Blizzard remnants

So, I took a video a week after our "Blizzard." It showed how much ice was still left, etc. I cannot get the video to embed in this post because the file is too large. I don't not have the patience to figure out how to edit the video or post it elsewhere and link here. You will deal without the video to accompany this post! Sadly the post doesn't seem relevant or interesting or noteworthy without the video. Of course, I suppose it wouldn't be any of those things even with the video! This all happened in early February. I am just a smidge behind on my posts!

Turns out we lucked out in the blizzard department. We were predicted to have Monday freezing rain, then changing to sleet Tuesday and by Tuesday night and Wednesday up to 10 inches or so of snow. We had everything but the snow. Husband #1 flew out of town for California on Sunday midday and we had no idea this was even headed our way. They were predicting power outages due to iced power lines, being snowed, in, etc. There was even supposed to be THUNDER SNOW. Husband #1 and I decided this sounded more like a bad 80's band than a meteorological event. Thankfully it was nowhere near as bad (in our area) as they predicted. The kids' school prides themselves on hardly ever taking a snow day. They had two days in a row!! Unheard of!


Double A had just purchased her first CD (and with her own money). Wow was that great timing. I was trapped in a house with two kids for several days with no other adult contact listening to an endless loop of Taylor Swift. Even Bumblebee looked at me and said "Do we have to listen to it again?" There might have even been a point I was hoping for the power to go out so we could end the TS concert in our house!


So in the end...no power outages, no TS related murders, no snow but LOTS of ice. We had about 4 or more inches of solid ice on the ground. We got out and shoveled that weekend when it was cold but sunny. We had to hack at the ice with a garden hoe and then shovel it off into the yard. It was hard work because everything was so thick and the ice was so heavy. The kids took the chunks and used them for walls of a fort.


Over a week after the storm there was still ice everywhere! Parking spots were hard to come by due to the plows having scooped everything into HUGE piles of ice that just was not melting. Things were slippery for well over a week so going outside for any reason was quite treacherous. The roads would melt from the cars driving and the sun but there was no place for the melted runoff to go so it puddled up in the road. The sewers and storm drains were blocked with ice. So when night came and the temps dropped it would all freeze over again and made super slick puddles.


We survived but this winter has not been enjoyable. St. Louis "lifers" have been telling us it hasn't been this bad since they were kids, over 20+ years ago. And it isn't over yet! We were mollified for a bit with a week of 60 degree days. Everything melted but it is so saturated I am not sure we will dry out until July. However, last week we got an hour or two of freezing rain. Just enough to cause bridges to close and a 25 car pile up on the interstate. Taking my kids to school is usually a 15 minute drive. It took 90 minutes. The roads were fine but the traffic was ridiculous! They were an hour late for school. Then the next night we had snow overnight. We got a light dusting but the ground is so wet it did not stick very much. Thankfully. Last night we had a cold front move through and bring a really bad rain storm with it. Complete with hail and tornadoes. The sirens went off at our house around 11pm. Husband #1 and I got out of bed and checked the TV radar. It got windy and rainy and haily but we ended up not waking the kids and carting them off to the basement. Our immediate area was fine and it moved through so fast we barely had time to notice it. Now today it is only in the 30's...it was in the 60's yesterday

February isn't over yet and we always have a cold snap (with or without snow) well into March and even April. ICK!

What happens at ALL SMILES girl's weekend...Stays at ALL SMILES girl's weekend...

EXCEPT THIS!!!!

Bath Time!

We have been snowed in for a few days here this week. I am calling it the "Blizzard That Wasn't." We got a layer of ice from freezing rain and then a few inches of sleet. The snow never really materialized, thankfully. The kids were out of school for two days but went back Thursday. Unfortunately, they were already scheduled to have off Friday for conferences so this has been a crazy school week.

While we were snowed in we decided to bathe the dogs because they were super stinky. I figured they would not be going out but a bare minimum so they would have time to dry inside before they went out and became dog-sicles. It went fine except the copious amount of dog hair that ended up getting strewn across our bathroom. However, it reminded me of an ill fated bath experience from this past summer.

Louie does not like water...especially not directly from the hose. Belle loves it and wants to be squirted and snaps at the water, etc. Louie runs and hides when he sees the hose. This makes outdoor baths very challenging. I took off his collar and squirted him while holding him by the neck fur. I managed to get him soaped with one hand while holding on for dear life with the other hand. While I was scrubbing him he got away and darted off. He immediately went to the sandbox area and began to roll in the dirt. He was wild and I could not get hold of him to drag him back to the hose. Finally I tricked him into coming towards me and grabbed him. I now had to re-soap him because he was covered in a lovely layer of black dirt from the yard. It was everywhere...his belly, his back, his head, his face and even in his ears. I got him soaped up and he ran off AGAIN! This time he actually got into the sandbox and covered the soap/dirt/soap layers with another layer of sand. Lovely. At this point I was just laughing to myself and decided I needed to get a camera he looked so awful. I coaxed him back to me and put his collar on. I then held on to that while I rinsed him off. I am not sure if he was ultimately much cleaner than when we started! So, enjoy these pictures of my crazy puppy...if for no other reason than you can see green grass!!

Double A soccer

This fall Double A played soccer for the first time. She had a great time and says "I am very good at defense" which means they stuck her in the backfield alot. All the other kids had played at least one other season before. She did great running after the ball but actually kicking the ball when it got near her was a bit more of a challenge!

Halloween

The kids had a Halloween parade at school where they got to dress up in their costumes. Bumblebee had a hard time deciding what to be. It changed almost daily up until a few hours before we left for trick or treating. So, for his school parade he was "evil" spiderman. He was regular spiderman a few years ago and the costume is reversible. Double A said she wanted to be a waitress. We found this car hop costume and she loved it.

Halloween night came and Bumblebee chose his pirate costume to wear for trick or treating. He looked adorable and like a very mean pirate!

Unfortunately we had a slight accident while trick or treating. Bumblebee got so excited he was running in his flip flops in the ocld with frozen feet and he tripped and fell. He scrped up his knee and toe and put a hole inhis pirate pants. I think they just look more pirate-y. His sister went to a few more houses and was nice enough to get him candy from those houses Bumblebee missed due to injury.

Double A was so excited to wear makeup. She had on eye shadow, mascara and lipstick. She must have commented twenty times on how "freaky" her eyes looked with mascara. She has absolutely no need for mascara as her lashes are crazy long and dark on their own. She designed her own pumpkin and drew it on the outside and I carved it.

SOUTHERN MISS FOOTBALL

This fall we had our second season of Southern Mississippi football season tickets. We drove down for three home games. It is 10 hours each way. Two of the games hapened to fall on weekends when the kids were off of school Friday so no school was missed. These photos are from homecoming. Bumblebee did not want to come to the game with us, which was fine since it was late and he really doesn't do well much past his bedtime of 7:30-8pm. Husband #1's brother shares the tickets with us and he was able to make this game also. Double A was soooo excited for him to be there and to go to the game and stay up late.

Horse Show

I have been very remiss in posting updated photos and stories here. I will blame my computer. It has been acting up in a variety of ways and my photo processing/editing/storage software keeps freezing up and blah blah blah. So I have tons of photos in my computer that I cannot get out unless I fix this program. (I can get them it just takes WAY too long).

On top of all of that drama, Double A had a horse show and I *GASP* forgot my camera! Thankfully her teacher from first grade came to see her ride with her own camera and took pictures for me. Getting them has been a process of me continually forgetting the USB drive for her to put them on!

ANYWAY...that brings us to these fabulous photos taken by Chris, first grade teacher extraordinaire!

Bumblebee amusing himself at the horse show (lots of waiting) with barn dog, Osco.

I just love this photo...something about the way she is sitting...She finally seems relaxed and more natural on the horse. This was taken while riding Dolly in the "walk trot horsemanship on the rail" event. More on that later.

This is Jake and this was the musical stalls event. Double A placed third and got a white ribbon!

Enjoying other events in between her own. There is a lot of waiting around at horse shows since you are not in every class. And, at this barn the students ride lesson horses (those who don't have their own horses) so they have to share and thus re-tacking and what not needs to occur.

Double A and Dolly the horse after Little Squirts Western Walk Trot Horsemanship on the Rail. Double A placed first and got her first ever blue ribbon!! She was so excited and so was I! This is the first time she has ever been in this event and I had no idea how they judged it. Apparently they tell you to walk or trot or turn around and you are supposed to keep your horse along the rail and follow directions and they look for slow and steady speed, etc.

Double A is not a very emotionally demonstrative child, especially with revealing her inner feelings through words. However, after she won I was telling her how proud I was and she said "I almost started crying!" and that is when I said "me too!"

She also got a red ribbon for second place in Little Squirt's Walk Trot Trail riding Zema. This is an event basically like an obstacle course where they look for how much control you have of the horse while you weave it through poles, next to items to pick up, etc.

This was the first show in 2.5 years of riding that she has seemed really relaxed and comfortable and confident in what she was doing. She rides all different speeds and sizes of horses during lessons and even rides bareback! She rides Western now but I think soon she will have to decide if she wants to stick with that or switch over to English. English does jumping and Western does barrel racing.

Well, I am glad I have finally gotten at least something posted. Double A has another horse show tonight. It is a gymkhana, which is a fun show and there are no "points" for the national level of competition. Not that Double a is doing any of that yet, anyway. The high today is only supposed to be mid-forties so it should be horribly cold by the time the show starts tonight.

I have so many more things to post about, such as all the football games we have been going to in Mississippi, Double A's soccer season, Halloween and more!! Stay tuned!