The Ice & Snow of 2011

Pretty sure this will be one ice and snow storm we won't forget. The crazy part is that the Friday before, we were enjoying a beautiful sunny 75 degree day at the Stock Show. I may have even sweat a little. But in Texas, things can change fast.

By Monday night, schools had already been cancelled for Tuesday. We were way overdue for a trip to the grocery store, so I headed out that night to do some shopping. I was kind of rolling my eyes and laughing as all of the shelves of bread and milk were practically empty. Crazy people...little did I know, they were smart people!

So it started at about 3:00 am on Tuesday (Day #1) with a serious sleet storm and "thunder snow" (thanks for the new term weather people). It was loud, and there was a TON of sleet and 30 mph winds. By the time we all woke up, there was a couple inches of ice everywhere with a dusting of snow on top. That does not make for good driving conditions.

So DFW pretty much shut down.

Wade & Tate braved the cold -1 wind chill temperatures for some ice sledding and sliding/riding around on the ice in the Gator. They could only stay outside for about 20 minutes at a time because it was so cold.

So we hunkered down with some good movies, food, and family togetherness. :) And then we woke on Wednesday (Day #2) to find conditions just as bad considering it never got above 20 degrees. That morning, we experienced our first-ever rolling black out. Two actually. The really stinky part is that after the electricity came back on, our internet and TV were no longer working. Good times.

And this is also when I reminded myself that 99% of the year, it is a true blessing that Wade only works 10 miles from our house. Well this week fell in the 1% when I was bummed that his office was close enough for him to brave the roads and go to work each day. Although, I'm very thankful for safe driving each time!

Day #3 came and went as well. No school again. We headed to bed that night hearing that there was a chance of maybe 1 inch of snow in the morning. But we awoke to another day of school closings (Day #4) and almost 5 inches of snow!

Now this is a snow day...SO much more fun to enjoy! Wade stuck around most of the morning, and we all 4 enjoyed the snow complete with more sledding, snow angels, and snowball fights. I was quite shocked to see that even Will enjoyed it. I learned the hard way with Tate not to put a baby right on the snow (his reaction here), so Will sat in the Bumbo and loved it...even when Big Brother "accidentally" threw a snowball on him!

It was a fun way to end 4 DAYS of being stuck and homebound. As the temperature crept to a whopping 30 degrees today, it was funny that it actually felt so much warmer. And I was THRILLED to hear the wonderful sounds of icicles melting and dripping.