Snow Day

We had quite a snow day today, one that started out with all kinds of wind and a small layer of snow on the ground.  It was freezing, and threatening to snow more soon, so the call made by many to close things down was a good one.  We didn't have church, and many other events were cancelled as well.  It was good for everyone to stay in this morning, as the temperature was dropping, and a wave of snow was on its way.

Before it really fell though, Maddie and I were out there on the back deck, building a snowman!  That was what I started the week out last week wanting to do, and here we are, less than a week later, a prayer answered!

I had borrowed a top hat from the prop room, as I wanted to do a more traditional snowman.  The snow was pretty packable to begin with, nearly a slush.  So with the snow shovel, I packed up piles of the snow and sculpted the mound climbed a bit higher, along with lots of help from Maddie.  In fact, she did the head, rolling up a ball to fit into the shoulder socket that I carved out.  Mom came up with the brilliant idea to have our snowman holding a small dish for bird seed.  We had all our other feeders out too, so the show with the birds today was really nice.  The birds were beautiful, so much variety seen against the snow.  Along the railing of our back deck, the birds landed next to the miniature snowmen that Maddie made there.  These two are a lot of fun - they look great!

Below are some of the photos taken over the course of our day, a really nice day together.

Mom, Nana and the rubber chicken sit, watching KidPak online this morning.

Sparrows huddle under the roof of one of our feeders.

A brilliant red cardinal seen sits amidst the snow.

Our cardinal friend visits with Maddie's mini-snowmen.

This picture is a part of my favorite series of photos, "Mr. Bluebird on my shoulder."  Mom's favorite bird, the bluebird, drops in to check out the bird seed that our snowman had to offer.  He perched there on the snowman's shoulder just long enough, and it was a pleasant surprise for all of us!

We love seeing cardinals in the winter.

Here's another view of our snowman, looking stately on the back deck.

Red berries in the snow.

Maddie snapped this photo of one of her mini snowman, with seeds for eyes.

A view of the front of our house earlier this morning, before even more snow fell.

A bluebird visits with Maddie's other mini-snowman.

A few woodpeckers came by for a quick snack.

Maddie wrote this on the car windshield this afternoon.  Thank you Jesus for the snow!

One of Maddie's mini-snowman.

We were pretty happy with our snowman today!

Maddie took this picture of our Rock City birdhouse.

Here I am, getting close to finishing up the snowman today.

Another photo of a bluebird visiting with Maddie's snowman.

Icicles started forming later this morning, getting longer and longer.

A nice photo of Maddie's mini-snowman.

Maddie took this picture during our snowball fight.  I'm covered in snow.

Mr. Bluebird coming in for a landing.

I love how this photo of a bluebird came out.  Beautiful bird.

A female cardinal rests for a while under the rooftop.

Nana looks on as we build our snowman.

Another bluebird visits with Maddie's snowman.

Maddie and I working on our snowman.

Our red birdhouse in the woods looked nice with the wintery backdrop.

A bluebird takes a rest looking over the bird feeders.

This is my favorite shot of the day, the bluebird perched on our snowman's shoulder.  The birds weren't ready to try out the food in that dish quite yet.  In this photo, the snow was covering the seed, just as it was covering the top hat and scarf.  We cleared that up, and soon enough, we had sparrows resting on the dish, munching on the free seeds.

It was a good day today.  We watched KidPak online this morning, built snowmen, and went back out again later for a snowball fight.  It was quiet outside, with children gleefully screaming as they went on sleds down snow-covered hills or got into snowball fights.  Maddie got me a few times, launching snowballs over a car with overhead lobs.  I got her too. We were both covered with snow, and pretty ready to come in after that.

Tonight we saw "Kubo" and we watched an episode of "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." as well, staying up a little later, knowing that we could sleep in tomorrow in the morning.  Outside, the wind picked up again.  It was a cold night again, the temperature going down below freezing.  There were even a few more flurries coming down.  Inside, we had the fireplace going, and it was nice and warm in the living room.

It was a good day today.  We read tonight, and we prayed too, and then went to sleep a little later, as tomorrow we can sleep in and enjoy another day together.