Giant Snowballs and Snowhenge

We had a March snow day this year where even Ross got to stay home! We had gone out earlier in the day to shovel and play and we tried to make a snowman, but it wasn't working very well. It was a heavy, wet, snow, so I thought it would be great, but we were disappointed and went to lunch. When we came back, the snow and temperatures must have been just right, because we tried again and the snow packed together like crazy!! So crazy, in fact, that it picked up all of the snow and dead grass with it leaving trails cleared of snow behind it. AND, the snowballs just stayed together! Ross decided to make it as big as he could...



You can see the clear path it left... I hadn't ever seen that before.


We all took turns helping push the snowball... it got heavy fast!


taking a break, and eating snow, of course...




Ross got quite a work out in actually. We ended up making 7 or so snowballs. After he could no longer push like this...


He had to squat low with his back against it and push up! It was crazy. Some broke along the way, too.

you can see here how heavy the snow was on the trees!




here is Zoey squatting in the middle of one of the rolls (it was more of a roll than a ball at this point).


Here are the kids by the ones we were trying to gather together. You can see a couple broke along the way and didn't make it to where we wanted them to be. We were thinking to get a bunch together for a snow fort or just to climb on and jump around.





Zoey is five feet tall, so you can get an idea of the height.


and Max wanted to clear off the grass and leaves stuck to them!




I think some of them got to be over 6 feet!








I'm king of the world!!




Jumping and sitting on the tops!






So, we just hit the perfect temps and timing for this because as it got colder, the snow didn't work as well again. interesting. Next, we turned it into a fort.













It was such a fun snow day for us all!! The snow lasted in that pile for days, too!

little boos and outdoor play

any chance we got in February, we tried to get outside in the sunshine. The kids found some clay pigeons and shotgun shells (Zoey had a collection from hiking in the nature preserve behind our house) and set up a picnic for their boo puppies...



looks like one of them has been drinking too much...

February sunshine, looks pretty, but still chilly...




Max could be a Japanese tourist on a scooter in the one, he just needs a couple of cameras...


and just for documentation... Always a little weird to see in your front yard...

flowers, flowers

More flower pictures because I love 'em... and spring is maybe, finally, here, so hopefully we will have lots more flowers to come!

Tiny B

Zoey bought this really cute dog necklace for herself with some Christmas cash she had and after wearing it for a couple days, decided to see how it would look on Ross. All dogs in our house (fake, stuffed, necklace, whatever) have a voice, so not only did this necklace fit snugly on Ross, but it came with commentary:

"help, I'm smooooshed up tight here! I need to dangle free!"


Tough look is somehow lost in this picture...

Winter Silhouettes

One evening in February, it was a little mild, so Ross grilled and we played outside a little as the sun was setting.

here is Ross doing his Joe America pose... a little back story... in college, his rugby team took a trip to England to play, and a British lady pointed out that he was what she thought was the "typical looking American chap" and so he got nicknamed "Joe America." And somewhere along the line, we started doing poses for pictures and this one was his... we have pictures from so many different places where he is doing it! It's almost like Flat Stanley traveling around. Anyway, here is Silhouette Joe America...


And the kids jumping!!





it's definitely not as fun to jump in your winter coat!! HAHA!!

March! Ten on the Tenth

The idea is to take ten photos on the tenth of the month and share it, documenting a day of your life and the ordinary moments. There is beauty in the ordinary.

Whew! I didn't think March would ever get here. It has been a long winter, in more ways than one. A crazy month since our last 10 on 10 in February, but I'll get to that a little later... for now, here is a glimpse into our day, another Sunday...

Even though we lose an hour of sleep, I love this day. I always like it to stay lighter later. So, we decided to get up early for church this morning (extra early with our one less hour of sleep) with hopes that we would be tired enough to go to bed early and not start the school week extra sleepy.

Here we are rolling out of 8 o'clock mass.



Headed to Panera Bread, kind of a tradition...


This past week we had a snow day!! I have pictures of the crazy snowballs and snowfort we built that I will share. Because the fort was so big, we still had lots of snow in one spot of our yard. It was fun to go out and have a snowball fight today when the temps were in the 60s!

Watch out Zoey! This one is heading right towards you! Dad shows no mercy.




Max helping out with the retaliation!




Getting serious with the snowball launcher!


And a little trip to the bookstore in the afternoon.


Ross did some work on the car, too.



Zoey has been making notes from a German language book! Fun.



And Ross is so serious here playing some Plants Vs Zombies!!


To combat the Sunday Night Blues... nothing like some Oreos!



Cheers to a happy March... and March Madness!!