24 Hours of Winter
Well, folks, here in the Carolina of the North we have fairly unpredictable weather in the winter. We usually skip springtime and run head first into summer, and then summer temps last until um…November. It’s a bit odd, but we’re used to it. Unlike our comrades in Colorado who place snow bets re: their first day of snow (usually in September or October), around here we place bets of whether we will actually get ANY snow. Ever. Last year surprised us and we had a significant amount of snow days in December, which was out of the norm for us, and I even experienced the first “white Christmas” of my lifetime, the last one being sometime in the mid 1970’s.
Sunday February 19 we had our first snow of this 2011-2012 winter season. During the boys’ naps it began with a sleet-y/rain-y mix for a couple hours, then slowly changed into the soft fluffy stuff that I’ve been waiting for. It was truly perfect timing since kids were out of school Monday anyway for President’s Day. It snowed on and off into the night and we awoke to a gloriously sunny Monday. I fed the boys, layered on all of our cold weather gear and headed out into the arctic. Ha. It was already melting away by the time we got outside at 8:30 a.m. It was warm enough in the sunshine to feel a bit…hot? in all my layers so I knew at least the boys would be warm enough.
We tromped through the back yard, then up onto the deck, then back around to the front to say hey to some neighbors’ kiddos. These sweet kids asked Evan to sled with them, which he happily did (over and over), and upon the arrival of a few more kids from around the corner the activity switched gears to building a snowman with the perfect composition of our rapidly depleting snow supply.
After we finished the snowman, we retreated back into the house to toss our gear in the dryer, take baths and have lunch before naptime. And after naps, like a precisely timed operation, the snow was melted and gone…all except our group-effort snowman, which we can see from our front porch and from the playroom window. We keep checking on him. He keeps getting shorter. But he is still there.
So, we had 24 hours of winter. Bring on springtime! Mama is ready to bust out all her cute new sun dresses!
Brothers in the snow
Zeb on the back deck
Evan and the snowman, just prior to adding his head
