Snow snow snow

Another big snow storm last night. Between the few inches that fell yesterday and what hit last night we ended up with a little under 15". Average snowfall for New Jersey is about 24" for the season, which we've surpassed in the first month (still almost two more months to go). Apparently this very snowy winter is caused by the North Atlantic Oscillation - a phenomenon that is an " interaction of subtropical highs and polar lows that control the flow of air along the East Coast" (I pulled this from a quote in the Star-Ledger - I'm not THAT knowledgeable about weather patterns). The colder air turns precipitation that would normally fall as rain into snow.

So another snow day from school for us. We are luckier than other towns in the tri-state area - many have already used up their snow days and will be soon eating into Spring break or Summer break. We have at least one more day left (luckily the first bad snow storm hit during Christmas break).


Our snowy street. Wonderful neighbors on either side used the snowblower to clear the sidewalks AND our driveway. We don't mind shoveling, but when it's this deep that blower sure can make short work of it.


My buried trash cans. My problem I have now is figuring where to put the snow I shovel (you can see the enormous pile next to the house already.


The kids venture into the backyard, checking out the trench dug for Lucy's benefit this morning.


You can see the amount of snow from this storm on the roof (and light) of the garage. It's hard to gauge snowfall when it doesn't all melt away between storms.


Alex shows how deep the snow is. This is the cut made by the snowblower. Isn't the bare driveway under Alex's feet lovely?!


Jim found the perfect spot for a snow fort for the kids. Big pile of snow in front from shoveling over the past few weeks. And support in the back from the section of fence.


Lots of sibling fun making the "rooms" in the fort.


Grace peeks over the side with a tiny snowman standing guard. She is probably sitting on her knees here.


Poor Lucy whimpering because she wants to be part of the snow fort too.

Quite a good cut

Grace had her very first visit to an actual hair salon (versus a place that caters to kid haircuts). She and best friend Annie both needed haircuts, and I found my hairdresser on recommendation from Annie's mom, so we figured why not take both girls together.


Here is Grace getting her hair shampooed for the first time. Apparently Annie puts up a big fuss about this, so her mom was glad to be able to point out how calmly Grace took it.


There it goes. Lots of hair being taken off, so it will be a big surprise for her classmates when she goes back to school on Tuesday.


The new hairdo. And the new jacket - North Face like everyone else in creation wears up here. She was allowed to get it if she paid for half the cost.


Now for the real meaning of the title above - Grace was able to cut 8" off, which is the minimum amount to donate to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths program, which makes wigs for cancer patients. Here is her hair which I need to package up and mail off on Tuesday. I'm very proud of her because she ended up having to cut a little bit more than she originally wanted to be able to donate.

She LOVES her new haircut, mainly because she discovered how few tangles end up in hair that only goes to a little below your chin.

Feel-Good Blog

Have you seen the blog 1000 Awesome Things? Simply put, the author is listing each day some everyday thing/item/event that when you really think about it is "awesome." Things like #345 (When the Christmas tree give the only light in the room) and #759 (Dropping a glass and then sticking your foot out so it hits your foot and doesn't break on the ground) and #919 (Hitting a bunch of green lights in a row.

The author is a wonderful writer, so even better than just reading through the list is actually reading what he wrote on each blog entry. I dare you to read these entries and not smile or nod your head in agreement.

Plus you may actually learn something - Jim and I never knew about #998 (The gas arrow).

If you like the blog and want to see more of the author, check out his TED talk here.

Big ol' blizzard

Time for some snow pictures. We got a blizzard the day after Christmas, which apparently isn't real common here in New Jersey. A "perfect storm" (if you will) of conditions that included very cold weather (making the snow very light), crazy strong winds, and a dumping of almost 2 feet of snow in many areas caused a lot of headaches for a lot of people. We managed to run out to Target the morning before it started to spend Christmas gift cards and pick up some last minute bread and milk, then we hunkered down to watch the snow fall (and fall and fall and fall).


This is what we woke up to the next morning. You can see the snow is up to the bottom of the chairs.



Jim kindly got out and shoveled a path so Lucy could take care of business that morning. The snow is over Jim's knees and over Lucy's back. She wasn't too pleased by this turn of events in her backyard.



A neighbor had parked a car in front of our house, and we watched it slowly get buried deeper and deeper as the snow fell. This is what it looked like the next morning - a combination of snow falling and snowplows plowing. We still have a rectangular parking space in front of our house where they shoveled it out a few days later. I think it's quite the coveted spot at school pick up time.



While Jim was working on the driveway I took the kids across the street to the big hill behind the school for a little sledding (this picture was taken with the kids standing on our driveway with just a path shoveled through, so you can see how deep the snow was). But it wasn't a very good trip. The snow was light and fluffy and not packed yet, plus the school was not plowed so it was VERY slow going to trudge through the snow there. We were all trying to create sledding paths on the new snow. Plus the wind was still really strong, so you got a lot of big blasts of snow blowing in your face. So after a bit the kids and I returned to our warm, cozy home for big mugs of hot chocolate.


The next day the wind had died down so we headed across town to the big sledding hill (along with half the population it seemed). The kids had a great time, and luckily the cheap sleds I'd bought Sunday at Target were light enough that there were no complaints about lugging them back up the hill.







One last picture. These are our little lollipop snowmen decoration in front of our house. This is about four days after the big snow once we'd had a lot of melting. For a couple days they were totally covered in snow - the only indication that something was there was every evening starting at 4pm there were four very faint lights glowing in that spot, changing colors and patterns. Finally now, more than a week after the snowfall, you can spot some ground at the bottom of them.