Henry the Neighborly Snowman

Brad and I are too busy (aka, lame and lazy) to utilize all of this Southern snow as it was truly intended. However, some neighbors of ours are smart enough to not let the opportunity pass them by, and I get to vicariously live my youthful, wintry life through them! Check out this big guy that I get to pass on my ways in and out of the neighborhood. Since I don't know what name they've officially given him, I've decided to go a head and call him Henry. I especially like his "bow tie." Haha. These neighbor strangers of ours are very clever.

Have you made a snowman yet this winter? Hope you don't catch a case of the Mehaffeys and miss your chance while it lasts!

Snow Babies

Look at my sweet girls enjoying their first snow!

They're best friends already.

 Sweet Charlie Joy

 Snow Angel, Layla Grace

 This picture of the girls together is precious. (And this picture of Kris panicking, trying to hold Layla up is hilarious!)

 But this sweet one of him and his baby girl makes up for that one.

And here begins the duel meltdown. 

 Poor, sweet girls.

They had enough of that cold snow!

I just love these girls like they were my very own!

Bare Necessities

Regardless of what the sign says, I believe a gallon of milk in Nashville during a natural disaster "snowstorm" is, in fact, priceless.

Try not to panic.



Winter Wonderland

Nashville has seen so much snow this winter! I just can't get over how beautiful it is. Here's the view from our back door yesterday.

I thought Walter was cold before, but look at him now! All you can see is the tip of his little gnome hat peaking out from under the fresh snow blanket!

According to our calculations, there was a solid three inches of snow on our picnic table. And that was even before it had all finished floating down for the day!

Chester hasn't quite enjoyed this particular snowstorm as much as usual. Since it's so deep, he can hardly trench through it to go potty. And when he comes back inside, he has little snowballs gathered around all four of his legs and even stuck to his belly and chest. He steps into the house and just stands there, frozen, like he doesn't know how to move with all that cold stuff on him. Ha. I think he's so cute. So each time, I try to knock off as many of the mini-snowballs as I can just for him to then eat them up off of the floor. As long as he doesn't eat any of the yellow snow, I think we'll be fine.

Have you guys gotten tons of snow already this winter? I feel like it's coming down everywhere! Have you actually played in it? We've been to lame to bundle up and make a single snow man or snow angle all winter. I'm ashamed of ourselves.

Snow Day!

We got so much snow yesterday! Definitely a lot for Nashville, at least. Look at poor Walter! He's got snow up to his thighs!

He doesn't get to often, but Chester absolutely loves to play in the snow. I tried to get a picture of him out there, but he was running around so fast that it was hard to capture him in the frame. Aren't his little paw prints adorable, though? That bottom picture of him is on our front porch; we had so much snow that it even drifted all the way up to our front door!

So, what did Brad and I do today, you ask? Well, we stayed home, of course! I called in to work due to the icy roads (along with the majority of the office), and we bundled up in our pj's, slept in super late and watched Christmas movies all afternoon. The hospital ended up calling Brad and telling him not to come in tonight, which  meant we even had the whole evening together! We woke up and are going to sleep together for the first time in a very long time!

So our evening has consisted of football, beer (for Brad, blegch, water for me), and PIZZA!! Not lame pizza either. This is no Totino's, or other frozen, or Little Caesar's, which all have a rightful place, but are totally not big deals compared to Papa John's!! And since I agreed to let Brad spend his unexpected evening off watching football, he let me get pineapples on half of it just for me! Yum, yum!

Pretty much, the (entire) day shut in with my love has been quite a blessing. It reminds me of another time we were snowed in. I guess, every once in a while, God just tells us to slow down and enjoy time with our favorites. Who are we to argue?

Speed Racer

In the midst of the Blizzard of '10, Brad and I decided to brave the weather for a little bit of fun. How could we possibly let this wonderful snow pass us by, without taking advantage of the opportunity to go sledding!?!

Even after we bundled up in multiple layers of clothing (and I do mean multiple layers) Brad still had to get my hair dryer out with an extension cord to thaw out the frozen doors of the truck (that we're borrowing from a friend until we replace our wrecked car). Then, we hauled pitcher after pitcher of hot water through the house to the driveway, where he poured it over the windows to melt the thick sheet of ice that had built up overnight.

After all that, we were smooth sailing! Well, not really. We were completely irresponsible for getting on the dangerous roads. They were completely covered with snow and ice, and we were in a little, rear-wheel drive pick-up truck. Honestly, what were we thinking? The things we'll go through to act like kids again... He drove super slow, and we only slid around a little bit. There were a few hills that required multiple attempts to get up, but we made it to our friends', The McAlister's, neighborhood safe and sound. Thankfully, however, our other friend, Kris, met us at the bottom of their lane, because our truck was officially unsuccessful in it's attempt to reach his house.

We knew when we made it to their house, because we saw a sledder zoom across the lane at lightening speed. Once we climbed out of the car and made our way up their driveway on foot, we were totally anxious to be our own Speed Racers. Thankfully, the kids were busy making a fort and storing up snowballs, that they didn't mind if we stole their sleds for a while.

It has definitely been quite a while since Brad and I have had the privilege to ride some snow, and we were out of practice. Poor Kris, who grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, had never sledded before in his life. We were quite a sight to see. We had our fair share of blowouts and screams. And we had a great time! Pat had purposefully left a fallen tree limb in the way and covered it with snow. It became our personal ramp. Surprisingly, we really did get a lot of air.

After a while, when our rears were bruised from the limb jumping, we ventured over to their next-door neighbor's driveway, which was just an exceptionally long, fairly steep hill. I was only brave enough to approach the mountain once, after witnessing others' survivals. But, when I bailed from the sled, I rolled off and continued to slide down the hill on my belly, feet first. Which meant that I got snow all up my shirt. That was enough for me.

Seriously, we got so much speed, that our eyes were watering. After a few trips, they decided to put a portable GPS in their pocket to track their speed. Literally, They were reaching speeds between 25 and 30 miles per hour. Thankfully, there happened to be a giant pile of wood chips covered with snow located right at the base of the driveway on the other side of the lane. It was the perfect, soft landing.

We finally went inside when our fingers and toes started going numb. Niki's hot chocolate with extra marshmallows was the perfect ending to a really great day of sledding adventures. It was nice to enjoy the chance to get out and play in the snow. I didn't realize how much I missed that aspect of the winter months. For a weekend, it was like we were back up in Indiana.

Did you play in the snow? Have you ever sledded so fast that your cheeks get thrown back? It's scary and fun!

Snowed In

I grew up in Illinois and Indiana. Throughout my lifetime, I have seen my fair share of snow falls. However, since my move to the South, it has become somewhat of a mythical form of precipitation for me. I hear tall tales of it from my mom in Michigan, and believe I can recall my own memories, but have also begun to question my sanity regarding the fluffy, white stuff. But, this past weekend, my snow fantasies were once again realized!

Nashville was bombarded with multiple inches of snow! This wasn't just "a lot for the area." This was worthy of even you Northeners to ooh and aah over. We honestly couldn't open our doors without a good heave to shove the piled snow out of the way. It was beautiful!

Since our driveway is pretty steep, and the neighbors we share it with have a couple of kids, all of the children in the neighborhood gathered together to sled down our "hill." We were cracking up at their makeshift sleds made of trashcan lids. Not the metal lids. No, that kind of sense would require experience in this sledding field. These were the Rubbermaid lids with handles and everything. We noticed as the day wore on, many of the lids developed mysterious holes in the middle of them. Hopefully, their parents won't be too upset. We also enjoyed the incriminating evidence of multiple "doughnuts" performed in our cul-de-sac. Oh the joys of snow. :)

The snow started falling early Friday morning, and it was nice and fluffy and wonderful. However, by nightfall, the soft flakes rudely transformed into harsh, constant ice that continued through until the morning. These pictures of Chester were taking on the separate days. See how you can recognize his footprints in the snow on Friday? By Saturday morning, his little body didn't weigh enough to break through the inch and a half of solid ice. (You should have seen him trying to find a place to go potty! Brad eventually had to break the ice and clear an area of snow for the grass to show through before he recognized his "bathroom." It was hilarious.)

Unfortunately, the one thing the North has going for it that the South lacks (yes, there's only one thing) is the capability to adapt to snowfall on the roads. Let's just face it, Nashville is wonderful, but they sure don't have a multitude of snow plows on hand to dispatch at the first sign of a snowflake. As a result of the ice, combined with Nashville's lack of road clearing skills, we were pretty much legitimately snowed in for the entire weekend. I'm talking, even church services were cancelled.

Three full days alone with my husband and no obligations or distractions? Ah, shucks.

And after we rented a handful of movies from Blockbuster, purchased our gallon of milk, and confirmed that we had a substantial amount of junk food on hand, we were prepared for just such an emergency. We spent the days staying up and sleeping in as late as we wanted, cuddling together on the couch under multiple blankets, eating an entire jar of salsa with chips, watching movie after movie as well as oh-so-many DVR'd episodes of Criminal Minds, and enjoying each others undivided attention.

Really, why can't we get snow and ice every weekend??

Oh yeah, the drive to work this week; that's why... Boo.

Southern Snow

Last Thursday, Nashville had a blizzard. You think I'm kidding, but I'm not. These were flakes large enough to impress even my Midwestern heritage. Unfortunately, the majority of drivers on the interstate after work were not accustomed to such precipitation. It started snowing right as the work day ended, and my usual 30-40 minute commute home (which is sadly only 14 minutes on any given Saturday afternoon) was involuntarily transformed into a 1 hour and 25 minute commute. But the flakes were so beautiful and I loved absorbing one of God's most precious blessings that I refused to become frustrated with the traffic. (Besides, if these people think they need to drive a whopping 4 mph, then maybe they are right. I'd much rather slow drivers than 30-car pile ups.)

Even getting into our apartment complex was nearly impossible. Apparently, Tennesseans believe it's smart to maintain their turtle speed even when attempting to drive up a hill. Silly Southern folk. Don't they know they'll get stuck? Well, they do now, regardless. When I finally pulled safely into my parking spot, I ran inside, threw off my heels and on some real shoes and a warmer coat and ran outside with the family. Chester traipsed through the fluff confused about how it was here instead of at his grandparents' houses. Sadly, we didn't have time to explain it to him. Brad and I already had plans to meet Adam and Gena for dinner.

The Garmin claims that they live a measly 4.7 miles away. However, it took us 45 minutes and one police detour around a wreck to arrive safely at our destination. During our expedition, I enjoyed playing with the snow that was packed on Brad's car. I could just wipe the side mirror and it instantly formed a snowball. It had piled up quite high against the windows, and I would roll the window down just enough to squeeze it in my hands. It was absolutely perfect packing snow. I didn't realize how much I missed the snowfall until I was experiencing it again.

Anyway, we finally made it to the Hesselrode's and immediately layered the kids up in warm gear and headed out. Brad and Davis had a little snowball fight, but we all got too cold before we could properly make any snowmen or snow angels. It didn't matter, though. The snow was pretty enough that we got our full joy out of it. And just knowing that it was snowing outside while watching Rudolph near the fireplace provided a peace that can't be challenged any other time of the year.

Oh, by the way, we heard tires squealing and peeling out all night long as people were slipping on ice trying to get through the gate into our apartment complex. And the next morning, the only exit out of the complex was completely filled up with non-moving cars. I legitimately had to call in to work because I had no way of escape. Hmph, sad. I fell back asleep and enjoyed the extra impromptu rest of a late morning.

Stupid Snow

Well, the snow was pretty. And fun. For a minute. Early Sunday morning, Brad and Trevor went to pick up the venison meat from the deer they had hit and field dressed. They had to go to the outside of town to pick it up, and drive on a windy road to get there. Trevor, a very careful driver, picked Brad up at his parents' house and headed out. Minutes later, while I was trying to snap pictures of Chester playing in the snow, Brad called. He said that he and Trevor were in an accident, but they are okay. Yeah, I wasn't that surprised. The snow was fresh, and the roads hadn't yet been properly cleared. Not a big deal. Then he said, "It's pretty bad, we hit a few trees." Gosh... where were they driving that they could hit a few trees when sliding around on the road. Weird. He went on, "But we're okay. I don't even think either one of us is bleeding..." Wait a minute. Why such a disclaimer?? How bad was this wreck?? When I arrived on the scene with my parents, my heart fell into my stomach. They easily could have been killed. I can't believe how close they came. Thank goodness they were wearing their seatbelts, which kept them in place even while upside down. God was truly watching over them. There is no other explanation for their survival.

Complete Wreck Album

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

We woke up Sunday morning to Snow! Not the kind of flurries that Tennessee considers snow. I'm talking real snow. Snow you can play in. Chester loved it. He ran laps around the back yard like crazy. This was snow you could make snowmen with. Do you like the neighbor's creation? You can tell that it's definitely Colts Country up there!