Winter Weather?

When we had our first major snow at the beginning of November, I believed "them" when they said that we were in for a rough winter. It has instead been a very unusual winter. We didn't have snow for Christmas, then we got two ice/snowstorms on back to back weekends. Then the snow melted again. We finally had our first snow day yesterday and we only had a couple of inches of snow, so I don't know whether it was totally necessary or not.

January 11, 1010 -- No snow, but it is freezing rain

This cardinal was curled up next to the house
 one morning when the kids were waiting for the bus

We don't often get "snowman snow" so the kids and I
took the opportunity to make a few snowmen when we got some

We awoke one morning to see a cat had use the kids'
path through the yard

April Ice Brings More Winter

It feels as if we skipped over Spring and went from Winter to Summer. The kids have had their school year extended 2 days because we had too many "inclement weather" days, the latest of which was April 16th. The storm started on Friday with regular rain, it switched over to freezing rain and sleet on Saturday. Sunday brought more of the same. We ended up with mostly sleet, so it looked like it had snowed, but it was little ice pellets. It was weird to walk through as the little pellets would scatter unlike snow. Our church cancelled all services and we rarely cancel. Dan called off from work Sunday night and school was cancelled for Monday. We just hunkered down and stayed put.

Saturday at 10:45:

Saturday at 1:55

Sunday:

The daffodils

Tulips

Little ice pellets

Monday:

We dug out beads and wire and other jewelry making supplies.

 

Tuesday:

We got a little more snow.

Winter Camp Out

William has wanted to sleep outside in his igloo since he made his first one, but it has been in the 10-20 degree range at night. Last week, it was going to be in the 40's so I agreed to let them sleep in the "community" igloo.

After about an hour, the boys came in needing to use the bathroom. About 10:45, they came in with their blankets and pillows. In the morning, I asked Will if they came in because it was cold or because there were weird noises. He said it was mostly because of the noises.

Snow Day

We got snow on Sunday again, although not as much as the week before. The back roads were not cleared yet, so they cancelled school. (I'm not sure why they have a "paved roads only" plan when they never seem to use it, but just cancel school if the back roads are bad).

William declared that he wanted to make another igloo that would be for everyone (he made one last week for himself) and wanted to know who wanted to help. No one volunteered, so I told him I'd help him. Emily and Andrew decided to help, too. Sarah didn't want to.

We piled snow in a big pile and then packed it down with the shovels. It wasn't packing snow, but it worked okay. Once we had a big pile, William started digging out the inside. The kids took turns carving out the inside while I piled the excavated snow on the outside of the igloo. We talked Sarah into coming out for a little while, but she didn't stay long. We were outside for at least 2 hours working on the igloo.

We didn't dig out all of the snow but enough to fit all of us in it sitting up.

About 6:00, Will said he wanted to add another room to the igloo. I joined him and that brought Emily and Andy out again, also. It has more work to be done, but it was dark and cold with the sun being down, so we decided it was time to come inside.

We put a window in the addition to keep it from being too claustrophobic. 

Picture looking in through the window

 Me laying on my back in the new addition looking toward the original area where Andy is.