02 | February | 2011 | Growing Olive Plants

There is just something about rosy cheeks and noses with a pure white background that begs the camera to click away.

So at the risk of looking like a photo-freak, I snapped some more shots of the kids.

Thankfully, once the sun made an appearance and the wind died down, Bubbie was in all his snowy glory.

King of the hill.

Derek called to me from a pile of snow, and when I turned this is what I saw.

Even Molly joined the fun by bounding through the drifts and eating snow.

Knowing how cold it’s supposed to be the next couple days, I wanted to seize the moment and get a picture of all the kids together. This required stealing some of Ruthie’s freedom.

Yep. Sometimes you just have to settle for less than perfect because it’s an accurate picture of life. Once Jake put her down, she was back to happily walking up and down the driveway.

Look at all that snow!

The Preparation

Preparations were made the night before, as the boys made an assembly line from the patio to the deck and transported firewood.

The Anticipation

Yesterday the boys were giddy with the anticipation of the blizzard. Jake, being the weather buff that he is, was especially excited. In the morning, he thanked God for the opportunity to see His greatness in the storm. Then in the afternoon, the winds began to pick up. After every gust, he ran from wherever he was in the house, raced into the den, and waited for the wind speed to register on his weather station. Once it registered, he would yell out the mph so that we could share the thrill with him.

Later in the evening, our next door neighbor called to tell us that the gate on our fence was swinging open and it didn’t look like it would last the night. I immediately sent Jake out. He put on his science lab goggles, braved the wind, assessed the damage and fixed it as best as he could.

The Aftermath

Here is what our backyard looks like after the storm moved through.

That’s our four foot fence.

Jim and Derek then began the arduous task of clearing the driveway. Here is what the front of the house looks like.

I used to daydream when I was younger about how great it would be to have to shovel your way out the front door and make tunnels leading to where you needed to go (this was before I knew how much work it was to shovel a driveway). Well, the boys have begun digging their own network of tunnels throughout the yard.

I don’t have any pictures of Jeremy romping in the snow, unfortunately. About 5 minutes after he stepped outside, he got hit with a wind gust in the face. Then it was game over for him. I could show pictures of him sitting on the couch in front of the fire, drawing pictures of hockey guys…but that’s not very blizzard-y.

Ruthie on the other hand, couldn’t get enough of the outdoors.

When she couldn’t stay on her feet any longer, she sat on the driveway and watched the action. The wind blew constantly on her rosy cheeks, but she was not to be deterred; she was determined to remain outside.

I couldn’t bear to watch her poor face being pelted with snow and wind any longer, so I brought her inside. She did not agree.

She stood by the front door, tugged on her coat, and patted her legs while grunting. I translated this to mean Please, Mommy, will you put my coat on me and take me outside? Well, since she said please and all, I gave in. Coat back on.