Blizzard 2016

Friday just as the storm began

The newcasters were talking about the storm a week in advance, they forecast accumulations and blizzard conditions. A state of Emergency was declared before the storm's arrival, and we were told to gather a weeks worth of food (the traditional run on milk bread and toilet paper kicking into high gear) and before a flake fell schools were closed, in an abundance of caution. Then Friday night the snow began to fall and the blizzard came in exactly as forecast. Rachael's Saturday birthday party was rescheduled as were all of the other activities on the calendar. We woke up Saturday morning to a silencing blanket of snow and it snowed all day. The wind was pretty fierce at times but when it calmed down a bit, we did a bit of shoveling to decrease the workload at the end of the storm.

The girls were all thrilled to get snow after a very mild Christmas season and looked forward to getting outside in it. I pulled out the snowgear tubs from storage and got out floor mats and towels.  Blizzard conditions aren't the most fun, so Saturdays time outside was mostly to get shoveling done. Sunday though the wind had calmed down and we all went out with shovels to tackle the 30 plus inches. Jim headed out first to clear the main sidewalk so that our crew could be productive and spread out. The big girls all pitched in helped clear the sidewalks and the driveway. It was a lot of heavy lifting and my forearms protested immediately. I was last out because I was on the gear up shift. After about an hour of being outside shoveling we realized Rachael never came out. She had been distracted by a book of course and was sitting on the sofa reading. She joined us and suffered a good bit of joking. Hanna cooperated well, she was motivated to get outside. 30 inches of snow turned out to be not as much fun as it looked for her. Her boots kept getting stuck in the snow and pulling off and that is enough to make a girl grumpy, plus it was soon lunch time. Jim took Hanna in and the rest followed, looking forward to hot chocolate and lunch. Rachael and I stayed out after the rest went back in to keep working on digging out the cars. My cousin Steven showed up magically and offered to help, so we kept at it.

The Broncos/ Patriots playoff game was that afternoon and we were invited to the Arciaga's to watch, so we called the shoveling quits and got cleaned up. Jim did a reconnaissance drive over to their house and discovered a lot of roads weren't plowed yet and we couldn't get to them.  So instead we watched at home and enjoyed a great game with a great outcome.

The rest of the week turned into a blur of school cancelings and requested playdates. I worked from home on Monday along with Jim, with regular interruptions of kids gearing up and then disrobing and scattering wet mittens and boots all over the mats I had put out. Jim continued to work from home all week and the big girls helped watch Hanna on Wednesday when I went to work. By the end of the week off school no one asked to go play in the snow anymore, but they spent time visiting with friends. Emma had friends over, Bridget and Megan had friends over, and they went to friend's houses. Rachael went to Caffe di' Roma and the mall with friends. It was a lazy week with many episodes of Avatar watched and many rounds of Just Dance wii played. Johanna enjoyed it at first but started acting out by mid week. She did not get enough stimulation staying at home. So on Thursday I took her to the library and shopping. She was so much happier to be out of the house.  School wound up being canceled the whole week including Friday, which was Megan's birthday. It was a full 6 days off of school. On Friday Hanna spent the morning at the Shumakers while I worked, and the rest of the crew got ready to host Megan's birthday sleepover.

The blizzard created a lot of down time and it was wonderful to see the kiddos enjoy the unexpected unstructured time. It came to an end and I had a moment of remorse over what felt like was a wasted opportunity. I should have had them play their instruments, or practiced reading, or done thank you notes but I didn't. Rachael did sew a cat, Bridget bonded with a friend in the neighborhood, Emma slept, Megan played, and Hanna spent time with her sisters. Meanwhile Jim and I worked and kept up with the daily chores and mess. Ending the week with Birthday parties, was a great motivation to prevent the mess from getting out of hand. The Blizzard of 2016 was full of good memories and that is not wasted opportunity. My moment of remorse has been banished as I remember, One morning the girls and I went out together. Jim suggested we duct tape Hanna's boots to her pants and it worked beautifully. No more snow in her boots. We built a sled track in the tall piles of snow. That turned into a snowball fight. Em and Bridget v. Rae and Megs. Hanna and I were in the middle. I threw snowballs at everyone and everyone threw snowballs at me. We laughed and threw snowballs until we were out of breath. It was fabulous and no one cried, a new snowball feat. Then the 3 youngest made a snowman, while us old ones cleaned the sidewalks up from our battle. Em went in and got cups spoons and cream soda, so we could all enjoy cream soda snowballs. They were delicious. After lunch Rachael went back outside and built a fire in the snow. It took her a long time but she enjoyed it thoroughly. I got the opportunity to thoroughly enjoy my girls and treasure the memory.