Snowpocalypse

Recently, we had our second snow this winter and according to the locals it was one of those once-in-a-decade-or-more events. Actually, they say snow at all is one of those rare events let alone snow on Christmas followed a couple of weeks later by ~7 inches. As the weathermen made the predictions, schools shut down before the storm even arrived and everyone made a mad dash to the grocery store to get their milk and bread. A friend of ours took a picture at Publix and the bread shelves are literally empty. Every one of them! (But there were still some tortillas) The best part, to us anyway, was the fact that the snow stayed around for several days. School was cancelled for 3 days and I got 2 days off from work! Woo hoo!

We took a lot of good pictures so that's what this post is mostly about. But first, here's a shot we took shortly before the world tried to end.

I like this picture because it was taken on one of those nice evenings when we were enjoying being outdoors and the neighbor kids were all playing together. That kind of thing never happened in Las Cruces. Maybe it's because everyone's house is surrounded by a rock wall. We all had a lot of fun that night. But I don't know why Hunter is kissing the Titan. I like it too, but that's a little extreme.

And then it snowed!

Dana broke out here not-used-since-the-80's snow gear and I provided the musical accompaniment by singing the Flashdance song every chance I got. I tried to get her to do the fast foot shuffle dance thing but she refused.

Kids + snow = snow angels, every time

Cameron and Cade do the deed here. Dana made one too.

Cade couldn't wait to go sledding so while we waited for his brothers to get their act together. He would run and jump on the sled to slide across our yard. I just love this action shot.

The neighbors on both sides of us joined us for sledding on a hill near our house. The dads were acting like kids and the kids were having a ball. If you remember Dana's last sledding adventure (see our December 31, 2007 post) you'll know why she vowed to never touch a sled again. Fortunately, I was able to talk her into it one more time. Can you tell she's a little apprehensive here? This hill is NOTHING like Ron's Suicide Run at Inlow.

Cameron charging down the hill. Surprisingly, he was the first one to get cold and quit despite the fact that he was the only one with snow pants and boots on.

Kevin and Hunter tried to build an igloo. They managed to build the walls about a foot high before realizing how much work it is. They called it good at that.

After a full day of sledding, snowball fights and eating snow ice cream, we were treated to this spectacular sunset.

Day Two dawned bright and early and with it came the news that there would be no school or work for the second day in a row. Not surprisingly, Cade was begging to go out before the sun was fully up. Eventually, we made it outside and Dana laid down the law and told the kids everyone had to build a snowman of their own. And that's where things took a turn for the weird. You see, Kevin and Cameron had been reading my old Calvin & Hobbes comic books. Remember Calvin's snowgoons? They sure did.

It's a little hard to see but Kevin's snowman's head is lying on the ground while the arms are reaching up where the head should be. I have to give Kevin credit for taking the time to trim the branches to make the arms look right. And yes, the red paint is the snowman's blood.

Cameron built this grotesque scene. The snowman with the lopping shears stuck in his chest has an "x" for each eye as you'd expect. The other snowman's evil look leads me to assume he's the culprit.

Good ol' Cade made a regular snowman but he really liked the idea of using paint to make the snowman look better. He started with eyes, a mouth and a couple of buttons. Then he added some more buttons. Then some more. And then hair. And then more facial features...

Here's our complete snowfamily. Kevin and Cameron are hard at work on their creation in the background. How do you like Dana's stick snowwoman?

Remember the snowman lean from my last post? These snowmen were doing "the lean" just hours after being made. I'm telling you, there's a hit song and dance here if I can just figure it out.

Dana also made this caterpillar by the curb. Pretty cute.

More sledding. Kevin and Hunter on a small hill behind our house.

Cade catching maximum air off a 4" jump.

No joke, this boy would stay outside all day and night if we'd let him.

Later in the week, I got home from work just as the sun was setting. Dana told me Cade had been waiting outside for me because I had told him I'd try to come home early so we could play some more. Feeling a little guilty, I quickly changed and we hurried out the door to get a few sledding runs in before it got too dark. Fortunately, the sky was clear and the moon was out so we had plenty of light to continue playing even after the sun set. We had a great time and neither of us wanted to come in from our sledding in the moonlight adventure. That's a memory that will last a lifetime.

And finally, Cade bought some handcuffs (which he calls "cubbies" for some reason) at the store yesterday. I cuffed him to the oven handle. He thought it was pretty funny until I told him they broke and I couldn't get him out. He asked me to get some tools to get them off and I told him he'd have to wait until I finished fixing lunch because I couldn't leave the microwave unattended (chicken nuggets - that's about the best I can do so no comments!). He looked so sad and pitiful that I had to take a picture before telling him I was just kidding.

I thought it was funny.