Snow! We made it. The drive was so pretty. We had no real issues, no worries. Once we got here, there were a few flashbacks from our trip to PA from a few years ago when we couldn’t make it up a hill, thanks to the snow. I need to get new tires on the Jetta. Maybe some studded snows… I wonder if they are legal in CT… Hum…. Anyway…. we’re here and all in one piece.
Hope everyone has an awesome Thanksgiving!
Sometimes this little – big – girl has the most incredible thoughts. Yesterday, while driving back home from dance class Teagan asked Stu a simple question. She asked, “when Elsa farts, does it make snow?”
Stu almost drove off the road.
Leg Warmers
Yesterday, I posted a picture of Ashlin wearing her leg warmers. Finally! She was so excited to be wearing knickers, and asked to wear a dress too. I found this lovely hand-me-down dress, which gave me the opportunity to tell her she needed to wear her leg warmers. No arguments!
She was super excited as we put them on, though some of that was thanks to the knickers with birdies on them.
The pattern was super easy – Pickles Leg Warmers. I used the pink yarn that Ashlin had picked out on one of the Michael’s runs we did. It’s the Elegance Sock Yarn by Loops & Threads in the Pretty Pink colorway. The pattern called for two strands of fingering yarn, so this DK weight worked pretty well.
Beginning
By the time I started these, I was old hat at the double pointed needles. Three, of course.
I liked this pattern, it started with a 1 x 1 rib, then a few increases and bunch of stockinette. A long stretch of stockinette. Ending with a 2 x 2 rib and a stretchy bind-off, that I learned I needed with the version I did for Teagan.
Half?
The first was pretty quick, the second, well… But I finished them!
And she liked them!
She said they kept her legs warm, even during our walk. She was so sad when we got home and she had to take them off, she had inadvertently gotten mud on them. All the melting snow and puddles of icky water did her in.
But she had fun having a snow fight!
Snow fight!
Another six inches or so today. It was really pretty when it was falling at a rate of four inches per hour. Not a true white out, but white. Big fluffy flakes. All between oh, 8 am and 3 pm. Pretty quick fall. The plows didn’t get to our street until after then. They didn’t bother plowing us mid-fall.
The girls got to day care just after the flurries started. We had a bit of shoveling plow wake – and finding our mailbox – before we could go get them. But they had fun – Teagan pretended to be a monster (with claw feet and spiky hat!) and Ashlin did karaoke. They both played with snow inside. And Ashlin didn’t have an accident!
Stu and I worked from home, conference calls, training, with a touch of crochet between powerpoint slides and SQL code.
Granny Stripe in Neapolitan
I found the yarn Saturday while the girls were doing their heart craft. Four skeins of Neapolitan by Loops & Threads. Both girls said that Stu could have a pink blanket.
Variegated yarn can be so lovely and yet so daunting. You don’t want to do something too complicated, because the detail gets lost in the color changes. I Googled, pattern searched Ravelry, Pinterest and found some interesting things. But kept coming back to the granny stripe. I had done a scarf in this pattern, and some granny square slippers. An easy stitch combination, nothing too complicated, but still lots of fun to work up.
I think it looks pretty good.
Brownies
Ashlin’s turn!
Yesterday, once we got home, we made brownies. Getting home was a challenge. Much more of a challenge than I thought it would be, even though there was a lot of snow.
Day care was open in the morning, and we both had so much work, sending them in wasn’t a question. Picking them up turned out to be. By 11:30 we had a good six inches of snow. Stu went out to clear the car and driveway, as I tried to get off a conference call. A call about Safety. I ended up telling them that I had to go, ironically, to go and be potentially unsafe.
I helped shovel out the end of the drive, and clear the car and we headed out.
Getting out of the driveway, the development, was interesting. The hill was fun. We lucked out and had one plow width down the hill and most of the way. I took the more main roads, with right turns, to get into the parking lot. By the time we got there, there was at least 8 inches. Above the lower edge of the car. Stu said there were pretty fans of snow coming from the car as I drove on the nearly empty roads. I didn’t get to see them.
We got to the day care with little issue, parked, picked up the girls and strapped them in the car. I got the car backed up, and tried to take the back exit from the parking lot, we knew the front was plowed in and totally impassable. I didn’t get very far. After some rocking, then pushing (thank goodness the day care people helped push!), shoveling and more pushing, we got out. Then we helped push one of their cars out.
I ended up skidding through the turn onto the road home, so tried turning into a parking lot, only to get stuck there. More rocking, a bit of skidding and trying to turn the wheels back and forth to get traction. No luck. No one offered to help. Eventually a guy in a truck with a front plow offered to plow behind me, and I was able to back up, then around. Aiming for the exit, we had to pull to the side to let another car by, and got stuck again. I almost gave up, parked the car, for us to wait it out in the CVS – Ashlin was in dire need of a change by then. Someone in a truck saw me trying to get Ash out and asked if we were stuck. He offered to plow behind us and make a path to the exit. Stu pushed me to the path and I was able to get enough traction.
From then on, we were fine, a few fish tails here and there, but up the hill and into our driveway.
All during this, the girls were anxious. I wasn’t too worried, not really. We’d only be stranded for a little bit, until the plows came, and then stranded somewhere warm, where there were probably toys for the girls.
Ashlin napped, and napped well. Teagan got to watch some weird cheap movie off Netflix while we tried to work a bit more. I had a 1:15 conference call to run. I told her once Ash woke up, we’d do valentines cards for her classmates and then make brownies for today, for the party.
Yay.
Teagan was good in the kitchen. She was tentative when breaking the eggs, so gentle they almost didn’t break. She was very careful pouring in the liquid and mixing the batter. Ashlin was a bit rough when breaking the eggs, crushing the shells instead of opening it to get the egg out. Luckily, neither of them got shell in the cup. Always break your eggs in a cup and not the batter!
Cards done, both girls signing their names in their fashion, we started up popcorn and a movie.
I ended up yelling at the girls during the movie more than I’d like, I was trying to finish up some urgent analysis for work and they kept asking me things, interrupting, touching the laptop. Not watching the movie like they were supposed to. Gah. I need to be better about that, maybe if I had gone into the other room, I would have been done before they realized I wasn’t there.
Anyway. We survived the storm, though Stu is a bit sore from shoveling and pushing cars.
There was a card for me when I got downstairs today… We’re such geeks. Or nerds. Or both. Whatever :D
Geek Love
Trying to pick up the cow
So, yesterday Stu and I had off from work. Somehow, I thought day care was also closed. So, we had a little lie-in, as much as Ashlin can be talked into, anyway. Watched some Blues Clues, Peg + Cat, Dinosaur Train. Had some lunch – Teagan ate a Bologna sandwich! – and a nap/quiet time.
After naps, we bundled up the girls in some layers – sweaters! and hats, scarves, mittens (on a string!) – and headed to the zoo. We met up with E and her dad, and the girls had fun wandering the zoo. Looking for tigers and pigs. Trying to look at the prairie dogs through the tunnels – Ashlin is still a bit too short! We even had a carousel ride, though only one, as it was closing time. I think the operator ran us a little longer than normal. She was very nice. Although Teagan understood why we only had one ride, neither Ashlin nor E did. There were some tears then.
Too short
Driving home, we got stuck in a bit of traffic. Enough that the possible short afternoon nap did not get to happen. We ate dinner, snuggled on the sofa and then put the girls up a tinsy bit early – to compensate for the lack of nap.
This morning, Ashlin was up at her usual not-quite-as-stupid early, though Teagan slept in! Late! Thinking her light was on, I went into her room to have her join Ash and I for breakfast. But instead, ended up waking her up. By mistake. Oops. We try very hard to have them sleep as long as possible.
There were some tears this morning as we bundled them up for day care. They wanted to go back to the zoo. With E. And have cookies in the car. And ride the carousel, because this time, it wouldn’t be closing time, it would be open. According to Teagan. Being the mean parents we are, they ended up going to day care. When Stu dropped them off, the caregivers asked why the girls weren’t in yesterday. They were open.
Three monkeys eating cookies
Oops!
Well, we did have a fun day. A good day.
PS. We’re getting more snow. There’s at least four inches so far, with another possible six to eight to fall over night. Fun!
Snow is Blue
Snow!!
This morning Teagan came into our room very excited. “Snow! Mama, it’s snowing outside!” Eventually she calmed down, but only until her sister woke up. Then, it started again. She had to tell Ashlin that it was snowing, and pull aside the blind for her to see. Ashlin’s turn to be excited. We get downstairs to get dressed (all the clean clothes are in baskets in the living room) and look out the back door at the snow. By then, it was starting to slow down, though the girls excitement wasn’t. Breakfast was eaten quickly, hardly a complaint or ow for hair combing, socks and shoes put on by the parent of choice of the morning. I had to find heavier coats and hats, mittens. There were some from last year in the girls basket, so these were dolled out. I found one mitten that fit Ashlin, and put it on her. Zipped her up and told her that Stu would get the match from the trunk when they got to the car. Stu couldn’t find the match. When they got to day care, he didn’t want her going in with just one mitten. So, he tried to have her give it to him. She was having none of that. So, Stu tried logic.
“Ashlin, you can’t go in with one glove. Your hand will get cold.”
Ashlin shakes her head. She’s not about to give up the glove.
“How many hands do you have?”
“Two.”
“How many gloves do you need?”
“Two.”
“How many hands does Captain Hook have?”
“One.”
“So, how many gloves does he need?”
“One.” [“Are you Captain Hook?” “No.” “Then you can’t wear only one glove.” At which point she was felled by my logic and handed the glove over. I outsmarted a two year old. Go me.]
*~* As updated from Stu! *~*
She’s a smart girl :) The snow didn’t stick, sadly. But the flakes did look nice floating down.
Almost free!
We did two dig-out sessions today. One in the morning and one in the afternoon.
Ashlin didn’t do quite as well this morning as she has the other times we went out. Maybe her gloves were still a bit wet, I don’t know. I only got to help Stu a little bit. Trying to keep the girls enthusiastic, I suggested trying to get to the swing set, so I could start shoveling the deck. They were game, very happy at the thought of the slide. I didn’t think it through quite as much as I should have.
The snow was almost to my waist. Blazing a trail was not easy, especially while carrying Ashlin on one hip. She couldn’t stand, though when I sat her on the snow, she sort of stayed on the surface. Teagan had a lot of trouble following in my footprints. So, I’d go a little way, put Ash down, go back and get Teagan. Leave Teagan, forge ahead with Ashlin, go back and get Teagan. Incredibly tiring work, and I hadn’t even started shoveling yet!
Eventually we got there, Teagan played on the slide a bit, though she had trouble climbing the wall with her boots on. Ashlin was with me, sitting on the stack of deck chairs while I cleared the door. The door that had snow higher than Teagan! I got most of that done, and started on a window before Ashlin and then Teagan were fed up. Getting back to the front was a bit easier, I could follow my trail, but still, it was leapfrogging up with one and going back for the other. Teagan did try a bit to walk herself out though, my big girl.
The snow was stupid high
While I was out back, Stu got most of the end of the driveway open.
We went in, and we all napped.
Ashlin was still a big cranky about being outside in the afternoon. She wanted to be near both of us, and really didn’t want to try to build a snow monster, like Teagan did. The driveway was open enough, so I dropped Ashlin in the car – in Teagan’s seat! – and backed out. All the snow on the roof fell off in the road as soon as I stopped. It was so loud when it slide off. I took the car around the block while Stu continued to widen the end, and to see the neighborhood. Ashlin enjoyed that, but really wanted to walk, “Ashlin walk, snow. Walk.” How could we refuse?
So, while Stu continued working on the driveway, I took the girls and we went for a walk. It was so strange, the snow plow only did one pass, so the road was only one car wide. We saw a few people out, still digging out their cars, their driveways. Teagan would always say “hi! What’s your name?” Quickly followed by “my name is Teagan!” Most people humor her and replied with their name.
They both were very good on the walk, not getting too far ahead or behind. Listening well. Teagan would stop every few feet to get a new snowball, or boulder, as a new one would pique her fancy. You could see who had a snowblower and who shoveled. Or hadn’t finished shoveling!
Free at last!
Anyway, we’re free! Or at least able to get out of the house and go around the block. I’m not sure how much else of town is cleared, last night there was something like 80% of town that was still unplowed, like we were.
Oh, and the door and windows are clear, as is some of the chimney. As much as I could get to before dinner.
Fingers crossed that the rain we’re forecast for tomorrow will melt some of what we have, and not sit on top and weight it down.
Drifts
The snow fell until just about 10:30 and Stu headed out. It was so pretty, and pretty amazing. We had somewhere around 30 inches of snow out there. With all the drifting, it’s hard to see, but we have a certified measure of 37 inches (OMG!) less than a mile away in one direction and 35 inches another. Some drifts are taller than the old baby, most are taller than the young baby.
Stu was able to shovel a quick path to the driveway while I bundled up the girls. They wanted to sled, I was pretty sure we wouldn’t be able to, so pulled out all the sand toys. The toys that Stu laughingly told me I started calling the snow toys. At first they had fun running back and forth in the almost tunnel to the driveway. It sort of looks like Beggars Canyon if you squinted.
The girls were mostly contained as they could not walk in the snow, so I started helping Stu shovel. It was not fun. The snow was so high – almost waist high! – that you had to do several shovels to get down to the ground. Ugh. At least it wasn’t too heavy, unless you overloaded the shovel.
I got to focus on shoveling for about 10 minutes.
Not quite Beggars Canyon
The girls enjoyed the pathway to and from the house…
Clearing off the Chairs
Teagan helped a bit clearing off some of the front porch. Then they both got bored and started wandering into shovel range. They were curious, and tired of entertaining themselves, wanted us to do it.
We did find Stu’s car
We found my car too!
The snow on my car may not look so high, but remember that our driveway is a steep hill. So, we found both cars. Yay! After about an hour of shoveling, wrangling little ones, everyone was cold so we went back inside, unwrapped the kids, ourselves. Tried to warm up, though I forgot the hot cocoa, because, well, it was nap time!! Everyone rested, even if they didn’t actually sleep.
I made you a cake
After nap/quiet time, Teagan helped me make cupcakes. We had lunch, bundled up and went out again!
Snowflakes on eyelashes
We got a bit more done in the afternoon dig-out session, but again were restricted by the length of the girls attention spans. And how warm they were. Ashlin broke down first, so I took her in. Teagan stayed out for a bit longer with Stu, being a very good girl, staying out of the shovel’s way and dusting snow off my car. And mugging for pictures.
Pretty smile
Stu and I did another evening dig-out session after the girls went to bed. We got as far as the plow wake, the plow that finally got to us around 7pm when we were putting the girls to bed. So, today we were able to find both cars, shovel a path and entry part of the front porch, and one car width to plow wake. So, we may need to park single file instead of side by side for a while, until it melts a bit… Hopefully the storm we’re expecting in a week won’t be too bad…
Hello Nemo! It’s the Blizzard of 2013! Snowpocalypse.
Ok, enough. We have a lot of snow. At least a foot by now. The wind has turned up and is howling around the house. The drifting snow has turned the motion sensor lights on at least twice. There was something that sounded like hail, big rain, and then some thundersnow! And lightening! Yay!
The girls got to play at day care for a few hours this morning while Stu and I got to do some work before we picked them up. He started shoveling, I went for the girls. By noon we had about 3 inches, I guess. He was back inside by the time I got back.
Ashlin helping daddy shovel
Ashlin napped and Teagan snuggled and watched some fairy move on Netflix. I tried working a bit more. Not much luck with Teagan home, she is so nosey and just wants to know everything. Why you typing mama? Why is that blue, mama? There’s a 6, right there, mama! So, when Ashlin woke up, we went outside.
Which is an enormous undertaking in itself. Two young kids, two snowsuits, pairs of boots, hats, scarf, mittens. Teagan got bundled up first, and sent out into about 5-6 inches of snow. I got Ash wrapped up and then made her wait while I got my gear on.
It’s her beach
While Stu continued to shovel the snow, I found some sand toys, dust pans, small shovel. Ashlin would get stuck in the snow when she moved off the shoveled bit, she had trouble waking in it, it was so deep.
And it packed well! We made some snowballs, threw those around. Though Ashlin didn’t want to, she held on to hers. We molded snow, made a snow man, used the sand toys to make a small fort in front of him. The girls took turns helping Stu shovel. I shoveled a bit too. Then we went sledding a bit.
Hot cocoa with marshmallows!
And then was the rush to get out of the snowsuit. We made it though!
The girls warmed up with some hot chocolate. Ashlin had her first mug, (warm!), and she loved it. Or was it the marshmallows on top that made her so happy? Maybe both.
Stu and I went back out to shovel once the girls were in bed. There had been so much snow that fell between our sortie three hours earlier that you almost couldn’t tell. It’s now about an hour and a half since we shoveled, and again, it’s like we never went out. We must have gotten at least four inches.
Anyway, we’re done for the night. Fingers crossed we don’t lose power, they expect about 30% of the state to be out before all is said and done. Yo Gabba Gabba has been canceled, (boo! I was strangely looking forward to some dancy dance), so we have nothing to go out for tomorrow. We can take our time getting whatever snow we get off the porch, path, driveway and cars. I will admit to not looking forward to the end of the driveway!
Even with all this snow, I’m happy I live here, and not where it rains spiders.
Videos :) Me! on Ravelry
Whatever! 