Special Weather Report: Yes, Hell HAS Frozen Over...Details at 11.

I don't think I've ever written two posts about exactly the same topic, much less twice in the same WEEK.  But someday--in the middle of summer, while fanning ourselves in the shade and licking ice-cream cones--my family and I will look back at February of 2010, and all of the memories will revolve around swirling, white, frosty flakes from the sky. We will remember with amazement how a weekend storm thundered through, leaving 2-1/2 feet of snow in its wake. Husband and I will probably still be working out the kinks from shoveling our driveway, and helping the rest of the cul-de-sac neighbors clear theirs. The boys--lucky little stinkers--were too small to help, so instead they'll reminisce about carving tunnels through the massive drifts, and Geronimo-ing down the snow mounds on their bellies like colorful, parka-wearing penguins. We will ALL recall that schools were closed for the entire week. (That includes the community college where I work, which may be even more astonishing!)

Then we'll laugh about how, just to show us who's Boss, and Don't-You-Ever-Forget-It, Mother Nature sent us a bonus present: another foot of snow, midweek.  And--deep sigh--again with the scooping and throwing...although at this point, it was becoming a challenge to pile up the snow...over my head. We got so Winterized that after the second snowfall, I looked out the window and scoffed, "Bah, that's nothing, I'll be fine driving in that!" (And I did...and it was indeed, No Big Deal.)  I'm sure the kids will not soon forget that--sometime around, oh, Wednesday--House Rules kind of went out the window. Royce let them have coffee (1/2-caf, LOTS of milk) with breakfast. I said "yes" to Nutella on toast for lunch. The normal "2-hours-on-weekend-days-only" Wii limit was just trashed (sometimes before noon). One day (I forget which one; they all sort of ran together after a while), they didn't change out of their pjs at all. It was Snowcation Anarchy, I tell you.

I hope they cherish these moments, and make lasting memories that will carry them through...when they're sitting in their classrooms on the 4th of July!