Serious Snow Day

I have to admit, I'm pretty embarrassed about this post I wrote a few weeks ago-- totally ecstatic about the measly 3 inches of snow we got.  I was going on and on about how Niall had never really experienced a "good snow" up until that point.  (He was 2 or 3 months old when that crazy blizzard hit in February of 2010, but other than that, he really hasn't seen a good snow since.)

These are the pix from that "snow day"...

Pathetic!  I can't believe I busted out the sled for that-- you can almost see as much grass as snow... Granted, this was a good 24 hours after the snow had stopped, but still.  

If you're looking for a real snow day, I think this might be more of what you'd have in mind:

Poor Brendan could barely even walk through it.  We had to steer him through our already-made footrpint paths so he wouldn't get swallowed.  And even then, he barely made it without his boots getting sucked off each time he tried to pick up his leg.  

There were times when he was into it... 

and times when he just wasn't...

But Niall was all in.  I've never seen such amazing packing snow.  You could literally stick your hand in and pull out a fully formed snow ball. So naturally, we had to make a snowman.  But not just a regular snowman-- a ninja turtle snowman.  And not just a ninja turtle snowman--  Dogpound.  One of the bad guys.  Have you seen what this guy looks like?

http://turtlepedia.wikia.com/wiki/Dogpound

I would like to note that Niall has nightmares about small, harmless bugs that he reads in his science books, but not the bad guys from Ninja Turtles.  In fact, he has collected the action figures for almost all of them and likes to sleep with them.  My personal favorite is called Rat King; he is basically a mummy wearing a big black hat and cape, with rats perched all across his shoulders.  He is completely terrifying, but the only thing that motivated Niall to stop pooping in his pants for a good 2 weeks.  So welcome to the family, Rat King.

Anyhoo, we had just gotten our 3 pieces put together when Niall threw out this request for a Dogpound snow sculpture.

By the way, Brendan was a total work horse when it came to this snowman.  He never once took a break.  Just kept grabbing snow and packing it on there-- with these infant mittens that have no thumbs (a little bit of a cruel trick, but I'm pretty sure that he is used to being constrained in a variety of different ways by now).

So we worked all morning on the spikes for his back...

And then we were going to come back later to do the face...

Nailed it!

Come to think of it, I guess he was a little bit lop-sided.  But hey, there's always tomorrow.

Playing in the snow is fun and all, but I equally love the coming inside to warm up part.  It's so great how snow is this totally valid excuse for everything... like how super sized amounts of sugar and junk food and movies are perfectly acceptable-- but only because it's a snow day.  Which I can always get on board with... because I would never do anything of the sort unless it was a snow day ;)

Commence sugar rush...

Happy Snow Day!