Snow, Snow, SNOW!

Well, it has snowed nearly the foot that the weathermen predicted and now has frozen over in an effort to petrify this white blanket over an otherwise brown and quite ugly landscape. I love it! For years I've wanted to live where it snows in the winter. I find the starkness of the snow quite beautiful. It covers up ugly yards and dirty sidewalks and makes everything appear equal. The world seems to slow down when this white stuff begins to fall from the sky and people take time to call each other, do things at home they don't have time for and play with the kids. Perhaps this is God's way of telling us that we need to pay more attention to the small things in life that we sometimes skip over when we're able to rush around in our busy everyday lives.
The kids and I made it to Church this morning thanks to Dave driving us there in the truck. I'm sure I could have gotten us there in the truck as well, but he feels the need to keep us safe which is nice. There was no Sunday School, so the kids got to experience "real" Christian Church for the first time. They go every week to the Catholic Church at school, but it's much different than the Church we attend on weekends. Even though it appears they're not listening most of the time, I really do think they learn something and for the first time they got to participate in Communion instead of walking to the front and crossing their arms for a blessing as they do at the Catholic Church. And the best part, there were cookies in the lobby afterwords. That was the highlight for them!

I was dropped back off at home per my request, Dave and the kids wanted to go find parking lots to whip cookies in and snow to get stuck in. They are insane but hey, it leaves me some quiet time to myself so whatever works.

The dogs have been very entertained by the snow. They spent most all of yesterday playing outside. We forgot about the EZup canopy getting loaded with snow so it has collapsed, much to their amazement. They sniff and inspect it each time they go outside. Apparently the time Jimmy got to spend outside last night was enough for him. He woke up this morning, stepped out the back door and pooped right on the doorstep. Then he came in and peed on the couch. Lovely huh? That dog. All we can do is shake our heads and laugh. These dogs keep us on our toes for sure! They're all pretty tired today which is a nice change.

We got our tree up and mostly decorated and I even put the Nativity Scene out much to my better judgment. We have the tree and nativity in a "Christmas Jail" in an attempt to keep it safe from the dogs. I strategically placed an opened up exer pen around the area. We'll see how long that lasts...we may be looking for a new Nativity Scene next year. Last year our tree got knocked over at least 4 times and we lost quite a few ornaments, so I've been slow at putting any on this year. At least with the Dough ornaments we can just make more.

So, that's about it around here. I've taken more pictures to share with everyone. Check them out and stay safe and warm in this crazy wonderful weather we're having!