snow day, snow play.

Friday morning, I had big plans to run some errands with the kids after lunch.  Not only did we have some things I needed to pick up from Menards, but I had added incentive.  Laurelai hadn't been feeling well earlier in the week, Rocco had been extra clingy, and Callista is in the challenging stage of dropping a nap/teething/turning into a toddler.  I kind of needed to leave the house.

But right as we were getting ready to leave, it started snowing.  Big, fat, wet, beautiful flakes.  I knew immediately we wouldn't be going anywhere - we'd be able to make it to our destination, but I knew we wouldn't make it home easily.  We live on a steep, low-traffic hill, at the crest of an even steeper, higher-traffic hill, and Columbia is terrible about snow removal.  (I would say it's because we typically get so little snow down here, but Cedar Falls was also terrible about snow removal, and we got so much snow there.  The cynic in me is convinced it's more a matter of poor city management, but what do I know about these things?)  I knew there would be no salt or sand put down, no plows coming through, and I wasn't committed to trying to walk all the kids up the hills once our van inevitably got stuck at the bottom, so we stayed home.

It's a good thing we did - about an hour later, Todd texted to say his office was letting out early for the weather (which cracks me up because I'm still an Iowan at heart, and there is NO WAY a business this size in Iowa would ever admit weakness in the face of precipitation).  He was headed home.

By Friday night, we were completely snowed in.  It continued snowing all through the night, and all through Saturday.  By Saturday night, so much snow was sitting on the power lines and breaking branches in the neighborhood that we had a power outage (and although it had been snowing for nearly 36 hours at that point, no plows had been through, so hope was pretty nonexistent that the electric company could get here).  Of course I had thawed a bunch of shrimp for stir fry, and of course we have an electric range, so I was annoyed that all the shrimp was going to go bad before I could cook it, because seafood is my main concern in times of crisis.  Plus, I had nothing to cook for the kids, who were already squirrelly and hungry.  So I pulled out leftover cheese board items - Cheese Board Saves the Day Again!

Shortly after the lights came on.  The meager light (and the paraffin wax headache) (and the countless opportunities for toddlers to burn the whole place down) that these candles provided made me realize we need to invest in some kind of battery-operated light source.

It continued snowing overnight, and church was cancelled Sunday morning.  SUCH a long stretch of being stuck inside!  The snow did finally stop, after dropping SEVENTEEN INCHES on us.  

That's a lot of snow for anywhere, but it's unheard of here.  We got more snow in this single snowfall than we've gotten the last three winters, plus the snowfall we'd already gotten earlier this winter, combined.  So much snow.

BUT, it was perfect snow - wet, heavy, sticky, easily compacted - and it was in the 30's outside, so it was great weather to play in.  The kids got outside, and Todd headed out front to start shoveling out the van. 

I told Todd that our yard actually looks nice for once - the layer of toys and random kid detritus that normally litters the yard, along with the bald mud patches and the deep craters created by the kids, were all evenly covered with snow.  This photo seems to reflect my happiness at that fact.

Penelope spent her time building a snowman version of our family: Dad, pregnant Mom, and six kids.  Eventually, SnowMama must've gone into labor, as she added a tiny little Snowball (complete with baby carrot nose) to SnowMama's stick arms.  ADORABLE.

Hard to see, but we're all accounted for.

SnowMama holding Snowball.

 

Penelope excavated the trike from under the drifts, and Rocco made an attempt at riding it.  Huge, giant, massive fail.  He just sank into the snow and then tipped over.  And then cried when they couldn't really get him disentangled, so he was just kind of stuck and floundering and miserable.

He stuck pretty close to the house after that.  "Mommy, will you keep a eye on me?  Da snow is da deepiest."

For reference, here are a few pictures illustrating the true depth of the snow:

The shocking depth of the snow pile on top of the grill, once they started clearing it off.

Todd did finally dig us out, and went and got provisions.  By yesterday morning, the roads were clear enough to venture out with the kids, so we ran a few errands.  It was good to get out of the house, but the kids are glad the snow seems to be sticking around.  They'll have a few more days to play in it, and I'll have a few more days of wrestling them into and out of their snow gear - huzzah!