Snow!

This year we only had one good snow storm. We watched the news like a hawk and anxiously awaited the projected 2-3 feet of snow.

George was supposed to work the whole weekend it was going to snow, so when it started falling, he packed up for the weekend and drove to Culpeper. The hospital put him up in a hotel so he wouldn't have to make the hour trek back and forth between shifts. 

The kids saw the first flurries and insisted on playing in the "snow".

It's coming down!

We went to bed that night with about 6 inches on the ground and woke up to about 18!

Around 7:30 a.m. I got a text from a friend to look out my window. I took a peek and saw this:

This is the view from our front yard. Apparently one of the neighbors had tried to drive in the snow and their engine caught on fire!!

(picture one of the neighbors took of the fire)

It was crazy! The burned out car sat in the intersection for three days before the tow truck could make it in to remove it.

Lance thought the snow on the trampoline was great! We ended up clearing it off later that day since the snow was so heavy the tramp was sagging about two feet.

All bundled up and ready to play!

I probably cleared the drive way three times over the course of the falling snow. Lance and Jude turned the drifts into tiny igloos.

Bender was having a blast in the snow, especially when the neighbor's dog came over to play.

The kids lasts a long time out in the snow. The best part? They were pooped afterwards!

The next day it had warmed up quite a bit, although it wasn't making much of a dent in the snow. Apparently Lance decided a shirt and jacket was optional and spent most of his time playing in the snow like this:

Lily discovered eating snow and spent most of the day sampling the various drifts and mounds.

Not to be left behind, Jude discarded his shirt as well. 

Jude, Cole, and Lily spent a while sledding down our driveway as I continued to try and clear it of the snow. 

I love snow, it's so delicious!

The plows had finally come by, but plowed one line straight up our cul-de-sac, leaving a huge mount of icy snow right in front of our driveway. Lance and I worked together to clear another driveway's worth of snow away so George could make it into the driveway when he finally got to come home.

(See that dark blob on the right of the driveway? That's Jude at the end of our driveway. I'm taking the picture from the plowed strip that we had to clear to in order for George to pull in. You can't really tell, but it was at least another 30 feet. That's a lot when the snow is 18 inches deep and there's ice!)

Boys pretending to be pregnant with balloons. :)

Daddy finally made it home!

(And after all that effort to clear the extra snow, the plows came through again and finished the job. I should have just waited another 12 hours. Oh well.)

Daddy is the best!

The kids didn't have school for the first three days of that week. It was great to have them home! I also got a lot of work done for Jude's Birthday party!

Lily "helping" make the goodie bags.

With George home, we finally got to walk down to the park and go sledding (something I wasn't about to attempt all by myself). It was great!

This was Jude's face the entire time:

Like a boss...

Cole and Lily mostly hung out on the swings.

Bender had fun searching for his ball in all the snow.

Lily thought sledding was fun!

I have to admit by the time the weekend rolled around, I was done with the snow. It was fun while it lasted, but I'm ready for warmer weather!