Snow in Houston!!

Well miracles never cease!  I have lived in Houston, TX nearly all my life.  I think maybe twice in all my years growing up it almost snowed. Or sort of snowed.  Sleet here and there, sure.  But just a little snow that you might see if you looked up into the sky and then once it landed it was gone.

In 2004, when Kaitlyn and Mackenzie were only 5 months old, it snowed on Christmas Eve!  It really was a Christmas miracle!  It even collected a bit on the rooftops and the bushes.  We knew it was going to melt as soon as the sun started coming up so Mike and I, tired as we were, set our alarms and bundled up our babies to take pictures of them for a brief minute with the snow scattered behind us.  An hour later it was completely gone but magical nonetheless.

Then last year comes.  December 2008.  Guess what?  Snow!  The sun was setting and the snow started falling.  It even collected a bit.  We got the kids out and took more pictures.  Kaitlyn was trying to lick everything that had a half-inch layer of snow and I was yelling at her for licking muddy water basically.  The babies had no idea why I was sitting them in the freezing cold grass but here we were again - 1st Christmas (Well, it was December anyway) and Ashley and Reagan too had snow.  Okay, if you look really hard you can see it in one of these pictures - see it?  On the fence?  Just pretend that you do, k?

Kaitlyn and Mackenzie ask me from time to time when is it going to snow.  I keep telling them it doesn't snow here and that the two times it snowed we got really lucky.  Someone must be trying to make a liar out of me because low and behold, Friday it snowed like I have never seen it before.  I could not believe this was Houston, TX.  South of Houston, actually!  Occasionally the northern areas get it but not here.  So now my big girls are only 5 years old and it has snowed 3 of their 6 winters here in Houston, TX.  Unbelievable - and this last one was a good one!  So it didn't completely blanket the ground, but it was getting close.  They got to do all the things they always wanted - throw snowballs, make snow angels (sort of), and a snowman.  Well, more like a snowbaby, but we were all proud of our work.

So here are the pics from the day's events.....

Backyard before and after.

Snow coming down hard.

...View of the front

Cute twin shot

Snow bunny Ashley

Reagan wasn't really digging it.

Reagan wants to know why her whirlybouncer is wet.  And her hands!

Look at the footprints!

Happy girl!

I think she feels like the kid from A Christmas Story here.  "I can't put my arms down!" She's ready to go in.

Now, here is when I am starting to feel guilty that the big girls are at school.  Our beautiful snow was letting up and already starting to melt.  Back to slush I guess.  I was feeling like I should go pick them up so they could come home to play.  Instead I emailed Kaitlyn's teacher who let me know they had been out twice already and going back out again.  Yea!  When they got home we went right out since it was already diminishing a bit.

Kaitlyn and Mackenzie gathering up the snow.

Kaitlyn in the backyard.

Kaitlyn working on her snowball.

Ta da!

Armed and ready. Can you guess who she is going for?

Mackenzie making her snowball.

Ta da!

She looks like she is singing praises....Joy... to... the World!!!!

"Mmmm.  Tasty!  Except for that grass and dirt I just ate."

Here is our masterpiece. Meet Astro - the Houston snowman. We really wanted to do a cowboy hat but realized we'd need to make a much bigger snowman to fit our hat, and these little arms were getting tired.  Kaitlyn's and Mackenzie's were too.  And would you believe I was actually sore the next day from making this little guy?  Hmm, someone needs to get back to the gym.

Closeup of Astro.

Snow angels!!

All in all it was one very fun-filled day.  Hopefully no one will catch pneumonia as their pants and socks had been soaked and icy cold for who knows how many hours (since they had played at school) before they finally got to dry off and warm their toeseys.  But worth it nonetheless!  We don't exactly have the right gear down in these here parts (you know I don't really talk like that, right?) so we had to make do with what we had.  3 days later and the "snow" clothes are still sitting in the laundry room needing attention.