pretty snow

Well, I didn't mean to take such an extended blogging break. Last week was kind of bah humbug though. We had a brush with the terrible stomach bug that's been going around our community. E was sick a little last weekend, and I was sick on Thursday. Through humbugness, illness, and hubby's needing the car, I ended up not leaving the house at all last week. Monday through Friday, home. Very unusual for me, since I get antsy pretty quickly.

I feel fresh this Monday morning, though. Recommitting to my peppy schedule. The sun is shining and it's a bit warmer outside. So, in the spirit of moving forward, I'm going to commit to blogging everyday this week. I can't commit to those month-y things, but I'm going to hang on for a week.

But, first, the weather. Because it's pretty and exciting, and this girl loves some snow. So far this winter is turning out pretty nicely. Cold enough to feel like winter and get a bit of snow, but not cold enough to be bitter, with a few warmer days thrown in to melt the dirty snow and keep our spirits up.

Last week, we got probably our best snow yet. On Monday it was warm and melty (sort of like today), which was good because there was a lot of slippy ice around. Then on Tuesday it started to snow, which caught me off guard a little. The first several hours it melted as it hit the ground, then it started to stick and by Wednesday morning we had almost five inches of beautiful white, fluffly, powdery snow and three year old home from school to enjoy it.

It was too powdery for snowmen, but great for sledding!! In the basement of the historic house where we live, there was an old sled with runners that the people said we could have. With Marlowe strapped to the front of me, I dragged Ellis out back where there's a pretty good hill, and both my boys had their first sledding experience ever! (Except Marlowe was asleep for his.) Ellis enjoyed it, but didn't like walking back up the hill, and it was too much for me to drag him uphill. So we only went down a few times before he called it quits. The sled was big enough that he and I could go down together, which meant for a great ride, but lots of walking back uphill.

By Saturday morning, the weather had turned and warm temps summoned the melting of the snow. I knew that if we were going to get a snowman out this snowfall, we better do it quick. In its melting state, the snow was perfectly packable. I took Ellis outside first thing in the morning and we made a big snow man, a snow horse, and a snow boat, and E made a little snow man. I got a little obsessive about the snow sculpting, I admit. Then we dragged Daddy and Marlowe out for some sledding. This time Marlowe got to enjoy it, fully awake and strapped to my back.

By evening the snow was almost gone. It was a lot of fun. I was reflecting on the difference between Marlowe's and Ellis's snow experiences. Poor Ellis, when he was Marlowe's age, we ran outside, took a picture, and came back in. Marlowe got bundled up, tied to Mommy, and played out it in for hours.