SnowJam 2014!!!

Tuesday, January 28th, was the official beginning of SNOWJAM'14. While snow-days are always exciting, this one actually began as a full-blown NIGHTMARE!! Schools had to make an emergency early release around 1:30 pm, but by then, it was already too late. I was fortunate enough to leave school before 1:00, but my 20-minute drive home took me 3+ hours which was, without a doubt, the scariest ride of my life!!! I-20 was gridlocked, and there were cars sliding and crashing everywhere. Nora and I cried and prayed the entire way home....

Nevertheless, I was one of the extremely lucky ones. Throughout our school system and other metro counties, students, teachers, administrators, and staff winded up SPENDING THE NIGHT at their schools!! Other school buses and local commuters were stuck in their cars for 18+ hours, and others were forced to leave their cars and walk for miles in the bitter cold. Truly heartbreaking. Needless to say, I was EXTREMELYYYYY happy to make it home and see my family: (and yes, I was clearly channeling my inner Sammy Hagar in this picture......don't care. I was SOOOO grateful to be home and safe!!)

After praising God, kissing my dirty floors, and drinking a tall one, I was ready to celebrate in the snow..... 

We partied hard on Mammie's sleds.....those things were the BOMB!!

 (note the cars at the bottom......While Jesus helped us get home, even He couldn't get us up our driveway!! Still, we have one of the BEST driveways for sledding!!) :) 

 Claira truly loved her first sledding experience!!!

  Here's a little video of her very first sledding adventure:

All smiles!!!!

 (one of my favorite pictures. EVER.) 

After sledding, we put Clairy to work shoveling snow....

But that didn't last too long....

 So, we spent the rest of the time playing!!

 Catching snowflakes.... 

 Snow angels!!!!!

  (note the idiot cat in the background.....he HATED the snow. It was quite hilarious!!) 

Stupid cat...

"El Gato" just could not handle it.....he is the biggest bum I have ever seen!!!

Like Gato, we'd have to come in and warm up by the fire a bit...

 We also watched a lot of movies and ate popcorn w/ peanut m&m's.....our favorite snack in the whole wide world!!! (ps - have you EVER seen a head of hair that awesome??)

But before long, we'd have to bundle back up and head back out!!

I'll leave you with our masterpiece, Snowman Stan!!! Equipped with a real carrot nose!!

We are now on day 3 of no-school, so while this fiasco began as a disaster, it winded up being a beautiful thing!!! So grateful for snow and safety, and many prayers to those TRULY impacted by this icing of the south!!

Cheers to SNOWJAM '14!!!!!