Well the mid-south is living up to it's reputation of unpredictable weather this year.
This has been the longest coldest winter we have had in quite some time. The kids have had more days off school than I can count now and here we are again with numerous snows days. This time it is not snow but ice and it's nearly 4 inches deep with a little snow on top of it. Thank the Lord we have not lost power this time and the ice plus snow makes for great sledding.
So here are a few pics recapping the weather we have had in the past few weeks.
The weather warmed up to a chilly 50 degrees and after temps in the teens we thought the 50's were warm enough to get outside. We all put on our rain boots and went out to play.
It was VERY muddy but that didn't stop our fun. Mud can wash off but we knew it would be freezing again in the next few days. Why waste some good playtime outside because of mud?!?!?!
A few weeks ago when I picked up Baby A from her bible study class her teacher said it had been a trying day but Baby A was the model student. I was proud of her great behavior so we celebrated with Chick-Fila and a picnic at the park. The weather was glorious that day. No jackets needed. We spent hours there and skipped naps. Again why waste a good day outside because of naps?!?!?!
This girl is getting so tall! The clothes we bought her in October are already too small. That means she will be wearing a 6 (one size smaller than Rascal wears right now) soon. She's only 3!!!
The warm weather stuck around a few days and that Saturday was one we all spent outside.
Tim and Baby A daydreamed about climbing to the tops of the trees together.
Then this past Sunday night we got hit with wintery weather. The sleet started falling heavily around 7:00 and continued to steadily pour from the sky for a good 5 hours. That left us with 4 inches of ice and a snow day at home for all of us.
We got snow all day Monday and so the total accumulation is about 4 inches of ice with 1/2 inch to 1 inch of snow on top of that.
We got some damage to several tree limbs that fell however we have power and a full pantry so we are thanking God for that.
First up, pics of the damage:
Heidi's pen.....that's a 6 foot tall fence just to give you an idea of how big that limb is.
Bless her heart she stayed outside because I really didn't expect it to do anything and when this limb fell (missing her thank goodness) she ran out of her pen and slept on the front porch the rest of the night. That is where we found her the next morning. I felt horrible and she stayed inside for quite some time and now at nights too.
She looks as if she is smiling.
Tim fixed the pen for her to be able to go out but we will have to have it professionally repaired soon. And see Henry in the pic above?? He was chasing a bunny rabbit that was hopping through our yard. He didn't catch it, I might have cried if he would have. He can catch all the mice, lizards, chipmunks and squirrels he wants but not rabbits.
This limb hit our house waking me from a deep sleep that night. I feared we had a tree laying on our house. It did a little damage but nothing too major.
We heard this one fall and it shook the ground. It was the first to fall and it scared me because I knew then what the night just may hold. If you look closely to the left , you will see the swingset. That swing set is close to 11 feet tall so that gives you a pretty good idea of just how big this tree (half of one) was. It was home to a hawk we saw every day and we heard him screech all day yesterday . Kinda made me sad since his home is gone now and I enjoyed seeing him each morning.
What is remaining of the maple tree.
Tim and I spent the majority of the morning cleaning up limbs and trying to fix Heidi's pen. The kids spent that time sledding. It was PERFECT sledding weather. I didn't get any pics because I was too busy cleaning up.
The wind was crazy and each time it blew I feared more limbs falling with us out there. I took the pic above to show how tall the trees are. That coupled with the thick ice covering them, makes for a pretty nasty fall and the sound of them falling is eery. Kind of like when you hear tires screeching on the road.
This is our burn pile now and we aren't even done picking up all the limbs. We still have that huge maple to clean up. About 80% of the stuff on this pile if from this winter and the limbs that have fallen. It has been a rough winter for our trees.
I thought this little stream in our side yard was so pretty. The birds came all day to it to get a drink. The cardinals were gorgeous up against the white snow.
After spending several hours in the cold snow, me and the kids got sick of falling constantly (it's super hard to walk on the ice) and headed in to thaw out and get lunch ready. The kids passed the time with some new puzzles and a magnet game from Nanny and then a game of hide and seek after lunch:
The sun decided to come out for a very short time yesterday only to go down. It made for a gorgeous sunset over all the ice though.
We woke up this morning and when I opened the blinds this was what I saw.
So much white still covering the ground and massive icicles hanging from the roof.
Schools aren't closed tomorrow just yet but this stuff isn't thawing so my bet is we will be home again tomorrow. What a winter we have had!
