February 2010 Snowstorm

We had quite the snowstorm experience here in Dallas over the past 48 hours. I read that our area received over 12 inches of snow within 24 hours, which was a record amount and far beyond that the weather forecasters had predicted for this storm system.



I am writing this post from a hotel room in Addison (a suburb of Dallas) on Friday night, as our family has temporarily relocated here since our home has been without electic power today. We lost power sometime during the middle of the night laswt night and when we awoke this morning is was a frigid 55 degrees inside the house. The temperature had decreased to 50 degrees by the middle of the afternoon. Needless to say, it was too chilly to be in the house for long so we are glad to be warm and safe in the hotel.

It all started off innocently enough on Thursday morning with a dusting of snow. Tthe kids were so excited about the snow while we were eating breakfast that morning. Below are a few photos of the beginning.


And then the snow continued to fall all day Thursday, from about 7:00 a.m. until past 10:30 p.m. when I went to bed. We had big, fluffy white flakes combined with smaller rapidly-falling snow, and it continued all day long. At morning school drop off all was normal, but by noon the school discticts were phoning parents to notify them of early pick-ups due to the weather.


I teach two classes on Thursdays from 12:30 until 3:30 and I went ahead with my scheduled teaching, knowing that I could still pick up John and Amelia early after leaving the classroom. Some students in my 12:30 class even brought me a snowman! He was about a foot high and resided on a tray borrowed from the cafeteria. I thought this was clever.


By Thursday evening John's school had cancelled for Friday but Amelia's school was projecting a two-hour delay on opening. I don't think anyone expected it to get worse Thursday evening but it certainly did, as the snow continued to fall heavier than expected and by Friday morning there was probably 8 inches of accumulation. We lost power sometime in the middle of the night, so John ate his breakfast by candlelight Friday morning. It's hard to tell from the photo because the flash made it bright, but he looked like he was conducting a religious ritual with all of the candles surrounding him!


Here are a few pictures of the heavy wet snow Friday morning. The most striking sight for me was seeing the inches of heavy wet snow on the tree branches. We now know that downed tree limbs has been a big side-effect of this storm. We were lucky in that we only had smaller branches fall, but we have heard reports of at least one house fire in our area caused by large tree limbs sparking power lines and then falling on the roof of a house. I have seen several streets blocked off by police because it is too dangerous to pass with the broken limbs.







And here are the kids all packed up and ready to go out Friday. Scott shoveled the sidewalk for us. Who would have thought the snow shovel we moved from North Carolina would be used in Texas?!? Amelia's school district finally decided to close that morning so the kids and I were prepared forsnow day together. It was obvious we couldn't stay long in the house so my first thought was to take them to Barnes and Noble where I could get coffee and they could read books and we could all be warm. But after trying two bookstores and finding them both closed and after seeing many businesses without power, I decided to head to my office at SMU. Even though the university was closed for the day I knew the buildings would have power and I was eager to check the news and see what was going on. I felt really helpless at home on Friday morning without access to news or communication about what was going on. The kids packed toys and activities in their backpacks to keep themselves amused in my office. After driving by three Starbucks that were open I found one that didn't have a line out the door so we were able to get coffee and hot chocolate. Luckily the roads were not icy - only slushy - so getting around was not an issue.


We stayed at SMU for a couple of hours and then I took the kids to the cafeteria for lunch. Amelia always thinks this is a special treat - pizza bar! ice cream machine! - because you can have pretty much anything you want to eat. Then we stayed in the office a bit longer before deciding to book the hotel for the night. We went back home and packed up and were warm in the hotel by late afternoon. Luckily Scott was still at his office and had access to the computer to book a hotel room, which was hard to find given the hundreds of thousands of homes without power and the fact that the NBA All-Star game and events were in Dallas this weekend. The kids enjoyed swimming in the indoor heated pool and being there felt more like a fun adventure for our family rather than a hardship.


Update: Power was restored to our home sometime Friday night so we were able to return home Saturday. The snow is partially melted and in its place are giant areas of sloshy black mud - gross. But we are very glad to be home and to have the rest of the weekend to recover.

John turns four

I need to start this off by saying that I am having trouble accepting the fact that John is four years old. I know it is a sentimental "mom-thing" to say, but I cannot believe my baby has grown up so much. John continuously surprises me and challenges my mothering capabilities because he simultaneously cracks me up and frustrates me at the same time. John has a masculine sense of self which I typically have a hard time identifying with, very rough and tumble, "mommy, watch me burp!", etc.. However, he can also be extremely sweet and loving too, freely offering kisses and affection to people he loves. John is a sweet and spunky kid who is certainly a blessing for our family.

We hosted a birthday party at home for John last night. We decided to go with a Friday evening party at the house, with our special guest Spiderman to entertain the children. We had plenty of food and drinks for the invited guests, John's classmates at school and their parents. Below are Amelia and John enjoying some of the food before the guests arrived.

The children and their families arrived about 20 minutes before Spiderman got to our house. During this time the kids were running around outside, playing in the yard on the swing set. But then one of my favorite moments from the party occurred when John and two of his friends from school ran up to me (we were inside) and exclaimed with great excitement, "Spiderman is here! Spiderman came to my party!" The children had seen Spiderman walking up the front walk before I knew he had arrived.

And behold Spiderman was here! Many of the children were immediately drawn to Spiderman, who engaged the children in party games teaching them "how to become superheroes". Below are a few shots of the dancing game where the children danced to the music and when the music stopped they were told to enact superhero poses to fight off enemies.

Amelia, my toothless girl, dancing...

Then another game! Spiderman led the children on a treasure hunt. Below he is explaining the game.

Here is the group in the guest room of our house, still searching for the treasure.

What I did not expect were the children who were terrified of Spiderman. While the games were going on in the backyard, three little girls were screaming inside the house, tears streaming down their faces saying they were scared of Spiderman. Yes, I felt terrible about this! But we kept Spiderman outside as long as possible and once the girls were happily playing in Amelia's room, their parents claimed that they were just fine.

Games complete, time for cake! While Spiderman painted the childrens' faces and made them balloon swords, we enjoyed John's birthday cake. Check out this special Spiderman cake!

Friends singing happy birthday to John! Check out Spiderman on the side - how cool!

After the games, cake, face painting and balloon crafts were completed, I had the chance to snap some photos. Below is John with Spiderman. John looks a bit speculative, though he was really having a good time at this point.

John and a few of his friends with Spiderman. John has his large balloon sword in his hand.

The party was a great success! After our guests had departed we let John open a few of the gifts that his friends brought for him. It was nice to wind down and be together as a family after having so many guests in our home. While I did not get any great shots of John opening gifts, I did capture this adorable photo of Amelia and Scott as they were watching the opening of the gifts by John. Note this one for the record books - Scott is actually smiling in a photo. I think it's due to the fact that for the first time in his children's lives he has been able to enjoy beer during a child's birthday party. Friday night parties at home = good mood for dad of the household. Notation made for next year.

Happy Birthday John! We love you!

Another one bites the dust

It has been several months since Amelia lost a tooth but about two weeks ago she lost her first upper tooth. Amelia had been talking about how this upper tooth was wiggly for awhile, but I didn't give it much thought. In retrospect the complaining about the wiggly tooth makes sense but at the time I didn't pay it much attention.

So then one Sunday I had the kids with me in the grocery store (I dread taking them with me to the store, but often I have to) and they were pleading to get their "good behavior" cookie from the bakery. I have a new rule in that we have to first get through the produce section of our shopping list, and then if they are good during that time we will circle back to the bakery to get a cookie for a treat. The kids are often good for the first task of produce in part because I have delegated a lot of responsibility lately to Amelia for helping with this. I tell her to go get "3 bananas, 2 apples, etc." and she and John go off - BY THEMSELVES, HALLELUJAH!! - to get the requested items. I then have a few moments child-free to pick up the more complicated vegetables that aren't as familiar to the kids, while still being able to see them across the way retrieving the bananas or apples as requested. Priceless.

Back to the cookie. Amelia took a few bites and then shreiked so loudly I was worried for a minute. "Mommy, my tooth!", and then all of a sudden she was displaying the kind-of gross tooth in her hand, while still munching on the sugar cookie in her other hand. It was a not-so-lovely sight to see, though I was excited for her. She knows the tooth fairy brings her cash $$, and though Amelia is quite conservative with spending, she still likes to receive more money.

Below is Amelia's toothless smile. Still beautiful as always.