Snow!!!! (LOTS of pictures-sorry, I just couldn't help myself)

We have had LOTS of snow this year! It has been deeper and lasted longer than I can remember ever before.

Snow around here usually doesn't amount to much and is usually gone by the next day. It's not usually good for snowball fights or building snowman-sometimes we can get some snow ice cream out of it. Last year, we got one snow that we were able to play in for a little while (not long because of the wind). The year before, the wind was blowing so hard that we couldn't go out at all and when the wind stopped, the snow melted before we could get out in it. Mostly, we get ice instead of snow.

This year, though, we have already had 2 BIG snowstorms and one that was pretty but didn't last long.

The first one was began on Christmas Eve. We had to cancel our Christmas Eve church service, dinner at Hunan's, and driving around looking at lights in our P.J.'s because of the ice and snow. We thought we were going to have to cancel our trip to visit our families in McAlester, too. But the sun came out on Christmas Day and we were able to make it-slowly. Daniel had to literally dig us out of our driveway!

Here are some of the pictures we took on the way to McAlester.

The snow from Christmas Eve lasted a long time! At first it was mostly ice, so we couldn't really play in it. It finally warmed up enough to soften it up and the kids were able to play it in for a while-wasn't too good for making snowmen though. These pictures are from January 2. I can't remember a time, ever, that snow has been on the ground that long! It was amazing!

We got another round January 28. It was forecast to be worse than the one on Christmas Eve. Daniel was gone to El Paso for the week. Since we were supposed to loose power,-leaving me with 4 kids, no heat, water, or electricity (TV or video games)-I loaded up the kids and took them to my mom's in McAlester. We ended up not losing power at our house, but better safe than sorry. Here are some of the pictures that Daniel got on the way back.

That's ICE on the trees. Very pretty, but not good news for the trees.

This is a pretty view even without the ice on the bridge. Love it!
Can you tell how hard the wind was blowing? Those icicles are crazy!

The girls had to go back to school on February 1. While they were gone, Landon and I were able to get out and build a little snowman. He had a blast!

The next day, the girls got in on the action after school. Sierra and Cheyenne built their own snowman. It was huge! They had to have Daniel come out and stack the middle and head on for them because they were so heavy.

We got another little snow this week on Monday. It didn't stay around though. It was mostly gone before the girls got out of school.

I love snow! It's so nice to sit by the window and watch the snow falling outside. I love the sound it makes when you walk on it (especially when it's just snow and no ice). But, I think I've had enough for one year. I'm ready for Spring!