Our neighborhood is the perfect location for little kids to get out and play in the snow. There's very little traffic (even when there isn't snow on the ground), we live at the conjunction of a double cul-de-sac, and there's only one other family with a child, so it's not remotely crowded. We have a lot of retiree neighbors, so I imagine that they can enjoy the comfort of their homes while watching Claire and River (our neighbor) frolic in the snowy streets. Actually, I know this to be the case; every so often, a few of them will venture out to chat for a moment or two about how much fun the kiddos are having. Claire even made a friend with our next-door neighbor (who we rarely ever see); Brad, being the sweetheart that he is, cleared off her front porch, steps, and walkway, while Claire and I chatted with her. Claire was enamored with her wind chimes, so at the end of our conversation, she gave Claire a small wind chime of her very own.
This year was an interesting snow wardrobe year for Claire and me. Obviously, my winter wear is complicated by my current size (although I was able to cobble some decent stuff together), and Claire's snow gear is mostly outdated by a year. I just don't see too much reason to go buy her new snow gear for the 1-2 "good" snows we get each winter. So, we pulled together quite the ensemble.
What she's wearing: her fleece pajamas + additional fleece hoodie, 3 pairs of socks under her rain boots (thanks, Nana!), snow coveralls from last year (thanks, Aunt Donna!), this year's winter coat, 2 pairs of mittens (they aren't waterproof, so I layered), and her koala bear hat/scarf combo from last year (thanks, Aunt Sue!). She was well bundled...to the point that if she fell over, she needed help getting back up. Bless. Her face is also EXTREMELY sensitive to wind burn, so there's a layer of A and D on her cheeks.
Basically the extent of her range of motion.
There aren't any pictures of me, but I was able to pull together maternity leggings under a pair of jeans, Smartwool socks (after Ukraine and Boston winters, I swear by these socks), boots, long sleeved shirt under a sweater, a hat, and, surprisingly, my regular down coat. I could even zip it up. It's a smallish medium, so I was really proud of myself. Unfortunately, my time spent enjoying watching Claire play in the snow is coming back to haunt me. I'm in a good deal of hip pain (like, can barely move), thanks to all the careful maneuvering on the icy snow. Oi. Good news is that I didn't fall not even once.
Trekking around the neighborhood with our- equally well-bundled- friend and neighbor.
They both had a little difficulty in the movement department. All the parents got a kick out of watching them a waddle around.
We don't have a sled (intentionally. I don't want to store a big plastic sled to use once a year.). I took Claire out with a cookie sheet (which works fine!), but our neighbors took pity on her and pulled both kids around in their legit sled.
Then Jen (River's mom) got in on the action. She's tiny and adorable, so she could fit in there with the kids. I did not even consider trying.
This is a great shot of Claire about to do her favorite winter activity: snow eating. She's an odd child. She loves to eat snow. At one point, she was laying on her stomach on our porch, eating snow right off the deck. I didn't even bother trying to stop her. Parenting at it's finest, folks.
More snow eating. This was Friday before the snow and sleet really built up.
When it was all said and done, we got about 5ish inches of icy snow in our neighborhood. On Friday, we had just a couple inches of very powdery snow, but it sleeted on top of that for hours and continued to sleet all night, adding inches and a very slick top coat. You know how you can usually use the toe of your boots to break up packed snow? Not this kind. If you tried to kick it apart with your toe, your foot would just slip around. It was perfect for the kiddies to sled on (or rather, made it easier for the dads to slide them around). The continuous sleeting on Friday meant that our playtime was shorter than it might otherwise have been. It started hurting our faces, so we only played for about an hour.
Saturday morning "shubbling." (That's a beach shovel, by the way. When she saw Brad get out our snow shovel, she INSISTED on using hers, as well.)
The best I got when I tried to a get lovely, snowy shot in the front yard. Sigh.
Tools of the trade.
Helping uncover the vehicles on Sunday morning. We didn't end up getting to church, due to our extremely slick street. The main roads through Durham were probably ok, but we're pretty sure we wouldn't have been able to get out of our neighborhood. The ice/snow was about 4 inches thick on the cars and came off in enormous slabs.
Saturday morning shot of the undisturbed snow.
Brad was going to shovel off the steps, but we decided to let Claire slide down on the cookie sheet first. She wasn't entirely sure she enjoyed going that fast down something that steep. She's still thinking about it.
Sunday morning helper!
Action shot! If you squint, you can see the snow flying through the air.
The snow out our back door. There's a 4ish inch step down right there, so it built up quite a bit.
Just a dad and his ewok, checking out the conditions.
And then they decided to try sledding without a sled.
It was a hit with the ewok.
I'm really glad we got a decent amount of snow, as Claire enjoys it so much. I was a little afraid that we wouldn't get anything, given the unreasonably warm winter we've had up to this point. Canceled classes also gave Brad a little extra time to catch up on some school work, which is always appreciated. Overall, it was a great weekend. Maybe we'll get one more round before winter is over. Maybe?
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