Snow Day

I know I’m super late posting these pictures, since it snowed a couple weeks ago, but I wanted to share them anyway. The grandparents will appreciate my efforts, if nothing else.

I’m still getting used to this whole snow in the South thing. It seems so strange to me that 2-3 inches of snow can shut down an entire city for half a week. You should see the grocery stores on afternoons when a snow storm is still a mere possibility. You’d think the apocalypse was just around the corner the way people jam the bread and milk aisles.

To be fair, it usually only snows once a year around here, which makes the expense of hundreds of snow plows rather unnecessary. However, since our government doesn’t  “waste” money on snow plows, we’re at the mercy of Mother Nature when the rare snow storm occurs. We have to wait for it to melt to be able to leave our neighborhood.

The Princess was super excited to hear that snow was in the forecast. I was worried that it was going to be another situation where there was lots of  hype about a storm that would never deliver.  So when I looked out the window right before The Princess’ bed time and saw that the snow was sticking, I told her to put on her coat – we were going to enjoy the snow even if it didn’t stick around until morning.

We were pleasantly surprised to wake up the next morning to several inches of snow. Both of the girls were thrilled at the chance to play outside in our wintery wonderland. Unfortunately, due to the rarity of snow, we were poorly supplied in the winter clothing department. The Princess wore her daddy’s gloves and a pair of too-small rainboots that quickly filled with snow (and made her cry when she wanted to take them off 10 minutes later – I thought it was because they hurt her feet, but after the hysterics wore off she informed me that it was because she was afraid I was never going to be able to get them off her feet). After reading the blogs of some more experienced Southerners, I’ve since learned that the proper foot coverings for playing in the snow are bread bags or grocery bags. At least we know for next time.

Sparky wasn’t sure how to walk in the snow. She made it about two steps off the front porch before face-planting a snow drift. I took her back inside to warm up, but she quickly wanted to go back outside and try again. Notice the adorable socks mittens she’s wearing on her hands.

The weather actually stayed below freezing for several days. Church was cancelled (a first for me), and The Princess missed three days of school. We all had a bit of cabin fever by the time the roads were clear again.

While it still seems strange to watch the world shut down at the first fluttering snowflake, it’s kind of cool to enjoy the “magic” of a snowstorm again. It’s neat that my girls get to live somewhere that “snow days” actually happen sometimes, and we’re forced to slow down and just enjoy the day and our time together.