Snow Day Equals Sledding

What a surprise!  It was 6:08 am when the phone rang - the Oldham County Board of Education has canceled school for the day.  It's FRIDAY and it's a FREE DAY!!!  YIPEE!

We all went back to bed.  Robert slept until 10:00, Marissa until 10:30 (I think).  I went out and got donuts for us.  We all enjoyed hot chocolate and chocolate donuts while we watched the rain, sleet and snow fall.  Soon there was a inch of white fluffy snow on the ground, then two... by the time Mark got home there were 5 inches of snow.

It was the perfect time for decorating the Christmas Tree.  Robert and Marissa helped mom get out all the decoration, haul them upstairs and start the festivivites.  FUN, FUN, FUN.  It was sad not having Jessica and Devon to help.  We usually do it all together.  I never realized how much Marissa loves tradition, but without them here, she was really sad that we didn't follow tradition.  We have several traditions for Christmas.  Probably more than most.

So it was pretty late before the kids were able to go sledding, but they trodded over to the small, long hill behind Kelly's house.  They had a great time - they came back about an hour later and tried to de-ice Marissa's car, but it was completely iced over - sealed shut.  Oh my goodness.

The front of the house - still snowing

Marissa also spent much of the day reading the end of her book "Allegiant."  I finished "Insurgent."  They are a series.  Now that she is finished I can read the 3rd book.  Yeah!

Robert and Marissa also realized they needed to start the Christmas chain.  They were really missing Devon and especially Jessica for this activity.  Jessica is so artistic - they usually let her do the majority, but each contributing.  This year they copied many of the previous year's designs - and did a fantastic job. 

The more we get into Christmas the more we realize Jessica won't be here.  We are really looking forward to Devon's return.

Betsy shoveled the drive way so Mark could come home without a mess.  It took him twice as long as it normally takes...traffic....snow.  I was glad I went out in the morning before the roads got bad.

Saturday brought great fun - the family went sledding down the big hill.  We took Alex Green with us and ran into Ben, Molly and Sam O'Brien there and Max and Dominique Miller.  We had races and all sorts of contests going down the hill.  Robert brought his snow board and we had several sleds - lots of laughs, lots of wipe outs, lots of fun.

We warmed up with mugs of steaming hot chocolate.  YUM!!!

Sunday - well, it rained sleet and ice over the night leaving the roads a sheet of ice.  Church was canceled for safety reasons.  WOW!  Betsy and Mark made bacon and eggs for breakfast.  She also made brownies for dinner's dessert.  We watched "Miracle on 34th Street" as a family.

Let it SNOW, Let it SNOW, Let it SNOW

On Friday, December 28, 2012 it snowed over night.  It's the first real snow we've had in two year.  Last year we got a dusting but it wasn't enough to cancel school or even enough to sled.

 

The house covered in snow (even though it was only 3 inches)

So Saturday we took the kids to the "Big Hill" to sled with friends, Alex and Aaron Green.

Marissa on the snow board

Two years ago Robert bought a snow board for his birthday (February) but as soon as he bought it, it stopped snowing, so this was the first time he had a chance to use his snow board.  He was very kind and shared it with his sisters, Marissa and Jessica.  Here's Marissa going down the hill.

Marissa on the sled

Jessica on the snow board
She loved it!

Robert coming up the hill after a great run!
AWESOME!
He is a natural on the snow board

Jessica coming up the hill after a great run!
She loves it!

Marissa coming up the hill
Well prepared for the cold weather.

Everyone:  Jessica, Marissa, Alex, Robert and Aaron
Ready for the big race!

Marissa takes the lead, with Robert a close second.
Robert won - he's on the snow board

Mommy loved being out with the kids.
Sledding was so fun!

Jessica on another run … go Jessica :)

Devon coming back from a fantastic run
Super fast

Devon came a little after everyone else with Dad.  He, and his brilliant mind, immediately set off to building a snow ramp to make the hill more fun.  The more we went down, the more the snow was disappearing so he would collect huge snow balls (2 feet wide) and carry them to the sign of the ramp (and the area before the ramp) to make an awesome ramp for sledding.  From this point on Betsy switched to video to capture the full extent of the fun.