Be careful what you wish for

Okay, so I know in my previous post I was beyond thrilled at the idea of snow... but that was before we got completely buried under it. I spent a good two hours shoveling on Friday (luckily now the dh is home to pick up the slack) and can barely see the street over the mountain of snow in our yard. Seriously. It was a bit too cold & windy on Friday for the boy to have much fun - he insisted on shoveling with his gloves off & kept falling into the deep snow pits that were already up to his waist (I am thinking at this point he could get completely buried). I had to banish him to the house while I finished shoveling & he kept staring at me through the front window with a flashlight up to his face (he uses the flashlight to detect and scare away monsters). I grunted away, hefting the heavy snow from the bottom of the driveway while my neighbors made easy work with their snow blowers. Apparently I was not quite damsel-in-distress enough to require assistance.
We had a break in the snow Saturday & headed out for some sledding. Paul braved the hill several times alone & only face-planted once. Now we are back to blizzard-like conditions. Sigh. & are due to appear at a family party once Paul wakes up. Can't disappoint the boy (Santa will be there) or Grandma. Sigh. Hopefully we will make it there & back in one piece.

SNOW DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is 7:00 in the morning & I just found out that we are having a snow day. Wooo-hooo! Not a flake has fallen from the sky - but it is supposed to be a doozy of a storm today, so I am happy to stay home and watch it from the window instead of being stuck on the highway trying to get home from school. Hopefully CJ will make it back okay this evening (his job is about 20 minutes away). I am excited to finally get Paul out in the snow to actually play in it. Up till now we have had several mild snowfalls (1-3 inches) that melted quickly. What kind of winter is that!?!? We did take him sledding one day, but the temperature was in the teens so we only stayed about 10 minutes. And even then you could see the grass poking up through the snow. Sad. One of my fondest childhood winter memories is taking our sleds to the school parking lot across the street. The snowplows would push the snow into these massive piles and we would sled down the truck-made hills for hours. The best was when you would hit the section at the bottom and go flying down onto the pavement. Good times.
For now, I need to wait for the almost-winter-solstice-darkness to end before we can do anything fun. Oh, and for some snow to fall. heehee.

Christmas card rejects

It took thirty shots to get a good picture of Paul for the Christmas card. Thank goodness for digital cameras!! Here are some of the rejects that are classic Paul.

Distracted

"NO!"

"CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESE"

"Mommy, why don't we sing instead. Head, shoulders..."

The Scream









The Goofball

My Christmas Top Ten

10. Emmett Otter's Jug Band Christmas ("Lookit the birds up in the trees" "We're not birds, we're a jug band!")
9. Turning used wrapping paper rolls into do-duh-do's
8. Busting out the Christmas Cd's
7. How the Grinch Stole Christmas ("It came without ribbons! It came without tags! It came without packages, boxes or bags!)
6. Ben the gargoyle in his Santa hat & scarf
5. Reflecting on years past via Christmas ornaments
4. Watching Heath make a mad dash for the tree skirt
3. Speculaas (traditional Dutch cookies... spicy!)
2. Candlelight service on Christmas Eve
1. Helping Paul create his top ten list (so far his favorite thing was hanging candy canes on the tree... he had to go get a chair to reach "way way up there")