Saturday, January 15, 2011

a little stir crazy

Last Sunday night/Monday morning we got massive amounts of snow dumped on our little Southern town...

Over7Inches

People started flocking to the grocery stores that Friday to stock up on necessities like bread, milk and eggs.  Some of the schools in the area were already calling for a delayed start on Monday.  I was laughing.  They always predict snow and we get nothing.

Sunday morning all the local weathermen were still talking about the impending blizzard.  I got up and headed to the grocery store for my regular weekly run.  I did buy a few extra things just incase we did got all the snow they were predicting.  I did buy 2 gallons of milk [that is what we normally go through in a week], a dozen eggs [I bake so I always have them on hand] and a loaf of bread [I normally  have one for sandwiches and toast during the week].  I am sure glad we were stocked up because we were home bound for 3 solid days [and probably should have been longer].

Around 2:00 pm on Sunday, we got the call the school was cancelled for Monday.  Again, I laughed.  Not even a flake of snow had fallen yet.  By the time I went to bed around 11:00 pm, it was finally snowing. This was the scene out our front door...

11pmJanSnow

The weathermen FINALLY got it right!  I was thankful we weren't going to have a wasted snow day to make up.

This was the scene the next morning looking down the street...

StreetNextAM

...and the front of our house...

HouseMonAM

I honestly couldn't believe the amount of snow we got!  I don't ever remember so much snow.  We quickly layered & bundled up and headed out for round 1...

SnowFamily

Banks did a little angel making...

BanksAngel

Mary Reese did a little snow swimming...

MRSnowSwimming

And Owen just ate snow...

OwenEatSnow

We stayed outside and played as long as we could stand it.  Then we headed in to thaw out with a little breakfast...

SnowBreakfast

Sunday I had made a double batch of sausage balls and a recipe of TPW cinnamon rolls to keep in the freezer.  I also whipped up some waffles.  [During our snow in, I cooked 3 square meals a day.  My family doesn't believe they can have anything less than 3 meals a day with multiple snacks in between.  They hate when I try to combine meals like brunch or lupper.  They like to eat.]

After breakfast we bundled back up for round 2.  We took a little journey around the neighborhood...

NeighborhoodSnow2

...and to the park down the block...

ParkWaterfall

We grabbed the swimming intertube and headed to the only hill in our neighborhood...

SnowTubing2

It was so much fun!  Even Owen gave it a try...

SnowTubing3

I think Camp [the dog] had the best time of all.  He ran and played all day long!

We were headed back home to built a snowman when a four wheeler and a sled past us.  Lucky for us we knew the driver, so he took Banks and Mary Reese for a ride...

Sledding

They loved it!

Sledding2

We finally got around to building that snowman...

OurSnowman

It was harder to make a snowman with this snow than the snow on Christmas Day.  The snow was totally different.  The snow at Christmas time would just stick together.  This snow you had to really work to get packed together.  It was dry, snow skiing snow.  We managed to get one made and had a ball doing it.

By the time we got the snowman built, my crew was hungry for lunch.  We headed in for a panini lunch...

SnowLunch

I ♥ this panini maker.  Debbie let us borrow hers one weekend and she ended up having to buy another one for herself [Thanks Debbie!]

Then we all settled in for a long winter's nap...

SnowNap

All that playing in the snow had worn us slap out!

Uncle Topher called later that afternoon and was sledding down Stratford Hill with part of his crew a few miles away.  [I have some memories as a child sledding down that same hill.]  We bundled back up and headed out.

We took turns sledding down the hill on Popsy's sled...

Sledding3

Sledding4

Uncle Topher even busted out his snowboard from his North Carolina Mountain living days...

TopherSnowboarding

I am still amazed that anyone can do this.  I don't think I could even stand on the thing still much less flying down a mountain.  I would certainly take some people out with me and probably end up in the hospital if I even tried.

Owen truly loved being out in the snow...

OwenLovesSnow

He probably ate his weight in snow.

We sledded until dark and headed home to dry out.  This is what our guest bathroom looked like for 3 days...

SnowClothes

I was thankful I had somewhere to hang it all so it could dry out between uses.  [I am even more thankful that it is all washed, dried, folded and put back where it belongs.]


After warm baths, we tackled dinner.  Since it was freezing outside and grilling was out of the question, we did our steaks Barefoot Contessa style...

SnowDinner

They are delicious & delightful.  But a little warning...your kitchen will fill up with smoke.  We set off the smoke detector the first time we made these.  Make sure you have your exhaust fan going!

For dessert, snow cream of course!  Jody had put a bowl out on the trampoline the night before to catch some clean snow...

SnowForSnowCream

It ended up getting buried but never fear...we found it!  I mixed the snow with a little sugar, vanilla and milk.  Ta da....

SnowCream

Snow Cream!

The second day was spend pretty much the same as the first.  Owen and I stayed inside much more than the first day.  By the third day we were all over it!  Jody returned to work but we still didn't have school. 

I have seen this a few times this week and it pretty much sums it up...

Southerns'EnjoymentofSnow


During our time at home, we tried out several new recipes...


SnowCookies

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies with Pretzels!  I know I gained about 4 pounds because all we did was EAT or drink hot chocolate made with whole milk!  By the end of the week, we had started on our 3rd gallon of milk and had used up all the bread and eggs.

Wednesday I was never more excited to see this on the street...

SouthernSnowPlow

A Southern Snow Plow [aka a backhoe] attempting to scrape the ice off the streets.  We were all going stir crazy and needing a change of scenery.  I might have gotten a little more excited when we got the call that we could finally go back to school on Thursday at 10:00 am!  I think all the administrators knew the mommas were on the verge of losing it.

We probably should have stayed home on Thursday and Friday instead of having a delayed start both days.  Only about 3 school districts in our area went this week at all.  This was our street on Thursday when we were heading to school...

IcyRoadsThursday

Friday morning looked pretty much the same.  All the main roads looked way better.  And a big thanks to all of our wonderful custodians who worked Wednesday to get all the school parking lots sanded and salted.

Today is Saturday and we still have a ton of icy snow in our yards and on the roofs.  We still have icy spots on the roads.  I am beginning to wonder if it is ever going to melt away?

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