snowed in.

I have another post about 80% complete, just sitting, waiting for me to finish writing about how marvelously brilliant my children are, and how super chill and together my life is (hah I'm hilarious), but then we got snowed in.

And being snowed in needs to be recorded.

"see, it says right here, 'DEEP SNOW.'"

Obviously, this winter has been mild for us in WV, as well as a good chunk of the country.  Something something science weather patterns, we have barely gotten any snow and the girls and I have been bummed.  Lily and Emma are both to such a fun, adventurous age that I want to do all the things with them, and they are willing participants, but then we had no snow!  I kept telling them that Christmas would come and we'd have snow and then no snow.  They didn't believe that Christmas was coming and I had to explain that I don't predict the weather. 

We did have a brief snow- we could still see the grass- a few weeks ago, and they were just thrilled that we could get the sled out, bundle up and make at least snow angels.  They both made little piles of snow, asked for carrots and declared that they had made snowmen, but I was bummed this was all the snow we'd gotten.  

And then about a week or so ago, we all started hearing about this Storm Jonas that was supposed to hit, and in the days leading up to it, we heard predictions from 4-30 inches of accumulation and everyone began to freak out.  Understandably.  But I was skeptical, and thus excited when we actually started to get some of this snow.  And then girls and I were honestly beside ourselves this morning when we saw that we had gotten at least 16 inches of snow over night and it was still coming down.  

Jesse came home from work early in anticipation of the snow, and I'm so thankful he did because once it started coming down, the snow fell hard and fast and quickly piled up.  I'm so glad I wasn't stressed over him driving home in it, like so many were.  Emma was a little stressed by the height of the snow this morning, but waist high snow is pretty stressful when you don't have enough force to plow through it.  She and Lily got the hang of it and were tromping all over, having a grand time.  Kaylee likes the snow, but only for short periods of time.  She also has been trying to fight a cold and been extremely tired, so she and I have spent a lot of the last few days cuddling.  And I'm writing this down for myself when she's in high school and being difficult: yes, it wasn't easy to get stuff done, but the cuddling was worth it.  You are glad that you took the time to hold your children and turn off your brain's to do list. 

extra snuggles with Daddy, too.

 Emma was extra tired this evening from the hard playing in the snow, and so was extra weepy at bedtime.  I always feel the need to hold Emma as much as possible because she and I had such a rough first year, so when she asked me to snuggle her for awhile before she fell asleep, I couldn't say no.  And it was wonderful and guess what.  The laundry didn't die while I avoided it.     

  

oh you know...being ridiculous.

this was before we forgot the sled was outside and it is now lost somewhere in our yard, buried under the snow. drat. we'll look harder tomorrow. 

pulling the troops on the sled, down to the field to check on our chicken friends. Lily kept yelling, "go faster, Momma!"

And by "snowed in," I really do mean it.  I don't expect to see a snow plow for a few more days and the roads are still ridiculously covered.  I saw 3 cars all day, and there is no way we can get anywhere, even with AWD.  I'm thankful for electricity, a warm house, plenty of food, a family I like, and not frigidly cold temperatures where we can't even play outside!  We can at least go out for awhile without fear of frostbite!  We will see what tomorrow brings!