi out in her red ATW Radio Flyer.

Then we tried to let her slide down our hill on an extra large baking sheet, but she didn't slide very far. The snow was kind of crunchy at this point so it wasn't that slick.

That night, Jordan went out to bring the wagon in (we keep it inside). I told him he needed to put his coat and boots on, but he argued that he would only be out for a minute and wouldn't get that cold. I said he should wear them anyway because it would look stupid if he didn't. "Well, how do I look NOW?" he asked. Heh. He has a point. I told him he looked like Karen off of Frosty.

Video of us building a snowman, and Suzi singing to him, will be along shortly.