Snow Rangers and a Polar Bear Bath

So today was the 4th snow day in a row.  I technically could have gone to work today, but classes were canceled and I chose to stay home with Crazy Cakes instead.  We wasted no time getting started with our day.  Bright and early we were up AND DRESSED in real clothes.   I was working on the attic craft space and Lylah was writing a story.  I wrote down her dictation and apparently the world is full f carnage today.  One piece of a story was quite tragic yet told in a very mater of fact way as follows:  "Well the baby kitten was yelling and she said, 'help! help! I am stuck inside a Loin's mouth!'  Then her Grandma came and helped her out of the lion.  Then they cooked her up in a soup.  Why?  Well, because had been inside the lion's mouth and she had already been chewed...."  There several stories involving coyotes on top of "pyramints" and how jump on you when you look up just like the Woozles in Winnie the Pooh.  And they went on and on. She has been very interested in stories and learning to read and writing her own books and drawing the pictures.  It was so cute and a fun look into her thought processes and development.
After out writing and un-cleaning we got bundled up, gathered snow man supplies and trekked out into the 14 inches of snow to make a snow Lylah.  But it has been very windy and the snow was no good for snow building.  So she made a quick SNOW RANGER and then we changed the plans.

What a cute snow ranger!

I gathered up three giant tubs of snow to turn our bathtub into a sensory table.  I had intended to bring in tubs of snow and let her play with it in the dining room, but Aunt Lori told me that a friend had brought it in and put it in the tub.  I find that idea brilliant!  It just melts away and the mess is gone.  Genius!
So she squirted blue water into the snow and learned how to such water into a medicine dropper and built snow castles.  She even got in in her snow bibs that Grandma Jones gave her.  She had lots of fun, but decided that she better stop and help me make snow Ice Cream.  So we did.

This is the crazy face I get most every time I pull out the camera.

One last look at our snow castle.  Lylah says it looks like the one at Disney world and oh how she would love to see it for real.

Snow ice Cream:
Pile of snow in a bowl
dollop of Sweetened Condensed Milk
Stir and enjoy---I think it tastes a lot like home made ice cream.  Icy and rich.

These pictures are in order of how they happened.  The last one of her with a cold face was not posed (although it looks like I told her to do it).  She had just eaten too much too fast and frozen her little teeth or mouth.  She also told me how I was the best mommy in the world and I got several kisses.  Maybe this is like me needing to hug people when I find a splendid antique or button.

Well that's our snow day!

Wish Granted!

I am doing the no school dance (since they called it off tonight instead of waiting for tomorrow morning) and getting ready to watch Emma since I have no NEED to go to bed.  We have no school and we HAVE power in spite of snow and a little ice.  I love snow days!  Yippee!!

 

Our little snowman got a bit more snow.  If you look back at the post where he was pictured for the first time you can see that he has about a foot of drifted snow all around his bottom half.  

It looks like something is looking at me from the porch with glowing eyes...do you see it.  I was almost wigged out,  but then I remembered that Glen's tennis shoes are on the porch and my flash was hitting the reflectors.  Whew!! 

On to Emma...Don't you just love Masterpiece Theater!? Thanks PBS on line and my dear friend Amy for telling me I could see it that way.  I am happy not to have cable, but some things I really don't want to miss.  Glad to have friends in the know.  Emma, here I come.

Light Dusting of Snow...

Friday's forecast said a light dusting of snow was expected.  After about an hour of sleet and big snow flakes and then almost white-out conditions and a lot of snow accumulation, the forecast was changed...Winter Weather Advisory.  School was called off early for the day and the roads were slick. I drove a lot in them.  Skidded right past the entrance to work in slow motion.    But the snow was BEAUTIFUL.  It was fluffy and covered everything like a cotton batting.  By the time I got home, the temp was rising and the 5 to 6 inches of snow on the ground was perfect for snowman building.

  We live on a very busy street and they plow it well, eventually, but they always plow our driveway closed.  Since we drive  a car with no ground clearance and cannot power over the mountain of snow, there is no way to get in unless I shovel the snow wall away. (Lylah helped do the top of the drive with a spoon.  Very excited to be so grown up.)

After I shoveled the drive so I could pull the car in, we made a snowman.

 

He had shrub clippings for hair, Lylah's broken sunglasses for eyes, a carrot nose(of course), and a stylish scarf ( tied on the way Oprah told us all to do)

 

I stuck the nose in and she got a nibble (2 really) stinker!

 

She shook its hand

 

She kissed it.

 

She stood by it for 1/4 second

 

She finally chose to allow the frozen strawberries we brought outside for the mouth to be placed on the snowman.

 

Then she thought she better eat the berries instead.

This is how the snowman looked on Saturday.  A little bit tired.

I wish I had pictures of all the snowmen around town.  There seemed to be one in every other yard.

We are now getting ready for a snow and ice storm to begin late tonight and get worse as the day goes on tomorrow.  I am hoping for it to be bad enough to call off school on Monday but not bad enough to loose power.  

Fingers crossed!!

Snow Cute

The snow is finally melting around here.  I was looking outside today and I had forgotten how wide our sidewalks really are.  Since Christmas we have had a snow shovel sized walkway only.  But now we can walk on the muddy sidewalks again.  A few days ago Lylah and our babysitter built a snowman and decorated him with all of the goodies Lylah picked up on their walk.  He has "pokey balls" for hair, which I think are from the sweetgum tree.  I love the way it looked!  Lylah was very proud of it.  She showed me as soon as I came home from work.  We had done a project at school spraying the snow with colored water and it was a big hit.  I brought the bottles home for Lylah to give it another go.
Here is a little video of Lylah spraying her snowman.



You may not be able to hear her say it, but when she sprays the snowman blue she says, "Now Blue, Mama, Now Blue Mouth...perfect."  Everything is perfect.  It's so funny. I hear myself saying things are perfect all the time.  Hmm doesn't Martha say "perfect" an awful lot too?  Maybe we are becoming one.  *snapping my fingers and coming back to reality* Where was I?  Oh yes...Lylah has also started to say "of course" instead of yes.  Do you want to get up?  "oh, of course."  How about carrot sticks and peanut butter?  "oh, of course"  Do you need to go potty? " of course"  She also has been saying she wants to " have a go," which in The Queen's English, means "have a turn".  I think she is secretly British.  Or maybe it's too much Kipper the Dog.  I also find myself speaking a little British after a crafting session and another viewing of P&P.   "Shelves in the closet.  Happy thought, indeed!"  I just can't craft without Mr Darcy and Miss Elizabeth Bennet and, my favorite, Mr Collins.  I can work under other conditions, mind you, I just don't want to.

 

Oh No!!!!  I was going to post a clip of Kipper here.  I tried to get one off YouTube where she has seen all the videos.   All the videos are GONE because of copyright laws.  I am afraid the smiling face you see here  will be a bit upset when she finds out.    Me too!  You should see her little smile as she enjoys the dogs and their fun.  I love Kipper!  Oh, the sadness!  ( I am over-using exclamation marks here to display my deep sadness over the loss of my dear friend, Kipper. I am usually opposed to the over-use, feeling that a period often conveys the proper feeling and emotion. But sometimes the frenzy of the moment calls for exclamation.)  Oh my, I should stop now.  I seem to be getting a little silly.  Who needs to hear my rambelings about punctuation or Mr Darcy or Martha Stewart.  I am simply too sleepy.  This is the post you get when I need to rest.  If you were here with me I would be a laughing mess.  Slap-Happy, if you will.  I'll try again tomorrow when I might be more sane!!! ( notice my use of the exclamation mark---laughing hard to myself)
Click here to see the only Kipper I could find.    It has all the favorites:  Kipper, Tiger, Pig, and Arnold.  Not Lylah's favorite episode, but still a good one.

"oh the weather outside is frightful..."

OK, here is a bit more snow.  Look at the precious star-like snow flakes!  I was awe of them for quite a while getting out of the car after church yesterday.  The whole yard sparkled like diamonds.  The snow is very wind-blown, dry and crunchy.  It is pretty even though it is no good for a snowman.  Our weather forecast says snow and bitter cold again for this week too.  It's not fun to walk on or drive on and the wind is horrid...but it's pretty.  Remember a few months ago when I loved the fall so much?  Well I have to admit that I love the winter too.  And, you guessed it, when spring comes around I will love that too.  I am alright with summer, but I seriously HATE to sweat.  I love gardens and produce and sitting on the porch, but geesh, the heat has got to tone down a bit.  I guess that's why I am not in Florida...can't stand the sweat.

Any who, I am cozied up (because for all my talk of a pretty winter...it's seriously, seriously cold) and I am planning some big time crafting for tonight.  I will post it tomorrow.  Getting excited to get to work!

Did someone say snow?

Since my little family has been getting quite a bit of snow as of late, I thought it might be fun to share my new knowledge on the topic.
     Grandma and Grandpa Jones have TV, so when Lylah goes to visit she usually gets so see a show or two on Nick Jr.  One of the ones she has seen lately is Ni Hao Kai-Lan.  The best way for me to describe her is, "The Chinese Dora the Explorer."  But I find her more tolerable because she does not scream at you the whole time.  She does have freakishly gigantic eyes where her cheeks should be, but some how she is less offensive to me.  That was until she began teaching kids to use bad language.

Observe: 
See what I mean!!?
I laughed and laughed.  This is how you say snow in Chinese.  I love how she waits for you to repeat her.  Yeah!!  We covered the hill with sh%@.  Good thing it wasn't Dora asking the kids to scream it.  I saw this clip on a blog recently (I would give credit if  could remember where it was due).

I thought maybe I might be in  a silly mood and maybe it would not be funny again...but it was!!!
We are up to our eyes in Sh#@ here in the Midwest.  There was Sh#@ all over the car when we left our movie tonight.  It was fun for a while, but now I am ready to be able to walk to my car without fear of slipping on the permafrost.  Oh, Ha, Ha... I thought of another one.  Tired of shoveling the Sh%@ too.  Oh, I could go on, but you get the point.  Good times!

Snow and Song, a Video

Here is my snow video of Lylah in the big snow.