Writing to Remember

It finally snowed in Arkansas!  After having a very mild and warm Christmas, winter finally showed up!

Even before the snow showed up, we received word that school was going to be closed the following day. I still can't get over that. In eastern Washington state-we barely had school delayed for snow, let alone closed altogether!

Jaxson loved the snow and played with the neighborhood kids for most of the afternoon. Julie wants to like the snow and she did play in it-but she gets cold and when she is cold...that girl is cranky!  She came in a lot to drink her hot chocolate and get warm. I don't blame her. 

I'm still amazed on how much snow we had!  It was about 4-5 inches. Enough to cover my snow boots!

Now, next weekend is supposed to be warm-almost in the 70's!  I tell you, this Arkansas weather is crazy!

Well, we had an ice day over a week ago.  And now we had snow!  We got out of school on Monday around 1pm and haven't been back since.  I guess February is giving us a taste of what winter should really be like!  I don't mind it though. Even if we will be going to school until July 4th!  Ha!

This was the most perfect snow ever.  Fluffy, wet, and easy to make snowballs with!

And snow angels!

The kids each had to make their own snowmen.  They were really proud of them!

It was a fun day.  I enjoyed sleeping and watching some daytime TV.  I never do that.  But when you can't go anywhere or do anything, I can justify watching Dr. Oz and Jeopardy.  I had fun playing outside with the kids.  It was great because once we got cold, we came inside for some hot chocolate!

We woke up to sleet and freezing rain this morning.  This ice storm had been hyped up all week and you just never know if what they forecast is really going to happen.  

So when the kids woke up this morning, they were so happy to see snow!  They couldn't wait to build a snowman.  I had to bring down their hopes a bit by letting them know it was sleet and ice-not snow. 

But you know what?  Jax didn't mind at all that is was ice.  In fact, he enjoyed sliding around and hunting for big icicles.

The kids begged that Justin and I go out, so we promised we would after lunch.  But brrr....it was so cold!  Ice was everywhere. 

My poor plants:

The swingset:

And the trees-boy were the tree branches heavy with ice!

And poor Julie.  She wanted to play outside.  She wanted to like the ice and enjoy it like Jaxson did.  But it was just too cold and too wet.  And when her boots somehow got ice in them and her mittens were a little wet-she gave up and went inside where it was warm.  I don't blame her cause I followed along right after her!

Remember how this last week school was canceled before a snowflake or freezing rain drop fell?  And then it turned all to rain and it was a little bit of a disappointment?  Well. Last night we received yet another Winter Storm Watch/Warning warning us that we *might* get 1 to 2 inches of snow.  Well, after our Tuesday disappointment, I really didn't think we would see much.  And they were projecting that his "snow" was going to hit central Arkansas which when that happens, it misses us. 

Imagine our surprise when after going out to eat, we came outside and it was snowing teeny tiny flakes.  Again, no biggie.  We went over to Justin's parent's house and hung out for a while.  During that short amount of time, the snow came down.  All the kids were excited and immediately went out to play in it.  Our so called 1-2 inches was already over 3 inches and still falling like crazy.  We were all shocked.

Of course, we had to let the kids play in it before we came home. I tried to get a picture but as you can see, it's pretty dark out.  But look how pretty the snow is!

Poor Julie.  I tried to get her picture and little did I know that a snowflake totally photobombed her!

When the kids woke up this morning, they immediately headed outside.  It was so cold, but oh so pretty!

Julie tried to clean off the swing set...

And it was hard work for Julie to trample through the snow!

And I leave you with Jax who clearly was enjoying the snow. 

School was canceled today.  I woke up and saw it had been canceled and imagined that it was a winter wonderland outside.  I was very disappointed to see rain falling down in sheets instead.  I am so not used to the South canceling school "just in case."  Back in the olden days when I was in high school (in Washington State), one night it has snow 17 inches and the school district delayed our school by only 2 hours!  People were slipping and sliding cars off the roads and we still had to go to school!  So it's always weird for me to cancel school without any proof of icy/white stuff.

But by 8am, the rain had really started to turn into freezing rain mix and was icing up the trees.  

So here's my tangent:  Didn't I move to the south?  Isn't supposed to be warmer down here?  What gives?

Also, my Dark Sky app is worthless in Arkansas.  It worked great in North Carolina.  But here, it's just a mess.  There was not a point at all today when we had "heavy snow."  This is what made me think there was a winter wonderland outside when I woke up.  Dark Sky-you failed yet again.

Jaxson was sad that school was canceled and really didn't believe me.  It was only when we drove by his school while doing errands and saw there was not one single car in the parking lot.  He finally believe that he wasn't missing out on anything at school.  

Later on, the freezing rain turning into rain and instead of worry about icy roads, I was more concerned about hydroplaning!  Some roads were completely flooded!  I'm pretty sure that our burn ban is no longer in effect.  Cause my backyard looks more like a lake and if my kids want to play on their new swing set, they are going to have to swim to it!