The Long Days Archives: Magical SNOW day.

Growing up in Minnesota I am well accustomed to snow. I like watching it fall and I enjoy playing in it. Sledding and skiing are two of my favorite activities. But I've never thought of it as magical. Until today. Today it snowed in South Texas! Palm trees and snow mixed. Now that felt magical.

The view down our street this morning. Keep in mind that just three days ago I was wearing shorts, a t-shirt and flip flops and complaining about the heat. And likely I will be back in my sandals two day from now as well. Magic I tell you.

But let me back up and tell the story of the snow from the beginning. Tuesday was normal South Texas winter weather...which feels nothing like winter. So when a lady at Bible study mentioned the possibility of snow flurries by the weekend I rolled my eyes and laughed. Then on Wednesday it rained off and on. Thursday it rained all day. A hard, cold rain. But not anywhere near freezing. Thursday afternoon the school district decided to delay schools for the next day because of a "winter weather advisory". Again I rolled my eyes. Rolled my eyes, built my fire and told my kids to put on their warmest footy pjs just in case it did snow overnight. I promised my kids that I would wake them IF it snowed. I very much doubted it would. So there I sat by my fire working on a few homemade Christmas gifts watching the rain fall and my children sleep under the tree. It wasn't an unpleasant way to spend an evening but I felt like maybe, just maybe I was wasting my time.

Then at 12:04 am just as I was getting ready to call it a night I received a text from Joe. It simply read "snowing". He was working overnight at the hospital. Looking out our window there was still only rain, but I was hopeful that the rain would turn to snow. I immediately put apple cider on the stove to warm and pulled out cookies for the kids. And then it happened. A few heavy flakes came fluttering down amongst the rain drops. So I woke the children. Or tried to. At first only Isaiah and Charlotte woke up. The other two were too sleepy.

Isaiah insisted Hannah had to see the snow. So he got her up - which is no easy task! But worth it. Because she LOVED it!

Charlotte then woke Levi. Apparently she had promised him she would show him the snow. I was a little leery of waking a two year old at 1 am. But again...magic.

Levi preferred to watch the magic from inside the house. He wasn't the biggest fan of the cold. But he sure loved the cookies! Its hard to see but this next picture is of all four of my kids looking out the windows watching the snow fall. It was nearly 2am at this point and time for them to get tucked back into their sleeping bags around the tree.

After the kids fell to sleep I had a hard time falling back asleep. I was sure that the snow would all be gone by morning and I just didn't want to miss any of it. Finally around 3am I fell asleep. My kids woke me around 7am. They wanted to show me the snow man they had built with their dad. (He had gotten off work around 6am). In all honesty I was expecting miniature snowman and I was shocked to see this guy outside our house...

Meet Roger. Because Minnesotans know how to build a snowman:)

Levi was impressed. He liked playing in the snow during the day a lot more than watching snow fall during the night.

Much to Charlotte's delight (and her siblings dismay) school was not cancelled. Meaning she was able to get dressed up in her fanciest (warm!) clothes and attend The Nutcracker Ballet with her class on a field trip as scheduled. Which meant I was able to host my Christmas Brunch that I had scheduled for that morning with the residency ladies. My house was a little messier and wetter than I had anticipated. And I was a lot sleepier than I would have liked to have been. But overall it was delightful. Good food and good company. The fire was toasty and the winter scene out the window was just perfect!

After school we snuck in a little more time playing in the melting snow before going to Joe's residency Christmas party. We also had a fun little photo shoot with Frankie the tortoise. Due to the rain (and snow!) Frankiehad been inside for 3 days and was beginning to try to claw his way out of his inside home (ie a plastic tub). Because it was above 50 degrees and the sun was shining I decided to give him some outside time roaming the grass. But before he was free to roam I thought he might need some holiday pictures with his first snow. Please note: he never touched the snow. I'm not cruel. Just crazy. I've totally turned into the crazy tortoise lady. These pictures make that crystal clear.

Joe was working and unable to attend the residency party. But that didn't stop us from getting all dressed up and having a good time:)

The kids danced the night away. Literally. They were on the dance floor from the moment we arrived until we left. Barely stopping to eat. Hannah's dance partner proposed to her halfway through the evening. She said no. (She already knows who she wants to marry. That's another story for another day) But that didn't deter him from continuing to dance with her all night:)