I love magical snowstorms. When the kids were little, starting from the first year Sophie could walk, I made it a point to take the kids outside and build a snowman when we got our first good snowstorm of the year. I love driving through the neighborhood after a storm and seeing all those creatively crafted guys staring out at the street.
I did this every year until Isaac was 3 or 4. Truth be told, I am a fair weather kind of gal and I don't relish getting all bundled up in my snow gear and romping around the yard. O.K. Truth be told, I actually do enjoy building snowmen with the kids, I just have a hard time talking myself into it because I don't like being cold.
My point is, I was kind of hoping that it would catch on and that one day, they would build their own snowmen.
This year, Isaac carried out the tradition unprompted and unassisted.
We had a magical snowstorm a few weeks ago. We had been having a lovely, mild fall when suddenly we were hit with a good accumulation of snow. It wasn't huge, but when it was done we had a good 4 or so inches standing on our front lawn. Isaac and his friend Jordan came home from school and before they even came inside they had built two beautiful snowmen together complete with stick arms, goofy faces, and one of them even had a narrow board for a tie. Cute. Cute. Cute.
I was so happy and I even snapped pictures.
This storm melted away as suddenly as came. In fact, the boys were out building the snowmen wearing snowpants, boots, short sleeve shirts and gloves. It was a sight! All of that snow and 60-degree sunshine beaming down on them as they worked.
Then we had the most beautiful fall weather I can imagine for a few more weeks. The warmest Halloween ever! I think we had a high of at least 70-degrees. The fall leaves were so pretty. I love living in an old neighborhood where the streets are all lined with ancient trees. It feels like a fairy tale.
On Thursday, as I drove around, the wind swirled the leaves around me like snow globe. And, then Friday, the snow came. And came, and came, and came. It snowed all day until, when I left my house at 6 p.m. to take Sophie and Ian and meet my mom for a production of "Footloose," there was at least 4 or more inches.
School got out early on Friday, and all of my kids had their friends over to play. I had the day off from babysitting since one of the kids I watch had a fever, yet I still ended up with 9 kids at my house for the afternoon. It is so wonderful that they all have such nice friends.
Isaac and his friend Birdie built another snowman and then spent hours making dams out of snow in the gutter. I love that Birdie. She likes to catch bugs too. Isaac's kind of girl!
The real surprise came when we woke up Saturday morning to at least a 12-inch accumulation! I love storms that dump.
I had a class at Weber State until 3 p.m., and Brian took the kids with him to Salt Lake to shoot an assignment for the newspaper. His second assignment got canceled and he took them all to IHOP. I was sooooooo grateful that he had them instead of having to leave them with a babysitter all day. Not that sitters are bad, but don't you think an outing to IHOP with your dad is the bomb?
When we all got home that afternoon, Isaac was immediately back in his snow clothes -- making snow angels and sledding down our front lawn. A truck parked in front of our house and I watched him repeatedly slide down and bump into the tire over and over. Sometimes he just lay in the sled gazing up at the sky. He looked like a man in paradise.
I was inside busily whipping up a cinnamon (with no nuts) cake and getting ready for Ian's big birthday party. He is turning 10 this week.
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Hasn't the snow been awesome? Ben and Sean were out there at 8:30 in the morning on Monday - before the kids across the street started school. Then, thankfully their clothes were dry enough -- they were at it again at 4:30 in the afternoon!
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