Snowpocalypse 2014 - The Fun Part!

After our "adventure" on Tuesday, I honestly didn't have the heart to enjoy the snow very much, but the kids and John had a great time playing in the snow.  John's brother (and his sweet fiancee) came over on Wednesday morning with his 4 wheeler, and they had fun driving it around in the snow and even used it to pull the sled around the neighborhood (we lack any exciting hills close by).

The sled the kids played on was actually a Christmas present my parents gave to us after the winter snow storm of 1993.  I think we've only used it once between then and now.  That's how often it snows like this in Alabama :)

all bundled up (I think their clothes were 3 to 4 layers thick)

Big Sister's snow angel

Snowpocalypse 2014

What happened in the greater Birmingham area this past Tuesday is unlike anything else I've ever experienced.  In a bad way. A very, very bad way.  Over the weekend, we kept a close eye on the weather forecast, hoping that we might get a little bit of snow.  By Monday night, it looked like we were in the outer fringes of the snow band, so we told Big Sister that it might snow on Tuesday afternoon, putting extra emphasis on the word "might".  Because about 7 out of 10 times snow is predicted in our area, the most we end up with is a few flurries.  All of the weather models showed that the snow would move in during the late morning or early afternoon, and the Birmingham area (north of us) wasn't supposed to get much of anything, so we packed up for Classical Conversations like we do every Tuesday, and dropped Little Bud off to Grammie on our way to Riverchase (about a 40 minute drive from our house).  After morning assembly, once we divided into our classes, our director came in and casually mentioned that it was snowing, and that when we got to a stopping point, we might want to let the kids look out the window.  Of course, the kids, including Big Sister, were super excited!  A while later, we noticed that it was snowing even harder, and I also saw that some of the snow was actually sticking to the road, which hardly ever happens where we live.

At that point, I started to worry a bit, and thought about leaving, but the weather folks were saying that it was going to stop within the hour (Birmingham proper was only supposed to get a light dusting, the real snow/winter storm was supposed to take place south of Birmingham).  I talked to John, who had recently been out of the roads, and he didn't notice any problems, and they also weren't releasing schools, so I decided to stay, at least until we were done with Science and Art (Big Sister's favorite part of CC - they do a fun science and art project each week).  Before we finished Science, Jamie texted to say that Hoover City Schools were releasing students, and not long after I received her text, Grammie told me that Shelby County Schools had decided to release as well.  I felt increasingly uneasy, but felt like the situation must not be that bad, or they would have released the schools earlier.  The buses had to run to return the kids home before the roads got too bad, right?  

If only I had listened to my mommy instinct that told me to leave, but I waited around, until about 10:50, and I even let Big Sister make a snow angel with her friend before hurriedly loading her up in the van.  By the time I got on the road, the traffic was unlike anything I have ever experienced.  It took us about 3 hours to go 3 miles.  About 30 minutes in, I started to panic.  I wondered if we would ever make it home.  I wasn't able to call out (the cell phone lines were overcrowded and didn't work for hours and hours), but thankfully I was able send text messages to John.  I wasn't texting and driving, we were seriously is stand still traffic; as in, it took us an hour to go a few hundred yards.  At one point, I felt like it might be best to park the car and walk to the main road so that John could meet us and pick us up.  Thankfully at that point, the traffic started inching forward, and John encouraged me to stay in the car, since it was so cold (I later realized that he never would have been able to meet us, since Highway 31 North was completely gridlocked).  We inched along for hours, barely making any progress, and my stress and panic levels started to rise with every passing minute.  Big Sister was not happy about being trapped in the car (she wanted to be home to play in the snow!), she was hungry (thankfully I had her lunch with us), thirsty, had to go to the bathroom, and was of all things HOT (she complained about being hot even after I turned off her heat and she took off her jacket, shoes and socks - silly girl!)!

As we were driving, I began to piece together how bad the situation really was.  I was watching ice form on the roads as we painfully inched along, and saw multiple cars slipping and sliding.  Grammie let us know that the buses never ran in Shelby County (where we live); they actually loaded the kids up on the buses and then had to unload them once they made the call that the roads were unsafe.  Jamie kept us posted on what was going on at her school, and soon it became apparent that she might be spending the night with her students, since the roads were impassible (not only because of snow, but also because of abandoned cars that were stuck in the ice).  One of John's sisters was stuck in Birmingham, after realizing that she would never make it home with the road conditions/traffic (I-65 was gridlocked for 2 days).  Several friends were texting me, keeping me updated on their own treacherous journeys, and soon I realized we were lucky.  We left just in time to actually be able to get out.  A friend left our CC campus about 10 minutes after us, and didn't make it to her parents house (she was unable to make it home because of the road conditions), until after 9 o'clock that night (she was by herself with her 3 sweet kids)!  And, she actually traveled less miles than we did.    

John and my dad met us in front of a bank near their office (3 hour later!), and John got in the car with us, and we followed my dad who was thankfully in his 4 wheel drive truck.  We decided to stay in the van, hoping to make it on our own, but trailed my dad, just in case the van got stuck somewhere (there were accidents, abandoned cars and stuck vehicles everywhere!).  After about another hour (during this part of the journey Big Sister and I actually used the bathroom in a bucket that my dad gave us - we had to go to the bathroom for hours, but were afraid if we got off the road, we would never be able to get back on again, because of the traffic) were able to make it to the interstate, which was blessedly not crowded, and we followed my dad down to the Calera exit (we decided it would be best to drive way around to avoid trouble spots and to be able to follow my dad and his 4 wheel drive truck for as long as possible, just in case we ran into trouble).

We tried to go home via Highway 25 from Calera to Columbiana, but there are several bridges that were icy, and the traffic was backed up, so we decided to drive to my parents and pick up the Jeep, which is 4 wheel drive and then drove home via Highway 47.  We finally made it to John's parents' house to pick up sweet Little Bud around 4:30.  I know that he was safe, warm and happy there, but I just had to get home to him!

After we got home, I spent a little bit of time on Facebook and realized again that what we endured wasn't all that bad, compared to the stories I was reading from friends and relatives.  Some people were stuck in traffic for 11+ hours.  Some didn't make it home at all, and had to spend the night in their cars, or shelters, or stores, or other peoples homes.  Even worse, lots of families were separated from each other, and thousands of kids were stuck at area schools!  There were about 1200 kids stranded at the high school where Jamie works, and she was there with them until about 5:00 pm on Wednesday night; at one point she thought that they were going to have to spend another sleepless night together (thankfully the fire and police departments worked to get everyone home).  There were also little ones stranded at their day cares and preschools.  My heart goes out to the parents who were unable to get to their precious kids.  John's sister spent 2 nights at a hotel in Birmingham, where miraculously she met up with a distant cousin on John's brother's fiancee who offered to share their room with her, since there were no hotel rooms left, and she had previously thought she would be sleeping in the lobby of the hotel.  There were actually no rooms left in any hotel in the whole greater Birmingham area.

The pictures and video that I've seen are almost surreal.  They looks like something out of a movie.  Cars abandoned, people walking for miles to get somewhere safe and warm.  To me the silver lining is that we were once again reminded that so many good hearted people live in our area.  So many people (and businesses) reached out and helped in any way possible.  

I hope to never again experience anything like what happened last Tuesday.  I've always made fun of how people act in Alabama when it snows (even though I've lived her my entire life), but now I'll be one of them.  I realize that what happened was unpredictable and unexpected, since the roadways just happened to be the perfect temperature for creating a thick layer of dangerous ice out of the snow that fell, and that what happened probably won't happen again to our generation, but the next time snow is predicted, I'm staying home. 

Once I saw the snow accumulating on the roads, I should have headed home!

Big Sister and her classmate couldn't wait to make a snow angel!

The roads at this traffic light were the first indication that I might be in for a long drive.

Bumper to bumper, slow moving traffic on icy Highway 31

Once we turned onto I-65, the roads were icy, but there wasn't any traffic

She finally felt better after our little potty break!

Finally HOME and able to enjoy the snow!!

Outside

"Outside" is Little Bud's new favorite word.  He's still selective about talking (he knows quite a few words, but would rather whine when he wants something - we're slowly working on that), but he asks to go outside at least 54 times a day.  As soon as I open his curtains in the morning, he says, "Outside!" (and he also usually points to his diaper to let me know he's got a dirty diaper for me to change!).  Unfortunately, the weather has been unusually wet and cold the last month or so, but this past week we've had a nice stretch of decent days and both kids have spent hours soaking in the sun.  Little Bud loves to push Big Sister's old bubble lawn mower around the yard.  He's so proud of himself, since he's being such a big help to Daddy (if only that thing really cut grass!).

On Saturday, Big Sister had her first "work" experience.  We have several sweet gum trees in our yard that provide us with great shade in the summer, but in the winter they drop tens of thousands of little gumballs into our back yard (and they HURT if you step on them without shoes on!).  So, we offered to pay big Sister 1 penny for each gumball she collected.  She agreed right away, and picked up 334 gumballs in about 45 minutes.  Her plan is to spend that money on presents for her cousin, Little Bud and her Papa, who all have birthdays coming up (I'm hoping the Dollar Tree and/or the Target Dollar bins will be good to us - she has no understanding of what a dollar actually buys, or in most cases, doesn't buy).  She says she wants to keep working a little every day so that she can save up to buy a rainbow bracelet loom (she is super impressed by her cousins mad bracelet making skills and wants to get in on the craze herself). I was proud of her hard work, and even more proud of the fact that she wanted to spend her hard earned money buying gifts for those she loves.  

Little Bud and Chester the kitty cat

on a cold, rainy morning the kids had fun making their musical debut

as "The Pots and Pans Band" :)

Party Animals!

To celebrate the new year, we headed out straight away (as Big Sister would say) on the morning of January 1st to Chuck E. Cheese!!  I normally am not a fan of Chuck E's, but a new location opened in our area a while back, and we thought New Year's morning might be less crowded than normal, so we decided to give it a go.

The kids and I met up with Papa, Grams, Jamie and 2 of the littles' cousins, and had a great time playing games and collecting tickets.  Papa bought $30 in tokens, and 4 kids and a few adults played for about 2 hours, which in this day and time is pretty cheap entertainment.  

Before finishing off their fun by chowing down on some pizza, the kids spent their tickets on trinkets.  Big Sister melted my heart when she bought her brother a Dino car toy for 200 tickets and then got herself a mini princess wand with the 50 tickets she had left.  The ticket counter lady gave her a little purple frog because she also thought Big Sister was so sweet!  There are plenty of moments where I question my parenting abilities, but in moments like those my heart is encouraged.  

Art Class

A few weeks before Christmas, Big Sister and one of her cousins went to an art class at a Color Outside the Lines, an art studio that's right here in Columbiana.  Little Bud was a teething handful (imagine lots of screaming, hitting, biting and throwing), but the girls had a great time.  Their paintings turned out beautifully, and I will happily pull out Big Sister's snowman every year with our Christmas decorations.

We also had some friends over a few weeks before Christmas for a craft day. We were so busy crafting that I failed to take pictures while everyone was here, but the kids had a great time making sparkle play dough, handprint wreath hangings and some jingle garland.  

Family Christmas

On Christmas Eve we made sugar cookies while Little Bud was taking his nap (he decided to cut 2 molars over Christmas - and teething does not bring out his finer qualities).  We went over to John's parents' house for a few hours Christmas Eve afternoon to celebrate with John's immediate family.  When we came home, we finished our last Advent reading, read the last chapter in the little bear Advent book, added the last ornament to the Jesse Tree and the kids opened their last "calendar box" (as Big Sister calls her Advent Calendar).  Big Sister also decided that we should relight our candles from the Christmas service at church and sing to Jesus.  She asked us to light the candles in our Advent wreath, light the candles from church and take them to the window to sing, "Silent Night".  It was a sweet family moment, and I'm sure will continue this tradition on Christmas Eve in the future.

After the kids were tucked quietly into bed, we remembered that Big Sister forgot to put out cookies and milk for Santa (she had mentioned doing this early when we made cookies).  So, we got her back up to pick out which cookies she wanted to leave and which cup she wanted the milk to go in.  Once we put the cookies and milk on the fireplace, Big Sister quickly went back to bed and was soon sound asleep.

When we were certain she was asleep, John and I snuck back in and completed "Operation Small World Room Makeover" (John had put the nails in the wall earlier in the day, so we just had to hang everything up, put her new dolls on their shelf, add the cover and pillows that Grammie made to her ikea chair, and put her new comforter on her bed).  She woke up around 10 to go to the bathroom, and was so tired that she didn't notice anything different about her room.  The next morning, she woke up around 6:15 (she told John the night before that she was going to try to wake up a little early to see what Santa brought her).  Right when she woke up she let out a little scream and then came scurrying into our room.  She snuggled with us for a few minutes and told us that she saw a scary shadow in her room when she woke up (which is why she screamed).  Then, her face lit up and she said, maybe her room had turned into It's a Small World because now that she thought about it, the scary shadow looked kind of like the sun on the ride at Disney (after she got her Small World dolls from several different family members, we watched a YouTube clip of the ride, and she told us it would be very cool to have a Small World room).  She ran back into her room to investigate, and was super excited to see the transformation!  She couldn't believe we had put everything up while she was sleeping!  Oh the magic of Christmas!!

Little Bud slept in, so John, Big Sister and I opened our stockings before he woke up.  Big Sister helped John wrap the gifts for my stocking, and she was so excited for me to open everything that she insisted I open my stocking first.  So sweet!!

Once Little Bud was awake, he opened his stocking (with Big Sister's help of course), and both kids opened their gifts from Santa.  Big Sister was doubtful that Santa would bring her the binoculars she wanted, because she had been too shy to ask him when she saw him on the North Pole Express.  She was so excited that he magically knew what she wanted anyways!

We took a break from presents to eat a little breakfast (we had our traditional baked peach oatmeal and cinnamon rolls - which I make a head and freeze, and they rise as they unthaw overnight on Christmas Eve).

Since we didn't have to be over at Papa Jack and Grammie's until 1:00, we took our time opening gifts and playing with the kids new toys.  Overall it was the most relaxed Christmas we've ever had as a family.  My ultimate wish for Christmas is to spend all of Christmas Day at our house, and have family stop by to visit throughout the day.  I hate that we have to push the kids to open all of their gifts at one time; I would love for them to be able to enjoy each gift as they open it and be able to play with it until they're ready to open the next one.  I treasure our Christmas celebrations with extended family, but at some point, I'm hoping that we might be able to move those celebrations to sometime other than Christmas Day.  Big Sister's Christmas dream is to pack up our stockings and visit Papa Dean and Gigi and her sweet cousin for Christmas Day, since that's pretty much the only way she'll get to experience a white Christmas!

We decided to go with a less is more theme this year for Christmas, and were able to convince our families to go along with that plan (our kids are blessed with lots of family and friends who love them...and the presents can quickly add up!).  They were given so many wonderful things, a lot of them were things for their new rooms, which they both have enjoyed so much!  The first thing Little Bud does every morning when he wakes up, is point out all the fun cars, trucks, trains, planes and fire engines in his room!  Big Sister loves having company over so that she can show off her new room and explain how we switched everything out while she was sleeping.

Advent Wreath

Jesse Tree

completed Nativity Advent Calendar

Santa's Milk and Cookies

everything's ready for Big Sister's new room!

stockings and gifts from Santa

Christmas Morning!!!

excited about her new room! 

the cookies and milk are gone :)

(notice the head tilt...in EVERY S.I.N.G.L.E. picture!)

so excited about the glitter glue and other craft supplies in her stocking!

all her stocking loot!

Little Bud's favorite gift of the day...a light up bouncy ball!

Santa gifts

trying out her new binoculars :)

she asked for colored envelopes and was so happy to get some!

small world sticker book and a sparkly new Peppa shirt

new moose backpack

Little Bud trying out his sister's new bedding

giving his sister a big kiss for the fire engine she gave him

giving Little Bud a big hug and kiss for the Doc McStuffins set he picked out for her

puppets to enjoy with the new puppet stage Grammie made them!

she was happy to get a purse like the ones she picked out for 

several of her cousins and a friend

I'm going to do a full post on both of the kids new rooms after we tie up a 

few loose ends (like the half finished painting above Big Sister's bed)

 and take down their Christmas decorations.

We've de-Christmased the rest of the house, but both kids wanted to keep

up the trees and other decorations in their rooms for a bit longer :)