...and snow...and snow...and snow!!

What a start to winter! I don't remember our last blizzard in Iowa. We have enjoyed being snowed in the last couple of days...
Here was Frosty this morning! He got a good covering over the night.I would say apart from the blowing and drifting we got about 12 inches in our area. Going out to take this picture the snow was almost up to my knees!
With the winds increasing and temps decreasing, I was hesitant to have Forest go outside with Gabe this morning. But with his love for the snow, his desire to always be Daddy's helper, and enough pent up energy to fuel the state of Delaware, I decided with proper insulation he could go out. I totally felt like the mom from "A Christmas Story" when I was done! He was so cute!
(This was before his coat and boots!)

Always such a hard worker!Gabe and Fo had only done a few lines on the driveway and were just starting the porch when our neighbors came out and told us to leave the driveway and sidewalk to them. Their son works at Forevergreen Landscaping and has a plow on his truck, and they own a snowblower, so within 10 minutes our lanes were clear! God just pours out the blessings!! Thankful for awesome neighbors!Since they didn't have to do all the shoveling out front, they headed to the backyard and played in the 'hideout' under the weighed down pine trees for a few moments and then headed in before frost bite could occur!

Fo just seems to grow before our eyes and I can't believe how mature he is becoming, but then I see a set up like this and it reminds me that he is still my little boy.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow..

We're getting our first significant snow of the year! Not only that, but blizzard conditions on top of it. Thankful for our cozy home and well-stocked pantry!
We promised Forest we would play outside as soon as he woke up from his nap. When I went to get him the first word out of his mouth was, "Snow?"
Ready to party!Mowing snow? Check.Snow angels? Check.Snowman? Check.The snow wasn't wet enough to roll balls for the body, so we did a 'sand castle' method - filling buckets with snow and piling them on top of each other! It's quite the narrow snowman, but we were going to build one no matter what!
The whole time I was working on the snowman, Forest's eyes twinkled with one desire: smash snowman! We let him go at it with his mini-snow shovel. Couple times once it was down he seemed a little thrown off that it was no longer, but then he'd get over it! I made a new one after this destruction for us to gaze at from indoors:

video
The winds started to pick up while we were outside playing......but nothing was going to phase this boy!
Warmin' up and dryin' off by the fire and a cup of hot cocoa!
This all happened during Willow's afternoon nap, but she was looking extra cute today, so here's our baby in a basket!

Thanks Grandma Tess!!

The hats are beautiful, fit perfectly and keep are heads super warm!!
The birthday card was also a hit...
THANK YOU!