Snow!

I grew up in a place where we rarely had snow. In fact, when it did snow - tiny little flakes that melted as soon as they hit the ground - we stopped everything we were doing to go "play" in it. I remember once in high school, getting dismissed early from an English class to go stand in the "snow". If we wanted actual snow, we drove about an hour away and played up on the mountain. I liked this. I prefer this. I don't like snow. Or winter. I've had people ask me things like, 'How could you stand growing up in Vegas, you don't have seasons?'. Well, you know what I've learned? I don't like seasons. I like having two seasons: warm and hot. Unfortunately, Justin is a man who loves his seasons and doesn't like the blistering heat. This means that I will probably never again live in a land where the low is in the 50's (sad). So even though I don't like it, I've adjusted to life in the snow.

You've probably figured out by now that it has been snowing here. The first time it snowed it wasn't too bad. It didn't stick (a.k.a. - it wasn't super cold and I didn't have to shovel the driveway). Noah and Enoch were so excited that they literally couldn't wait to play in it (I caught them outside in the snow with no shoes). So we quickly remedied the situation by putting on snowclothes.
I took all these pictures from inside the house. These boys might have been excited about playing outside, but I sure wasn't!

Noah kept loosing his gloves. He also lost a boot (with the sock still inside). He came in the house with the reddest, coldest foot ever.


After that day, it all went downhill fast. I've since had to start shoveling the driveway. If you're wondering how shoveling the snow makes me feel...
...it's not good. But I gear up, layer on the clothing, and start shoveling what seems like the longest driveway in Vermont (snow makes me dramatic).
Attractive, I know. Not many people can rock the "stay-puff-marshmellow-man-shoveling-snow" look. I may seem kind of whiny about the snow, but I actually don't mind the shoveling too much for three reasons: 1. Justin is always so appreciative. I like being able to do this for him. 2. It's a pretty decent workout. My thighs and arms kill worse than going to the gym by the time I'm done. 3. The kids (usually) don't come out with me. I can be alone with my thoughts!

Yesterday, after shoveling, the boys came outside eager to help me. I am typically not in any hurry for them to be teenagers, but it will be nice to have two strapping young men to rake leaves and shovel snow.
They had no coats on, and Noah is wearing rain boots instead of snow boots, but they wanted so badly to shovel that I caved and gave them each a shovel and let them go to town on the front lawn.


Noah's an animal! Check that out! Maybe this year I will let him start helping me!

After a while I was freezing and had to go inside. The boys were NOT happy about this. So we compromised and they got to go play in the backyard. Noah didn't last too long (he was cold) so he came inside to help me make dinner:
Clayton, however, stayed outside for over an hour (and still got angry when I made him come inside). It was dark and really cold by the time he came in and his poor face was as red as could be!
I am not a fan of the snow and may be the only person alive who's not 'dreaming of a white Christmas'. There's only one reason I can tolerate this type of weather:
Warm, thick, wintery comfort food (like my chicken noodle soup with homemade basil noodles and a festive roll wreath).

Yum. As far as I can tell, this is the best part of winter.

Point is: snow's here. It's officially winter and the weather right now is saying that it's 4 degrees outside but feels like -14. I'm ready to hybernate.