Day 5

Well, we woke up this morning to a whole 9 degrees outside. Of course, Katie was out of school again, so we had class in the Dining Room today. We reviewed sight words and math problems. After the review, I gave her a quiz. She did pretty good. I had her write two stories that I started and read her books aloud.  If you can imagine, Katie had to dress up for homeschool every morning this week.  The dress included her Minnie Mouse ears or one of her headbands. 


While we did classwork, Doug stayed busy cleaning off the driveway. It still had some ice on it. After all of Katie's studies, she was ready to release some steam. She got all coated up and outside we went. I was telling Doug yesterday how I don't ever remember seeing snow on the ground for 5 solid days. And I know I've never been out of school for a solid week like Katie because of the snow and ice. Our neighbor told me, while she was driving down the highway it reminded her of when she lived in Indiana because of all the dirty snow on the sides of the road.

Katie wanted to go for a hike outside. I grabbed the camera and outside we went on an adventure. One of our neighbors has a huge hill and Katie had a blast trying to climb up and slide down the hill. I had fun taking snow photos of my little snow bunny.






We actually reached a balmy 41 degrees this afternoon.  It was nice to see the sun out all day, instead of a peek every now and then.  The high temps with the help from the sun, a lot of ice and snow melted.  Don't get me wrong, we still have quite a bit of ice and snow for tomorrow. 

Once Doug got all the ice off of our driveway, we loaded up and went for a drive in town. We were running low on food, so we ended up at Walmart. This may sound a little dramatic, but hey it's me. Looking out the window onto all the lawns of white snow, it was beautiful.  Have you ever seen snow that's beginning to melt?  With the sun shining down, it has this diamond glisten to it.  As we were driving, it was as if God dressed the dirty, ugly, dead ground with a beautiful silk cloth.  The most delicate, expensive, white silk that you would find a bride wearing on the day of her wedding. 

Walmart was full of cabin fever survivors.  I don't think they were able to replenish their shelves because it still looked bare.  The most crowded aisles were the snacks and chips.  LOL!  Why is it when you are stranded at home, the only food items that's appealing are unhealthy?  Of course, we ran into a few people that we knew.  Millard and Peggy were there, so Katie went with them shopping.  Later, they came by the house and picked a few clothes for Katie and took her home with them.  HAHA!  I know it was a treat for Katiebug.  She took an armful of dolls and a couple of movies that she wanted to watch with her grandparents. 

We are expecting some warmer temperatures this weekend.  Rain is supposed to be coming in on Monday or Tuesday, but I'm already hearing threats of snow flurries by the end of the week.  I don't think it will be anything big. 

Four days later and I'm still at home with the kids. So many neighbors and people I know have griped and complained about being stranded at home or having all the snow. So, I won't say a word (bad) about our situation. We are just trying to make the best of it.

Katie hasn't returned to school this whole week. I let her have Monday and part of Tuesday off, playing and acting silly. Yesterday and today, I set up a classroom on our Dining Room table. We went over her sight words and I tried to help her in pronouncing her "wh" "th" "ou" and "sh" words. I've noticed in the past, she wants to sound them out individually. As you know, doing this makes the word sound nothing like it is spelled. I know it will come in time, but I'm just trying to help her in the long run. I know that Mrs. M wanted to introduce addition to the class this month. I thought it would keep Katie busy to write out a sheet full of math problems. I had her exercise how to read the problem and then figure it out by counting on her fingers. She was doing fabulous until I made my answers go past 11. Ugh! I think I have some hair left from this morning. Have you ever tried teaching your child to continue counting on their fingers past 10? I guess they figure, well I don't have any more fingers so the answer is 10. Ugh! Once I got Katie to start all over on the first hand, in order to count to 13. She got that down pat, but when it came to finding out the total. All she could see was 8 fingers in front of her face, so she would answer 8 instead of 13. I feel sorry for Mrs. M. Surely, she's got a better way of teaching a 5 year old to add past 10 than I do. Saying all this, Katie did good overall in her addition. She just has to practice. I had her read her new school books, which have harder words. Another hurdle to jump over, but she doesn't see it that way. She gets very frustrated if she gets stuck on a word.

We still have snow and ice on the ground. We are at the point where what snow the sun melts, it freezes overnight with temps in the lower to mid teens. We've got salt on our driveway, but there is still one large section of ice that stretches across our driveway. I stepped on it this morning, taking mail to the mailbox, and yeah slipped there a little bit. Thankfully, I recovered my balance and made it over to the hard icy snow. If Katie does go outside for a little bit, I remind her to stay off the sidewalk and driveway. Basically, I try to keep the kids inside. Colton's developed a cold from all of this, so I don't let him out at all.

We haven't developed cabin fever yet, but we are driving each other a little batty. Katie and I are keeping each other occupied by playing Wii. I try to do a little more effort, in hopes to keep my body moving. Katie has found a new love other than Swordplay, she has discovered Cycling. She loves it! This is good because she is jumping around and moving her arms and legs. It really wears her out and me too. I thought that if she liked cycling so well, maybe she would like boxing as well. I love boxing! Nope, I was wrong. Actually, she doesn't like being knocked out. Good Sportsmenship is another thing I have to teach Katie. She doesn't like losing to any game. When we first starting the Wii, sure I let her win. Later, I got to thinking that I might be doing the wrong thing. If she loses at a game with someone else, how would she react? Plus, I hope it challenges her to try better and harder. I've explained to her that I'm older and know how to do some things a lot better than she. She doesn't like it, but she's got to learn. I know I sound like such a bully. I hate it because I want her to win and yeah there are times where I decrease my effort, just so she might win.

Until then, I'll be here watching my chickficks and playing games. See ya!

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I think I finally went to bed around midnight or so.  I'm like a kid when we have storms of any kind, too excited to think about sleep.  I kept people updated during the night as far as how many inches we were receiving. 

This morning, I was the first to go out and survey all the snow accumulation.  HAHA! Actually, I knew we would need our thermals, blue jeans and lots of sweatshirts washed.  I just thought, since I was bundled up anyway, I'll go check it out and take a few pictures.  Overall, we measured anywhere between 5-6 inches of snow and our drifts measured between 7-9 inches.  There is a nice sheet of ice on top of the white fluffy snow.  Of course, under the snow it seems to be another thin sheet of ice.  So, everyone has to be very careful today as they get around.  It is so beautiful and peaceful outside.  Walking around in the deep snow, I could see evidence of bunnies out, probably looking for food and shelter.  I took a picture of one area where they dug by a tree, I suppose to get down to the grass.  It is very cold out, so you can't stay outside for very long.  It didn't take Katie very long, when she got up, to get her clothes on and ready to be apart of this miraculous and historic event.  Right off the bat, she wanted to make a snowlady and snow angels.  It was a little hard for her to make the snow angels because of the ice on top, but she was able to do it.  The snowlady wasn't as bad, it just took some time.  Time that Katie felt she didn't have because her fingers were so cold.  Now, I've never lived up North, so my snowman building skills are something I need to work on.  Saying that, I don't think I did half bad.  I know it's the tallest snowlady I've ever made before.  I'm sure if I wanted to stay outside a little longer, she could have been much bigger.  However, Katie thinks she perfect and with all of her accessories, she is the snowlady with the most style on the block.  LOL! 





 

At noon, the temperature got to 33 degrees, so the snow on top of trees and houses seem to be melting just a little bit.  Tonight that won't be so great when the temp dips down into the teens.  I have a feeling no one will be able to go anywhere tomorrow as well.  Further North of us, it is even worse with lots more ice and snow.  Our friend from Florence received approximately 10 inches of snow and Huntsville is reporting anywhere between 8-10 inches.  All the major roads are closed for non-emergency vehicles and the road departments are very busy clearing the roads and spreading salt.  Of course, Doug is home today, but he's already thinking that he may not be able to make it to work tomorrow.  The meterologist are saying with all the snow and ice that it will be several days before the snow will leave, especially with us not getting much warmer anytime soon. 

Meanwhile, Katie and I baked some chocolate chip cookies and the menus for tonight's supper will be baked Tilapia, baked potato and salad. Yum! Y'all stay warm!

All of today's pictures will be on a separate post from Shutterfly. Enjoy!

A few last minute photos ~ 4 inches of snow on our back porch ~ at 11:30PM.  I've enjoyed watching the snow fall and accumulate on our lawn.  I've got to go to bed.  I've been watching the chat room in Huntsville and thus far they've received close to 8 inches of snow and it's still coming down.  Whoo Hoo!

A live U-Stream video from Huntsville WHNT 19.

FUN!  We just thought a White Christmas was awesome and a wonderful gift, we are expected to receive anywhere between 4-8 inches of snow between tonight and tomorrow.  YAY!  Doug measured our snow level at 10PM and we show to have received 3 inches of snow already and it started snowing at 6PM.  It's suppose to snow all night into tomorrow.  Areas south of us are to expect most of the ice along with the snow.  I think there will be ice and freezing rain as far as Mobile.  The news has been reporting some travel problems and wrecks in Birmingham area.  The State started closing roads and overpasses as early as 8PM because of the ice and snow.  Lots of area schools and businesses have gone ahead and closed for tomorrow.  As soon as I told Katie that she was out of school at 5PM, she began dancing and screaming.  Shocked, I asked her that I thought she liked school.  She said that she does, but she gets to stay home and play in the snow tomorrow.  HAHA! 

Some people really hates snow, well I'm not one of those people.  I LOVE SNOW!!  I think it's because we don't get to see it much.  The last time we've had a BIG snow storm like this was in 1993.  I remember drifts of snow that were as high as my head and I'm 5' 7".  It was great!  At the time, I was working part time at Bookland aka Books a Million and going to college.  Now, I get to watch my children build their own memories. 

Katie was biting at the bit, wanting to get out in the snow.  We bundled both kids up real good and let them get out in it for approximately 2-3 minutes.  It began snowing around 6PM and we let them out in the snow by 8PM.  They had a ball.  This was Colton's first time to actually get to play in the snow.  I think he liked it a lot because he didn't want to come back in the house.  In the house, he kept pointing to outside and talking jibber.  Of course, Katie had to make a snow angel and throw snow balls to Colton and her daddy.  We had to get on to her because she was throwing the snow right in Colton's face.  Of course, she thought it was hilarious.  SIBLINGS!  I hope you enjoy the pictures.  We'll have lots more in the morning.  I can't wait to see how much we'll end up having. 

I want to tell you, I had to get a few groceries Thursday night and yeah there were quite a few people inside Walmart, but the shelves were still stocked pretty good.  Friday, I took Katie to Walmart to do a little shopping (as a reward for such good DIBELS scores).  The crowd wasn't that bad and the shelves were still stocked.  Yesterday, Doug and I went to see my niece play ball.  On the way home, Doug mentioned that we were low on milk.  So, we wheeled into Walmart's parking lot.  OMGosh!  Doug ended up dropping me off at the door.  I grabbed a gallon of milk, bread, lunch meat and some junk food because it just goes great with a snow storm.  I mostly grabbed things that I knew the kids liked to eat.  Looking around, I was so shocked how empty the shelves were of EVERYTHING.  And the people that were crawling all over the place grabbing and snatching food and drinks.  It's amazing. 

Pictures are supplied by Shutterfly in the post below.
:)

We had a lovely white Christmas this morning. I would show you pictures, but unfortunately Blogger has informed me today that I've met my 1 GB storage file. I've checked into the matter and if I delete any of my photos from the Picasa albums, they will also delete from my blog. Ugh! :( I really want my pictures on my posts, so one day to publish my stories and pictures for my children. I suppose I'll have to hurry up and get this journal printed a whole lot sooner than I first thought. Thank goodness for our photosite, Phanfare. For those of you that have access to my file, that is where you'll find the great Christmas pictures until I can get Blogger fixed. If you would like to have access to my photosite (close friend or family members only), please leave me a comment. I also post pictures on Facebook.

Meanwhile, I'll have to tell you the stories without the photos. Last night, our family on my side came over for our annual Christmas Eve party. I think everyone had a great time, I know I did. We did the buffet style with a choice of turkey or ham sandwiches with all the fixin's and desserts galore. Oh my gosh, the stuff that the kids received. Katie kept telling me how awesome everything was that she received. There wasn't one thing she didn't like. In fact, there was a time where she had to disappear, to try things on. She went with her grandparents to see "Tangled" the other day, so Rapunzel is the new thing. What a great surprise for her that she was given a few Rapunzel items. Again, she kept telling me how nice everything was.

We took the opportunity to visit with family members that we haven't seen in awhile. Of course, I made sure that no one got too bored or stayed still for too long. We always have food and drinks for everybody to nibble on. The big entertainment was the Wii "Just Dance" and "Resort". Doug got some video of Susan and Maryann dancing. I took a few photos of our competitors. LOL! Everybody was laughing including the two competitors. It was a lot of fun. Once all of us ladies were wore out from dancing, we pulled out the Resort. Katie absolutely loves to play "Swordplay". It's her favorite and she will beat the pants off of you. You don't have to give her a chance, she doesn't give you the opportunity. I'm trying to teach her to be a good sport when playing games of any kind. Like any kid, she doesn't like to lose. Most of the time, she'll tell you "oh yeah, you just wait. I'll beat you up!" She is quite competitive and actually won a few matches with my sisters and nephew, playing Swordplay. HAHA! Maryann was really trying to win, but walked away with her head hanging low in the end. LOL! I'm just kidding. Actually, I think she was rather surprised how well Katie plays this game. Oh and Katie gets with it. I mean, she jumps up and down as she gets closer to the television. I've had to really talk with her about getting so close because I'm scared that she'll get carried away and end up beating up the TV. My favorite is "Just Dance". You dance your bottom off, but it's a lot of fun. Katie doesn't like playing it with me because I normally score higher than her. LOL! I'll try to have photos and videos posted very soon on Phanfare.

This morning, I was shocked because of all the white on the ground. It snowed most of the day today. We were kind of wondering if we were going to be snowed in because Doug noticed that the snow was sticking to our street, which concerned us both. We had planned to visit Doug's parents for the day. Around noon, the snow began to melt a little, it was wet snow. We tried to keep Katie out of it for as long as we could. She changed clothes so fast this morning that I didn't get to take my Christmas morning picture with her and Colton in front of the tree. She thought we would allow her to go out and play in it. Not hardly. We stuck to the plan, getting ready to head out. Believe it or not, we drove out of here on time, very carefully. His parents live more up on a mountain than we do, so there was a whole lot more snow than at our place. I took a measuring stick and it showed that they received between 3 1/2 - 4 inches of snow. It was pretty much still there when we left tonight.  We gave in and let Katie run around and make Snow Angels.  She had a blast until she began to get cold, in the house she went.  You don't have to tell her twice. 

God has blessed us so much that my cup is overflowing. I could go on and on about all the people and things He has allowed us to come into contact. I wouldn't know where to start and I'm afraid Google would cut me off for not having enough storage space before I could get to the end. Bottomline, Jesus is the greatest gift of all! You can receive all the material items that you could possibly want, but in the end it's worthless. Christ is everything! We try to instill this philosophy to our children. I think Katie and Colton had a wonderful Christmas experience this year and I hope you did as well. 

Love you and Merry Christmas!

The snow continues to come down.  If I had to guess, I would say that we got close to an inch and a half. 



It's a very wet and messy snow. 







Our neighbor tried getting out for a brief moment.
Most everything is covered here.




The snow is so heavy, it's weighing down our pine tree.

Here are a few pictures of the snow, we receive this morning. The temperature wants to stay around 34-35 degrees. It's a very wet snow this time.
The snow continues to come down in big flakes and heavy from time to time. According to Mickey F., Meteorologist, he predicts it will snow most of the day. The temperatures are suppose to rise up into the 40s, so the white stuff won't last very long.  Maybe this will be our Winter finale and allow the rest of the month be more Spring like weather.  Meteorologist are already predicting the upper 60s here for next weekend.  And people wonder why there is so much sickness?  LOL! 

I just can't come up with that perfect title today because so much went on today. First, I've got to ask you. What will a woman suffering from severe cabin fever do on a snowy day? She gets out on the snowy roads, while it's nice and wet in 29 degree weather. LOL!

For the past couple of days, we were forecasted to receive a dusting to 1 inch of snow. They said the snow would begin at 4 AM this morning. How disappointed I was to wake up at 6 AM to no snow. About an hour later, it made it's appearance but not too hard. By 9:30 AM, the snow was here and let everyone know it.