McKinstry Moments: Snowed in Valentines

The winter of 2009-2010, when I was pregnant with Caleb, the snow seemed to just keep coming down. Before one snowfall melted another one came - layers upon layers. Thinking back, I remember worrying if I went into labor that we'd never be able to get to the hospital.

Since then, we hadn't really had a BIG snow (or a bad winter for that matter). This year though blankets of white have kept us nestled inside quite a bit, and honestly, I am not sure that those snowflakes are ever going to surrender to spring at this point.

Valentines weekend was the biggest accumulation we've had in a while. I think we ended up measuring it somewhere around 17-18" when it stopped, but up on the surrounding mountains, I'm sure they got several more inches.

Mom decided to come stay with us to wait out this one, because the weathermen were calling for quite a storm. While I'm sure she would have done just fine staying home, especially since my cousin Willie helped make sure her driveway was plowed, it was better to be safe than sorry and it gave us all a little peace of mind to be together. Plus, we loved having her hang out with us for a few days since we haven't gotten to see her as much lately.

The first day of the blizzard, it snowed all day. To avoid getting too wet, we thought it would be best to wait until it stopped to go out to play, but it was dark before the weather finally ceased. Staying inside wasn't too bad though; we enjoyed each other's company, got our fill of Sesame Street, watched how tall the snow was getting, and played with lots of toys. Although, he still had to work from home, Dave even got to hibernate with us and avoided his normal hour commute.

Yay! Sleepover with NaNa!

I just think this girl is beautiful!

My cousin was reminiscing recently about a similar camouflage sweatshirt that my dad had. He told me that the guys at the hunting cabin used to tease Dad about his "lucky" shirt that he'd had for decades and which had seen better days. While I am not a big camo fan normally, it made me smile to see Caleb in this outfit for this reason, especially since he refused to take it off even though it was too small and his belly kept shining.

There he goes being silly again.

Shockingly for Hadley, Bubble Guppies took a back seat to Elmo in the month of Feb.

This is Hadley's Valentine from NaNa. Caleb got some matchbox cars, and there was a box of rice cereal and some cute bibs for Reid - not to mention a few pieces of candy for the older two to share. (Shh! Don't tell Reid.)

Day two of being snowed in, things began to melt quickly and everything got mushy. As a result, yet again we didn't get an opportunity to get out and make good use of the snow like we would have liked. Dave was still working from home anyway, so he wouldn't have had a whole lot of time to take them out anyway and Momma doesn't do too well out in the cold.

However, it was Valentines' Day which made it a little more fun. The kids had already received Valentines letters from their Grandma and Grandpa McKinstry and their treats from my mom, but my sweetheart held back his surprise for me until the fourteenth rolled around - Reese cup hearts and some type of other "fancy" chocolates. (You can tell what my favorite was!) In return, he received some bacon from me. (I know the way to my man's heart!) Even NaNa got some yummy candy treats from Dave and the kids.

Dave's parents mailed each of the kids their own letters for V-day. I got a little tickled at poor Caleb when he opened his though; the computer paper blended with the envelope so he thought his was empty until Mommy helped him out.

Aside from love notes and presents, we had another special treat...

One day not long ago when watching videos on his LeapPad, Caleb found a video of someone using cookie cutters to cut fun-shaped pieces of watermelon. The person then added a popsicle stick to complete the creation. Caleb's reaction: THIS IS AWESOME!

As a result of viewing this creative food project, our oldest son convinced his daddy to find some cookie cutters and try out this idea in our very own kitchen. We started out with a dog bone-shaped one left over from his Clifford birthday party two years ago, but the video had a heart one so he was pretty insistent that we needed to find one too. Thankfully, I had some from year's passed (maybe from a Valentine's sale?).

When Valentines rolled around a few days later, we decided to make some more heart-shaped watermelon popsicles to celebrate.