Blizzard 2016

We started seeing some snow in the forecast about 7 days earlier, and thought it seemed like the possible accumulation was a bit too high... As the day got closer, the accumulation amount did not decrease. They were predicting a BLIZZARD! And we couldn't have been happier. When you've got about a week  to prepare and haven't had much snow at all all winter- you're ready! Or at least we McCulloughs were.

I made this cute Shane Leadbetter inspired snow stick- 

What more could we need, right? 

Brian bought a new second shovel, I stocked up on tons of comfort food, beer and wine. We were ready. 

Salt? Who needs salt. Generator? Those are for sissies.

While at the grocery store on Thursday, I attempted to buy a bag of salt, and they literally ran out while I decided whether or not to buy a bag. 

Thursday we had no school because of a dusting of snow at about 5pm on Wednesday. Silly. Thursday during the day they canceled school for Friday and issued a 2 hr delay for Monday. We better get some snow! 

Thankfully Brian did not have to go to work on Friday, as they were predicting snow to fall fast and heavy each hour after 1pm. We jumped out of bed and went out to breakfast, to celebrate the possible incoming blizzard. We noticed everyone in the restaurant seemed giddy with excitement for this big storm. It was a great vibe. Then we went on a hunt for salt... 

We literally followed a tractor trailer into Lowe's parking lot and scored a bag! Check out this load of shovels ready to go home-

And I called around to about 10 places for a generator- found one place that had one left for rent, about 90 minutes away. No thanks.

And then just about 1pm, the flakes started falling-

And falling fast!

And faster!

Im a wee bit OCD about shoveling. While I enjoy the light workout, and calm quiet of a snowfall, I also hear my mother and grandmother telling me "gotta keep a path clear, what if an ambulance has to come? they have to be able to get a stretcher through."

So I shovel. But I just couldn't keep up with this storm.

 But sundown, there was a ton to play in and Brian started piling it up to eventually make a fort in the front yard-

Loved Macy's naturally rosy cheeks on Friday night after she came in from playing- 

The fort was finalized first thing Saturday morning, and it rocked-

 While all our neighbors have just enough of a sloped yard for 'fun enough' sledding that always satisfies the kids, Brian wanted to see what the roads were like, so we took the kids to the elementary school to do some sledding-

 Even I went sledding! It'd been many, many years. And while doing so with Macy, we wiped out and she did a place plant in the cold, wet snow-

 So how about some ice cream? We stopped off for a Dairy Queen Blizzard during our blizzard!

Sunday we had some excitement besides snow, The Patriots vs The Broncos, our version of the Super Bowl!

 During the blizzard, we had lots of time for fun-

And games-

And long naps-

And warm fires-

I loved seeing the snow piled up on the window panes-

And piled up on the bushes-

Overall we ended up with about 26 inches. We more than this little guy could measure-

 Our friends, The Mann's, told us how they shovel out some sledding tracks in their backyard, and make it like a luge course. Well Brian was very inspired to do the same-

And it created hours of fun for all the neighborhood kids- 

The kids didn't go back to school for a while... The first week they had off Thurs & Friday. The second week, Monday-Friday. The third week, just Monday, as it was a previously scheduled teacher work day. I love a good snow day or two, but even I was ready to send the kids back by the time the schools opened again.

This was an amazing storm. It came fast, and melted fast. By the end of the second week, the kids couldn't even sled anymore because there was so little snow left. The blizzard began on Friday and ended late Saturday night. Brian had Monday and Tuesday off work, which was such a nice gift to our family. He just makes blizzards better! The kids would not have had the luge course or snow fort if it was just mom around... The blizzard was refreshing to us, we needed this downtime as a family. Having traveled over Christmas break, I didn't feel that we got our lazy, family time that we need. So thank you mother nature for the blizzard of 2016 for giving us that time back. We ate out a few times, we cooked in a bunch. Kids had friends over, and sleepovers too.

While I mentioned earlier about my OCD shoveling problem? Brian is the opposite. Having grown up in the south, and never having lived through a real snowy winter, his idea is always to just wait until the snow melts, instead of staying on top of snow removal... Here is the proof, Jeep- all him. Clear driveway- all me.

And at some point during our cold, wet, snowy blizzard, look what pops up on my phone?

A beautiful, sunny, springlike picture of my 5 month old great niece, Brooklyn!