Dorrel and Stephanie: Snow Days

Snow! It's been in the forecast for a while and Monday it finally arrived. The kids are beyond excited. Snow! Miriam and Savannah went right out in it, trying to play in snow that was just dusting the ground. For once, they actually stayed outside for a longer amount of time than it took to find snow clothes and get them dressed. After they were cold (it's in the 20's out there), they warmed up in the hot tub. They enjoyed getting out of the tub and standing in the snow. It was quite a sight to see the steam coming off their little bodies.

getting towed around on sleds behind the lawn mower

warming up

Dode was released from work early Monday and it's a good thing. Although it was snowing most of the day, the flakes really started accumulating as he was driving home. He was driving the pick up since the weathermen had said we had no chance of snow. It's not very good in the snow and I'm glad he got home before most of the accumulation. Some people ended up stuck on the freeway for hours trying to get home.

It's pretty nice working for the tribes. They cancelled work on Tuesday and Wednesday due to the snow but Dode will still get paid for those days. So, we get an extra long Thanksgiving vacation. I'd done a child swap with Lisa where I took Savannah and Jared and she took Anastaya and Elizabeth. I'd been hesitant to do it since the girls would miss school but it ended up that they only missed Monday since school was closed Tuesday and Wednesday due to the weather. The cousins have had a great time playing together. Even if they'd missed school, it would have been worth it!

Savannah and Miriam had a very fun time playing together

It's quite cold outside but the kids keep going out and playing. Isaac and Jared enjoy driving the lawn mower around while pulling the little ones in the sleds behind it. They also tried some sledding on the hill. It was really windy as it was snowing and a lot of snow blew right over the hill into the lawn. So, the hill doesn't quite have enough for good sledding. But, the lawn mower worked just fine. William is fascinated by the icicles that are hanging from things. He calls them his "crystals" and gets quite upset when they melt away in his hands. As the snow started melting off, the kids went out and made a few snow men. The snow men are melting away right out of the coats, scarves, and mittens the kids decorated them with.

a perfect treat for a cold day, rich hot chocolate and moist yam cake

Dode and I got to go out and deliver newspapers in the 17 degree weather. We drove over to where our route begins and discovered the window of the van was frozen in the closed position. That makes it a bit difficult to throw papers! Dode had to work at it for quite some time before he was able to get it to open. The heater in our van doesn't work very well. It's our 3rd mini van by the same manufacturer and they all have had wimpy heaters. We were bundled up in thick coats, hats, and gloves and managed to stay warm. We had the road to ourselves as one of the few brave (or foolish) enough to venture out.

We're toasty warm inside with our two wood stoves running but it doesn't do a very good job of reaching upstairs into the bedrooms. It also doesn't keep us warm all night. The mornings are pretty cold inside and I worry that Jared and Savannah will tell their parents they never want to stay at Uncle Dode's again in the winter because it's so cold in the house. The master bedroom door is closed all day so it stays the coldest. I brought the thermometer upstairs and it showed our bedroom at 53 degrees. We have three thick blankets on the bed and stay warm all night. It makes exercising quite comfortable, no need for a fan! (But it's pretty cold getting dressed after taking a shower!)

I bought a case of pie pumpkins and have been roasting them and turning them into pumpkin puree for the freezer. We aren't above a little child labor around here!