A tiny snowman, a bigger snowman, and other snow fun

We're never quite sure how winter storms are going to go here. 

We were supposed to wake up to snow, but we didn't. And nothing was really cancelled yet, which felt logical given the acute lack of snow. But then Grandpa started getting worried about the potential sleepover he'd planned with the kids when it started snowing up at his place. So we adjusted those plans, which Phoebe found agonizingly disappointing. 

But then I looked out the window and saw that it was snowing here! 

"What are we doing moping about inside?" I asked. "It's snowing!!"

"It's not sticking," the kids moaned.

"This is Georgia!" I reminded them. "This may be as good as it gets, so if you want snow you'd better get out there!"

That actually cheered Phoebe up quite a bit. She stopped fussing and started getting ready to head outside. It was only lightly snowing and there wasn't much sticking around to speak of, but Alexander managed to scrounge up enough to make this tiny snowman (that Uncle Patrick said looked like a duck):

It is a true rival to this tiny snowman from 2014 (that's little Rachel):

Here's Alexander passing the snowman along to Phoebe in the present day:

Here's the little snowman getting a little kiss:

Here's Phoebe opening her mouth so wide to catch as many snowflakes as possible:

And this is what our little teeteer-totter looked like around 12:30 this afternoon when they cancelled church (clearly catastrophic amounts):

There's no real sense in getting frustrated over it. We'll just enjoy the extra time together. I'm actually still slated to give a lecture at Trinity Presbyterian tomorrow morning (they haven't cancelled their meetings yet), but now I technically won't have to miss a week of primary (even though I had a substitute lined up, of course).

How do I feel about speaking tomorrow? I'm super nervous, thanks for asking. But I'll be glad when it's over so that I can spend more time devoted to other projects.

Here's Phoebe trying to catch more snow on her tongue:

While we were busy playing in the front, snow had been "accumulating" (if you can call it that) in the back. Here's Zoë trying to make a snow angel:

And here are Alexander and Phoebe attempting snow angels:

Benjamin was supposed to have a swim meet today, but that was cancelled as well. So here he is joining Alexander outside. By this point the girls had given up and came inside for hot chocolate, so it was just the boys outside. Alexander was out there the whole entire day!

With the snow now coming down "hard," the boys were determined to make a bigger snowman.

...and they eventually succeeded:

Here are the youngest four with their snowman:

And here's Miriam with them—I pulled her up from the basement and made her come outside for our traditional picture with the snowman:

It's tradition! Here are the kids in 2022 with a snowman of similar girth:

Here's Phoebe taking a turn holding the snowman:

And here she is handing it back because it's cold (duh):

Here's Miriam, who claims to like the snow and cold (but who doesn't have me convinced):

After this the kids came inside to warm up and play some Minecraft. They went back outside (about 15 minutes later) when the neighbours came around knocking, though. By the time I had finally finished my manuscript for my presentation/lecture/talk tomorrow, Zoë and Phoebe were ready to come in for good. They settled in on the couch to watch Tangled:

Apropos of nothing, here is the cat enjoying one of the only floor registers in the house (the rest of our heating vents are either on the wall or ceiling):

Because I was finally finished writing my lecture, I asked Miriam to go for a walk with me. Benjamin and Alexander came along and played in the snow the whole way.

Here's Alexander stoping to make a few snow angels on the sidewalk:

Benjamin got a big fistful of snow and looked like he was going to drop it in Alexander's face while he was down. 

"Don't you dare," I warned. 

"Fine," Benjamin said.

And then he slammed himself in the face with the snow:

Later Alexander did give Benjamin permission to throw snow in his face...once (Benjamin did it three times...we've been having boundary issues lately).

Here's Alexander riding on a snow-horse (log):

And here's Alexander rather upset about that third snowball to the face, which he did not give Benjamin permission to do! (Though he did give me permission to take his picture).

Here's Benjamin with a "candy cane" that he found:

And here's Alexander making still more snow angels:

And here's Benjamin after having whitewashed himself again:

Those boys were so exhausted from spending such a long (and energetic) time in the snow! I don't even think either of them wound up with any hot chocolate (poor blokes).

We're very lucky to have gotten such a fun little flurry this year—I really wasn't sure we were going to wind up with any snow at all!