A Winner...and Snow!

Thanks to all who cast their vote for a new family picture for our prayer card. Picture #1 was overwhelmingly the favorite with 91% of the 36 votes. If you'd like an updated prayer card and you don't live in Arizona, you can email me and let me know. (gofletchblog [at] gmail [dot] com) <-- can someone tell me why I do this? Is it to avoid spam?

Asa said "I'm just going to sit right here and watch it" after he woke up and realized it was snowing on Thursday. He didn't even ask for food right away, which is typically his very first request every single day!

So, in other news...we got snow in Texas! Bunches of it. It snowed all day on Thursday. Jenna & Asa had their school cancelled on Thursday. Their preschool (our church) is located in a different school district than Rylee, and she had to still go to school.
The snow was powdery and sticking on the ground quite well, though it was just making the roads slushy. After a slower start to the morning and some dialogue between me and friends, Joel and I dropped J&A off to play with friends and we headed into the office, which was officially closed (they go by the same school district closings as our church, since it's almost right next door).
I am working on a project that I really need to finish. I'm still not close to being done, but I got some good work done on it. That's something specific you can pray for, if you're wondering. You could ask God to give me wisdom, His direction, and focus during the time I'm in the office. You can also pray for me to be able to get some work done while at home, too.

The snow was still coming down steadily when we arrived home at lunchtime. Joel went back to the office and then offered to drive the carpool for the afternoon run, which was nice because temps were falling and the slush was getting more slushy.

Once Rylee arrived home, Joel and the kids all bundled up to head outside. Joel made a huge snowman. I had no idea you could roll snow into a ball the way he was doing it. It rolled up like a piece of carpet; it was amazing.A neighbor stopped by and told us they saw a snowman in the median of our cross street. They were returning from taking a picture and then proceeded to snap one of our family (and Frosty). We took a walk around the block and took a picture in front of the cool man with outstretched arms.There was something very peaceful and sweet about being outside with my family that afternoon. I guess in some ways it seemed like time was just standing still and play was okay. Maybe it was so special because Joel's usually not home at that hour and weekdays aren't usually so much fun!
We came home and warmed up. The snow kept falling as we ate dinner and then went to bed. The next morning, Frosty had a good three more inches of snow on his hat.

Looks like someone got Jenna in the back of the head with a snowball.

Our back-door neighbor came over to play for a bit. Then, other neighbors were talking about sledding at a nearby park and our kids got excited. Joel found a few odds and ends from our garage and we loaded up to go sledding too. I didn't take any pictures of sledding--it was crowded, I was focused on the kids not getting hurt, and we were getting colder. Rylee finally realized her boot was full of snow and proceeded to have her own meltdown. Her poor feet were freezing, though.
We headed home and got the kids into a warm bath. Ahhhh.... I called to check on my friend and discovered that her husband was off work, as well. So, our families met for a fun lunch.

We had lots of fun with the snow. I even enjoyed it. That's actually saying a lot. I wasn't too sad to be leaving snow behind when we moved from Pennsylvania. The people--I was terribly sad to leave, but the weather--not so much. In fact, I don't know that I ever really played in the snow during the 5 years we lived in PA.
Our first year, it was a novelty. Our second year, I was pregnant with Rylee. The third year, Rylee was only about 8-10 months old. The fourth year, I was pregnant with twins/had two newborns. The fifth year, I had two babies who were too little to manage outside, so I let Joel take Rylee out. Then, we moved here to Texas!

Jenna liked eating the snow best of all.

This was a good snow. We got probably 6-8 inches. We didn't measure and people around here are saying all kinds of different things. It wasn't too cold and frigid, even with the white stuff blanketing everything. It was powdery and perfect for making snowball and playing. And, best part of it all, it was pretty much ALL gone by last night! I don't mind snow that comes in one day, let's you play the next, and leaves completely on the following day.