Today is Dave's fourth snow day. He has enjoyed a six day weekend. CRAZY! The storms were spaced out such that they cancelled school yesterday and again today. I think he is bored to tears and ready to go back to work, but I'm sure he has enjoyed some downtime with his family as well. I think life will be back to normal starting tomorrow. Here are some more pictures of our fun in the snow.
Dave has shoveled so much snow
We got to see the sun for a couple of days between the two big storms
Much needed Walmart run before the second storm hit
The second storm has arrived (Monday afternoon)
I decided to make a chocolate cake while the snow fell
Last night Dave took Miles outside to build a snowman. He also wanted to get the afternoon snow cleared off the sidewalks & driveway before the overnight snow arrived.
The boys and their snowman - it was too dark to get a descent picture
Our backyard this morning - so pretty!
Their snowman survived the night
Sledding!
Miles never once wanted to go down with one of us
He had so much fun!
He's a natural
Dave trying out a trash bag
Mom's turn
Miles going down on a trashcan lid in a plastic bag
He loved tackling Dad in the snow
And face planting in the snow so he could eat it
Family picture
Miles rode down on Dave's back - not sure that was the best idea
This winter in Kansas has been a little disappointing, but we sort of expected it to be compared to what we are used to in Utah. Up until a couple of days ago, the only snow we saw was back in December and there was actually more ice involved in that storm than snow. The snow amounted to just a dusting really, but the ice made the roads really dangerous. I even ended up in the ditch after I dropped Miles off at daycare and fell on my bottom in the parking lot of Miles' daycare. What a lovely morning! It took me about 2 1/2 hours to get to work that morning too. Ugh!
Last Sunday we were all playing in the front yard soaking in some sun while a friend of the family installed new handrails on mom's front porch. The phrase "it is so nice out here" came out of pretty much everyone's mouth that day.
Fast forward about three days and we were getting dumped on! I've never seen so much snow in Kansas in my entire life. Utah, yes. Kansas, no. In fact, we almost reached the old record that was set in the 1960s. The record was like 15 some odd inches and Wichita got somewhere around 14 inches of snow. I'm not sure how much we got here in Halstead. It wasn't quite as much as Wichita, but pretty close. It's pretty cool if you ask me. The problem with getting that much snow in Kansas though is that the state doesn't have the resources to deal with it. Schools were cancelled for two days and the roads still remain snow packed. That part is what boggles my mind because the roads would definitely be clear by now in Utah.
With all of the getting mom's house ready to be sold activities that we've done around here, our snow gear ended up in our storage shed in another town. I debated whether or not I wanted to take Miles out in the snow Wednesday night because I didn't have any snow pants or snow boots, but I sucked it up and took him out. Heck, if you only get one significant snowfall each year you better darn well enjoy it! Thankfully we still had Miles' snow gear here so he could play and not freeze to death!
Wednesday morning (wanted a picture of the for sale sign)
Watching with wonder
Our little ornery man
He loves eating the snow! He kept telling me it was his food and then started calling it dinner.
Eating our attempt at a snowman - it was too powdery
One happy little boy
I taught him how to make snow angels, but he kept calling them snowmen
He had to get his tractor involved in digging in the snow
We ended up with only an inch or two by the end of the day on Wednesday, but the weathermen were saying the biggest part of the storm was coming through overnight. This is what we woke up to Thursday...
The back yard
Dave had to shovel a path for Buddy
The beginning of his day of shoveling
Dave is sore today!
School was cancelled again today. It's been so nice having Dave at home. Miles really has enjoyed having dad around. Dave is supposed to go in to Wichita tonight for the varsity basketball game, but based on the road conditions that still exist, we aren't quite sure if he'll make it. The sun is shining today though so maybe a lot of it will melt away before he needs to leave. I'm hoping after Miles wakes up from nap we can figure out how to go sledding on the dike without an official sled.
I've neglected this blog again because we've been so busy getting my mom's house ready to be put on the market. Early in January I encouraged her to call a realtor to offer us suggestions on what projects we should start/finish around here before selling it. I was secretly hoping she'd come in and just say we should sell it "as is" because it is an older home, etc., but she didn't say that and gave us a list of things to do. She said that it was best to finish projects we had started because it is hard for potential buyers to imagine what things might look like. She also mentioned that there was a Parade of Homes scheduled for the end of January that we should try and shoot for as our listing date. With Dave coaching basketball, I highly doubted we'd get all the projects done in time...and I ended up being right. We didn't officially get mom's house listed until Tuesday, February 19th (just a couple of days ago). But it is still in time for the busy spring season of house buying! Crossing our fingers we can get this house sold...quickly.
- A little background info. for those of you unaware - We moved in to my mom's house last summer when we moved to Kansas. My mom hasn't been living here full-time for quite some time so she offered it to us rent free (yippee). All she asked was that we finish up some projects so that she could eventually sell it. Her house is paid for, but the taxes and insurance on it are costing her too much and she'd rather not have the responsibility anymore.
Among getting the house ready we've been busy living life. I've gone back to typing (medical transcription) part-time and am enjoying the flexible schedule. Miles went back to his preschool class that he started last August (All God's Children). It is two mornings a week for 2 1/2 hours. He loves the break from mom and the opportunity he has to play with other kids his age and learn new things. Dave's life has been consumed by basketball. He is busy with it six days a week with either a game (sometimes twice a week) or practice. Tonight was supposed to be the last freshman game, but because of snow it was postponed until tomorrow and now schools have been cancelled for tomorrow so they decided to cancel the freshman game entirely and just hold the varsity game tomorrow evening. He isn't officially done coaching until the state playoffs happen for the varsity team which is the 6th, 8th, and 9th of March. I'm glad he's had this opportunity, but man am I looking forward to the beginning of March!
Spring break is around the corner and we're all looking forward to some much needed R&R!
Miles LOVES to go to Dad's b-ball practices!
Living/dining room before carpet
Living/dining room after carpet
Half bath before (forgot to get a real before pic) - Dave tore out an old sink and cabinet before I remembered to take a picture
Installing bead board - not so easy in such a small space
Half bath after - I think it looks SO good!
The main bath had two entrances so we closed off one entrance and added a HUGE linen closet - so nice to have!
In the kitchen Dave finished hanging the bead board at the top of the walls, hung the shelves for the dishes, and did some texturing on the walls where we were going to put tile but changed our minds
Miles' Valentine's Day party at school
Trying mom's fruit dip that I made for the party
Miles' Valentine's
Checking out his goodies
And a couple of random pictures of our cutie to end this long post...
Trying on Dad's hat
Miles loves Tinkerbell and is always asking where his wings are so Grandma bought him some wings. Ha! He ran around for hours trying to fly. Just so you know, Dave does NOT approve of this at all. Ha ha!
