Snowed In

Well, the unusual snowstorm turned into two weeks of snow, ice, terrible roads and basically a lot of time together in the house, with no where to go. Good thing I am a bit of a home body and so are the girls, so we did just fine hanging out together most of the time. We did, however, go for drives around the neighborhood (chains on, of course) with daddy when he'd get home at night - just to get out of the house. We also went outside to play, walked to visit neighbors, hosted get togethers with friends who were willing to brave the weather and made a lot of good memories. As I write this, the rain has almost completely washed away all the snow, but we will always remember the "Deep Freeze" of 2008.

A few interesting facts (I may be repeating a bit from past posts.)

*We had our first official WHITE CHRISTMAS here in Oregon! Not only was there snow on the ground, but it snowed Christmas Day! Yeah!

*School was cancelled the entire week prior to Christmas vacation.

*I believe the highest snow depth in the two weeks was around 14" with a 1/2" layer of ice somewhere in between from the freezing rain that hit last Saturday night before Christmas.

*We found snow in our attic! We had to get the shop vac in our "Narnia" attic to vaccum snow off the Christmas presents! Apparently, very windy conditions can blow snow up and down the vents in the roof.

*We were very, very lucky/blessed to have power through the whole ordeal.

*The worst road conditions, or most annoying, were when the ice actually started melting. There was a good 6" of ice and tons of slush accumulated on the roads and the gradual melting made ruts and bumps down to the pavement. It was like 4 wheeling on horribly rocky dirt roads.

Here are a few pictures of the week before Christmas...

Twilight discovered a hidden talent! The first few times she played notes she scared herself to death. It was hilarious. Now when she feels a little musical, she'll get up every so often to play a few measures.
I hosted a appetizer Christmas party at my house on Christmas Eve Eve. I was sooo in need of some socializing after 9 days of being stuck in the house. I was so excited to have such a good turnout despite (or maybe because of) the bad weather. I think a lot of other friends were feeling the same way. I had such a fun time - I am so grateful for good friends and neighbors. We had lots of delicious food, lots of laughs and a few people that were brave enough to go to the store got socks for the Christmas sock exchange. It was such a fun night, I think it will be a new Christmas tradition. Thanks to my husband, Earl*, for being a great sport and staying upstairs with the girls. He got to come down and enjoy a few leftovers after for a reward. (o:

Here's a picture of our house in all the snow. The trunk of my rosebush "tree" by the porch is completely covered! Earl* removed huge chunks of ice from the driveway and sidewalk for my Christmas party friends. Some were three feet wide!

One afternoon, the girls and I went to visit my good friend and neighbor, Sue. Above is a picture of Natalie enjoying a snowball she made on the way over. She was enjoying eating it so much, Sue offered her a plate so she could bring it inside and eat. Below is a picture of Sue's little villiage and train she put together. It was so cute!

The girls got the idea to take our swimming boards and "sled" down the slide. It was pretty funny. As you can see below, there was plenty of snow on the slide to make it work. Sarah and Natalie stayed out in the backyard playing for 45 minutes or so - until their feet started hurting. (Their gollashes are not warm at all.) Then I discovered that Natalie hadn't even put on socks when she went out! They all got in a nice warm bath to warm their freezing toes. Angela lasted about 2 minutes in the backyard. It was too hard for her to even walk - the frozen layer of ice made it really tricky. It took me 15 minutes to get her bundled up! Oh well.

On the 22nd, we hosted a friend Christmas craft party and lunch for a few of Sarah and Natalie's friends! This has been a tradition with Sarah's friends the last two years and I thought it was only fair to let Natalie invite a couple friends this year too. Natalie got to have Lydia, Sage and Jayda and Sarah invited Monica and Taylor. (Two other good friends couldn't make it in the bad weather - even Monica, who lives across the street had to get in total snow gear just to walk over!) Their friends are all so cute - we had a fabulous time - 8 girls in all, including Angela - making cards, ornaments, jingle bell jewelry and eating PB & J's. Good times!

Here's another view of the house looking out the front door as people left the party. I couldn't stop taking pictures of it all - it was just so unbelievable!

One afternoon, Angela and Natalie and I made cinnamon rolls. Christmas Eve, Billy Bob* made over 80 cinnamon rolls that we took around to neighbors and home teaching families! Our house smelled so good! This has been a tradition for the last 3 or 4 Christmases. My job is to make the icing and get them wrapped up.