Blizzard

This weekend was the first real blizzard of the season.  It was snowing heavily, but it was still warm and a bit slushy when I came home from the Christmas Store our church put on Saturday morning.  Emily was desparate to build a snowman, so after lunch I bundled up the kids and we made our first snowman of the year.  The temperatures must have started to drop because the snow didn't stick together as well as I would have expected.  Our snowman ended up only being 18" tall, but Emily couldn't have been prouder.  She was especially excited about the "feathers" on his head.  I thought for sure once the wind picked up he would have been a goner.  However, after it was all said and done he is still standing proudly and smiling, feathers and all.  He may have lost one stone eye, but that's it.

Emily could have stayed out in the snow for another hour or two.  Lincoln just wasn't digging it.  After 20 minutes we were both covered in snow and ready to go inside.

We stayed warm inside the house and didn't even plan on trying to go to church on Sunday.  Most area services were canceled.  I think we ended up with about 4"-5" of snow total.  It was bitterly cold and windy, but Austin was determined to get the snow cleared from the driveways and sidewalks.  It was his first chance to use the snow blower.  Yes--we now own a snow blower.  After several years of me nagging about getting one, my dad acquired one last winter and tinkered around with it enough to get it working again.  He then delivered it to our house when they came for Emily's birthday in October.  It's kind of hard to say no when your father-in-law drives the farm pick-up four hours and unloads a free one in your driveway! ;o)  Anyway, Austin got the back driveway and front sidewalk done.  Before starting the main driveway he thought he'd be nice and blow out the end of the driveway of our single neighbor lady after the snowplow went by.  Unfortunately, there was a large branch hidden in the snow that Austin hit.  The blades stopped, and upon further inspection, the whole front of the gear box cracked off.  This was pretty much a death sentence for the snow blower since it's probably not even worth it to attempt to fix it. :o(  So Austin spent the rest of the morning shoveling the 2'-3' snowdrift off the driveway by hand.

I'm definitely NOT excited about the icy steps and walkways or the snow-packed streets or the biting cold, but at least it looks more like Christmas!