Let me preface this post by saying that it never snows in Alabama. We might get a dusting or two during a season, or an ice storm that shuts down transportation, but we never get anything measureable to play in. Twice in my life can I remember enough to build a snowman and my girls have never seen a snowfall in their life — our flurries almost always happen overnight.
Friday was a bit of an anomaly. We knew to expect some flurries, but I didn’t expect for school to close, nor did I have any plans to stay at home. When I woke up at 5 o’clock (to watch Call the Midwife), there wasn’t a flake to be seen. At 6 o’clock when I stood up to refill my coffee cup, the ground was almost completely covered and the flurries were falling so furiously, that you could barely see the world. It came on so fast and so quietly and ushered in one of the best days I can remember ever.
Scoop was in heaven. It took about an hour for her to calm down enough for us to play with. For the longest time, she just did laps around our property and wouldn’t come when we called her. She stayed outside for almost the entire day and slept so hard when we finally brought her back inside.
Our first attempt at a snowman was after only a few inches had fallen. He was short and full of grass, but the girls were so excited that we were able to build him. Scoop later stole those gloves and we had to chase her down to retrieve them.
My mom had randomly bought the girls snow coasters for part of their Christmas, but she dug them out and we played with them for most of the day. We eventually went to my sister’s house, which is on a huge hill, but I never took my camera out a single time. We were having too much fun for that! At our house, the only place to sled is off of the street into the meadow. It wasn’t very steep, but for two girls who had never been sledding, it was just perfect!
After a few hours of hard play time (and cancelled schools and work), we went inside to warm up. I made a yummy monkey bread for breakfast and we threw all of our cold and wet clothes in the dryer.
My dad came inside and helped the girls make snow cream and then we all crawled in bed for a nap!
We went back out several times throughout the day and the girls never got bored or tired of it. Sophie cried a few times about being cold and was very concerned about frost bite, but I was so proud of how well they made the most of our time in the snow. We might not see six inches for another decade!
After it had been snowing for eight solid hours, we gave our snow man a makeover. He was much larger and the girls were even more impressed. He is still lingering in our front yard, despite the fact that everything else has melted and turned to mush.
When Josh and I fell into bed on Sunday night, we agreed that this was — hands down — the best weekend we can remember in a very long time. We played and ate and napped and read and didn’t do anything we didn’t want to. We lost cable and internet (and even power for awhile), so we weren’t held hostage by television or devices, and it was so much fun to spend a weekend together at home without distractions. I hope your snow day was just as fabulous as ours!
