Thursday, February 10, 2011

Playing in the Snow

Ok, so is it sad that I have 3 different posts dedicated to the “snowpocalypse” (or, snowmaggedon, if you prefer)?  It was a pretty crazy event, and since I was taking pictures of the back porch every couple of hours, the camera was pretty much always handy!

So, on to some pictures that are of people (and pets), not just snow. 

Isa spent lots of time inside, but was never happy about when she was outside.  Nothing like seeing your puppy covered in snow to make you feel guilty!  Never mind that she had a very warm (filled with cedar chips and with a towel over the door to block the wind) doghouse 2 feet away!

DSC_3504Tuesday, when I went out to shovel her a path to said doghouse.  We played for awhile, and she was definitely just as full of energy as any other day!

DSC_3515 Seriously, look how hard it’s snowing?!

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Wednesday morning I went on a little walk around the backyard, just around the perimeter of the fence so Isa had a little path (just what I plowed with my feet, no shoveling) to run around in on Wednesday.  She went with me the whole time, and was totally worn out when we got back to the top!  For that matter, so was I!  Quite the work out!

Isa pretty quickly figured out that the snow wasn’t nearly as deep underneath the trees!

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This one has no people or pets, but thought it was a cool pic of the designs the wind was making in the snow…

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Of course, we had to take Laney outside to enjoy the snow.  We decided against taking Audrey out, mostly because she was sleeping, but also because it was just too darn cold.  And it’s not like she could play in the snow anyway. 

Laney and Mommy, bundled up and ready to go!

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Laney, standing in the path I made for Isa to get to the fence, with her horse, Jonny, of course.  She was pretty amazed by al the snow.

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She was amazed, but not nearly as happy, when I picked her up and dropped her in it!  It would be a little claustrophobic if the snow came up to your hips!

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Laney and Ruthie… couldn’t get Laney to look at the camera because she was too busy licking all of the snow off of her gloves!

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This was quite the fun pastime- just flopping backwards off of the “path” around the fence and into the snow.  And Isa pretty much did this every time… she was so excited that her people came out to play!

DSC_3592  Even Laney got in on the flopping action!DSC_3607

And, Ruthie’s turn!

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After all  of the flopping, we put the camera back inside because it was just a little too much to try to keep it out of the snow!  But we continued on around the yard, and it was pretty fun.  Laney was too busy trying to eat all of the snow off of her gloves to pay attention to where she was going, which meant she stumbled or walked into drifts a lot, usually leading to her yelling “I CAN’T DO IT!” in a panicked voice.  Ruthie and I were both so understanding- we typically said “Get ahold of yourself, you’re fine.  Stop licking your gloves and watch where you’re going.”  And she would (at least the walking part, not so much the not licking her gloves part).  We made lots of snow angels, though Isa ran through most of them, and did a little snow wrestling (with the dog).  When we made it all the way around, we were all so exhausted, it was time to go inside! 

So we were stuck in our house from Monday afternoon until Thursday afternoon.  We ate a lot of food (we made all kinds of cookies and yummy meals, what else was there to do?), surfed the web, watched a lot of movies (Shrek 4, anyone?  Pretty sure I can quote it line by line, and we had to limit Laney to watching it twice a day) and some HGTV & TLC, read, played Wii… just anything to pass the time!  We were all a little stir crazy by the time it was over, but, for being a rare blizzard in MO, it was not a bad week!  I am so thankful that we had lots of advance warning, and had time to prepare and stock up on food and entertainment!  We never lost power, and we were warm, fed, and (mostly) entertained.  Couldn’t ask for much more!  I am also thankful that Ruthie snowed herself in with us… I think it would have been a little harder on me without a second adult!  Nothing like 3 year old conversation for 3 straight days!  Also amazing was having Corey come shovel our driveway on Wednesday, because I would have been seriously hurting to do that myself! 

And, you may ask, how did Truman handle the snow?  Well, Truman says “What snow?  All I see is a sunbeam…”

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Ahh, to be a cat! :)  Again, I am so thankful that we made it through a pretty rare and severe weather event with nothing more than a little stir craziness!  And now I’m ready for all of the snow to go away and spring to come! 

Tuesday, February 08, 2011

Progression of a Blizzard!

Of course, everyone knows that there was a blizzard in MO last week, with some crazy amounts of snow (for us) in a very short amount of time!

So, from Monday night until Tuesday evening I tried to take pictures of my back porch every 2 hours or so.  It was VERY cool to see the snow pile up, and crazy how fast it happened. 

Monday night… just a little leftover from the last snow, plus some ice/freezing rain from Monday.

DSC_3499 Just as the snow started- about 8 or 9 am on Tuesday.

DSC_3501And throughout the day, watching it pile up…

DSC_3505 DSC_3509 DSC_3512 DSC_3523 By Tuesday night… it was still snowing some, though not as hard.

DSC_3536 The next morning; beautiful and bright, and absolutely BURIED in snow:

DSC_3538 And, a couple more “Oh, my gosh, look how deep it is!” pictures…

I had to go out to clear a path for Isa Tuesday afternoon/evening so she could get to and from her house, and off the porch a bit.  It was already pretty deep, and look how hard it’s still snowing!

DSC_3514  Ruth, checking on Horatio (her car), and how deep it was in the sheltered area by our front door!DSC_3530

Our front bushes.  Yes, bushES- there are supposed to be two there!

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Isa and I had a little walk around the yard Wednesday morning.  She’s definitely not as fast with all this snow on the ground!

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Thought this evergreen just looked cool… plus, it’s lowest branches are actually about 2 feet off the ground!

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And, poor Horatio, on Wednesday morning.  I actually managed to get the van in the garage, for which I am very thankful!

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Anyway, I have lots of fun playing in the snow pictures to put up still, but I thought this progression of pictures was pretty cool, and the pictures that show just how deep it really was!  Pretty crazy stuff!  Coming, someday, the pictures of us actually enjoying the snow and the snow days! :)

Friday, February 04, 2011

Snow Day Fun

Unless you've been living in a news-free cave for the last week, you know about the blizzard (yes, that's right a blizzard) that hit Central MO on Tuesday. 18 inches of snow later, plus 20+ mph winds, and we were stuck in the house A LOT for the last few days. We actually had a good time, and I managed to capture a few minutes of Laney-Audrey happy time... that is, the time when they actually play together without Laney getting mad and whacking Audrey for touching her toy, or Audrey jamming a finger in Laney's eye/mouth/nose, or pulling Laney's hair. I treasure the time they spend playing together, and can only hope that happy-time increases as Audrey gets older, and better able to really play, instead of just pester! :) She does think her big sister is the coolest thing EVER, though...

Anyway, without further ado... the videos
(Please don't judge me on the state of my living room floor... again, 2 grown ups and 2 small children, locked inside for a good 72 hours)

The pack and play was a lifesaver... it served as a baby gate, to keep Audrey out of the kitchen when we had the dog in, and to keep Audrey away from Laney for 5 minutes so Ruth or I could do something else. Of course, Laney had to get in it, too, much to Audrey's delight...

So, this is the comforter that Jess & Mike got Laney for Christmas. For some reason, Audrey LOVES it, she can't get enough of it and will just bury her face in it. Anyway, Laney decided to join in on the fun...

I have lots of pictures of the snow (like everyone else!) and I will post them soon, just thought I'd throw in these three videos first. We had fun... we are sure glad to be out now!