Winter Storm: 2011

Today is day four of snow covered grounds and icy roads. It's been funny reading friends' blogs and Facebook posts. Everyone is starting to go crazy and experiencing a little "cabin fever" from being trapped at home for four days. Eric is definitely having a hard time. I, on the other hand, already went through all of this six months ago when Madelyn showed me that staying home all day was now how I would spend most of my weeks. It was very hard at first, and it did take me a while to adjust to the new schedule, but I did adjust. So these four days have been nothing new to me. I have actually enjoyed them because Eric has been home, well until HE started going crazy, and then I was glad he ventured out for a bit.

The snow came down in buckets, or so I heard because I was fast asleep on Sunday night. A total of six inches was on the ground when we awoke Monday morning. Madelyn was too young to enjoy the snow, but Eric and I used her as an excuse to be kids again. We all got bundled up and spent the days sledding with the neighbors. Madelyn was wearing Cousin Sammi's winter gear that was three sizes too big, and I was finally able to wear the ski pants that I bought on sale three years ago. Before heading outside, Eric and I each grabbed our own idea of the "perfect" makeshift sled. I was determined to make a large foil pan work, but Eric brought his boogie board and completely put my foil pan to shame. His boogie board was definitely a hit! We had ALL the neighbors out sledding.

Here is me getting my turn. This was actually more dangerous than it looks. You really had no control over the board and those trees came up very fast and were often barely missed. Of course Eric banged himself up a few times. The guy has no fear. He slammed right into a tree once and broke our camera. I was thankful he broke the camera instead of his ribs, so I figured it was a good trade off. When Madelyn got too cold, I would take her over to the neighbor's house, who also has a little boy, while the guys stayed out a little longer. Later we would either have homemade hot pudding or hot chocolate, turn on the fire, and watch movies. I loved it all! We were forced to do things we normally wouldn't do because we had no other option, but it's weeks like these that are much needed to make us slow down and enjoy life's simplest pleasures.