yucky snow storm

We had our first snow of the winter this past week. Of course, school was canceled, so the girls got an extra week off from school. My parents left on tuesday morning, and then Ben went out of town wednesday morning. He saw his flight was delayed, which was going to make him miss his connecting flight, so we ended up getting him moved up to an earlier flight, and had to rush out of the house and over to seatac for him to make it. We got to the airport fine, but on the way home, the girls and I slid down what is normally a very busy street. Luckily the snow kept traffic away, and I was free to slide across the oncoming lanes, tap the guard rail, and then slide back over to my side of the road. It was kinda scary, but we were all fine. When we got home, I just could not get into the garage. Ben had shoveled the driveway before we left, but it had continued snowing, and my car got totally stuck in the street. A neighbor tried to help shovel me out, but we eventually gave up, and I left the car parked on the street in front of my driveway. Later that night, the power went out. It wasn't too bad the first night, as it went out after the girls were in bed asleep, but it started getting pretty cold the next day. I thought I would use the grill to make dinner, but I found it frozen shut, because after the snow, we had a freezing rain, and then more snow.

The freeze rain did look kinda pretty on the trees, but it also caused Seatac airport to be closed the night Ben was supposed to come home. So he got stuck in Salt Lake for the night. Luckily, my sister in Eagle mountain was able to let him spend the night at her house. I was really glad that is where he got stuck for the night. Thanks again Shelly and Troy!

All of the trees in our yard ended up breaking:(

I put candles all over the house, and also used a little LED lantern we got from Ben's old boss a few years ago for Christmas. The girls each have their own little princess flashlights, that I found for them, but they kept going into the dark rooms without them, which resulted in a Kiersten/Evie crash in the hall. Kiersten got a bloodied lip.

The girls kept telling me to take pictures, because they liked when the camera flash lit up the room for a moment. But I didn't want it to die, so I just took a few. Since we couldn't cook anything for dinner, and every pizza place either didn't pick up, or was a busy signal, we had cheese and crackers for dinner, and some raw veggies. yum! I did lose about 4 lbs in 3 days, so I guess that's the upside. In the future I will think more about keeping food in the pantry that doesn't need to be cooked. Once it got dark, and the girls were pretty bored, they just kept asking for snacks every 10 minutes.

Kara thought this picture would be so cool.

the girls all brought their pillows and blankets to my bed, and we kept each other warm all night. When I went to bed, it was around 52°. when we woke up it was 48°!

The girls thought it was kinda funny to be all bundled up inside the house. By the end of the day, they were also in coats and scarves.

Ben made it home on friday morning. I had gone out early to try to dig out my car and shovel the driveway. The whole car was encased in at least an inch of solid ice. So I started chipping away at the door handles so I could get it open. I pulled a pretty large piece off the driver's door, and it pulled a chunk off of the window as well. A few minutes later, as i was trying to get the back door out, the driver's window shattered into a million little pieces, all over me, the snow, and the seat. I didn't know what to do for a minute, and then just went in to get a towel to cover it. I had the tires mostly dug out, so I decided to see if I could get it out of the snow before I brought the girls out. I ended up sliding back down the street in front of my neighbor's house, into a spot, that I couldn't go forward or backward. the tires just spun. So I tried to call ben to tell him to take a cab, but he didn't answer. so I called his boss, to see if someone could just get him, but she said they didn't have many people there. So I told her if he couldn't get a cab, he'd call in to see if anyone was able to get him. I tried calling him after his plane was supposed to have landed, but his phone was dead. So he got a ride with the guy he sat by on the plane. He got dropped off near our street, and just walked home. I was so happy to see him! the neighbor was trying to dig out our car again, so Ben went out and helped him. He was able to get it out. Then he went and got food for us, and got plexiglass put in the car window until it could be repaired the next day. Then he had to go to work, which was hard to have him leave again. but he did help me get a fire going before he left. After work that night, we stayed at a friend's house, and it was so nice to be warm! Saturday was Kara's birthday party, and afterward, we stopped by our house to get some clothes, and the power was back on! Ben and I were so happy, running around turning on lights, and making sure everything was okay. I'm super glad that storm is over, and hopefully we wont have another one for a while.

I love snow days

Well, I may not exactly love snow days, but my kids sure do. Yesterday we had our first snow of this winter. The girls were up early and watching it fall out their windows. As soon as breakfast was over, they both got dressed and ready to go out. I thought they looked super adorable. I've been making scarves for the girls lately, and trying to decide whether to include scarves in my etsy shop.I did have some fun throwing snowballs at them. Kiersten built a little snowman on the top of these steps. She found twigs for the arms, and I had to help her dig into the snow to find little rocks for a face. She asked if I was going to take a picture, so I went inside to get the camera. When I got back out 2 seconds later, Kiersten was crying, and Kara was proudly standing over the trampled snowman carcass. I don't know why she thought that was okay. Kiersten ended up going inside after that.Evie didn't do a whole lot in the snow, but she was determined to stay outside as long as possible. This was her first time touching or being in snow. Later, Kara got to open a few early birthday gifts from my parents, and from my sisters in Utah. She got some pretty fun gifts! Thanks guys!She has really been wanting one of these bounce balls. She had fun on it all evening, going up and down the hall and around the house on it.Evie really likes it as well. She is certain that it is hers. She can't stay on by herself, so she keeps dragging it up to us, and whining, "need help".

snow day

We have been getting a lot of snow the last few days. (well, lots of snow by western washington standards.) Though it is not fun to drive in, and resulted in Kara's school being canceled, the girls are LOVING it, as usual. They played out in the backyard a few times yesterday.Regardless of how many times I told her not to, Kiersten kept eating snow. Finally, Kara teased her that she was eating bugs and dirt with the snow, and she finally gave it up. Why didn't I think of that method?

Kara kept wanting to have a snowball fight. I asked her not to throw this one at Kiersten. She set it carefully down and made a smaller one to pelt her sister with.

Kara made a snow angel. this is another Kiersten eating snow shot.

Kiersten gets cold after about 20 minutes, but Kara would stay out there all day if I'd let her. She is definitely a snow lover. She certainly doesn't get it from me! When Ben got home from work, Kara was just coming in, and she was pretty thrilled with daddy for making her some hot chocolate to warm up with.

snow

Kiersten is so happy to have inherited Kara's old jewelry box. She is constantly taking things out to wear, and then putting them back in. And Kara has been a little obsessed with inheriting my old one. I've had this since high school, so it was time for a new one. I also had a shoe box full of necklaces, that all have a home now in my new jewelry stand. I haven't taken a picture of it yet since Ben put it together for me.

It has been snowing the past few days. The girls absolutely love it, and were excited as soon as they saw it was snowing. I am not a fan of the snow, but I tried to keep my mouth shut and just let them be happy about it. It was hard last night not to say anything, as the snow caused Ben to be stuck in traffic for hours. It took him a little more than 5 hours to get home. His drive is normally 45 minutes to an hour 10 minutes on bad days. Kiersten started crying and asking why he wasn't home yet when we ate dinner without him.

Ben played in the snow a bit with the girls on sunday. here he is kicking off his flip flops. I can't remember why that happened.

they love sliding in the snow, because they go down really fast.

yesterday it was still snowing. While Kara was at school, Kiersten really wanted to go outside, but was unwilling to wear pants. She was so stubborn, and threw a fit every time I tried to put her pants on, so she never ended up getting to go out.

Today she was more willing, because Kara was out there playing, and she got jealous. It's pretty cold, but at least the sun is shining today! I had to tell her 4 or 5 times to stop eating snow.

Kara playing soccer in the snow. she lost her boot a couple times.

Kara spent a good 5 minutes trying to make a snowball. She handed it to Kiersten, who promptly threw it back in her face.

Ben decided to go in to work today, though he thinks his appointments probably wont show up. But he can get caught up on other stuff. There don't seem to be as many cars out and about today, so hopefully he wont have such a long commute tonight. I was watching the news last night while waiting for him to get home, and they were just reporting accident after accident non stop. I remember it being the same way 2 years ago when we had snow. It seems like common sense to me that you don't speed or slam on your brakes in the snow, but I guess not everyone is aware.

there's no update like a snow update!

I'm finally on my final update from our Utah visit! The girls absolutely loved playing in the snow. Kara was very upset that we didn't have snow at home. She even asked Ben, "how can we have Christmas without snow?" So, she was excited to see all the snow when we got to Salt Lake. When we arrivced at Ben's Grandparents house she said, "wow! look at all the snow!" and both girls kept asking to go out and play in it every day we were there. throwing snowballs.

They played in the snow with their cousins at my parents house in Provo, but I didn't get out there to take any pictures. So when we were back in Salt Lake, I thought I'd better at least take a few. This is the little snow man Ben helped them make. Kara really wanted to make one, so I made Ben come out and help her. It wasn't very good packing snow, so he decided to go small. The girls didn't mind.

Kara posing with her buddy. It was her responsibility to find all the trimmings to decorate the snowman, and she was very proud of her work.

Kiersten was so bundled up, and the snow was just deep enough, that when she would fall over onto her back, she wasn't able to get back up by herself. It was pretty funny to me.

Here they are making snow angels. Well, Kara made snow angels and Kiersten just laid motionless in the snow next to her.

Snowed in

Thanks to the lovely snow storm we've been having, Ben has only worked one day out of the past 9 days. It's driving him crazy because if this snow were in Idaho or Utah, we would totally be driving in it. But with all the people around who don't know how to drive in snow, and the lack of salt for the roads, it is so scary out there. The news is reporting accident after accident during their traffic report. We have all started getting cabin fever the last few days. We were starting to turn on each other, so we had a few quick trips to wal-mart, since it's just around the corner. I got an awesome new dyson vacuum, and Ben got a new mini fridge for his bar. The other thing that has saved our sanity is Christmas priojects. Kara and I have made christmas suckers, cookies, brownies, painted wooden christmas magnets, and tomorrow we are doing snowman cupcakes and a gingerbread house. It seems crazy to do so many things, but if we don't, she will find a mess to make. Ben is driving in to work tomorrow with a coworker who has 4 wheel drive. Hopefully they'll be okay on those icy Seattle hills!