Our style of sledding!

It wasn't quite the seven to twelve inches we had been promised, but we did get a good snow through the night ~ at least according to our "southern standards."

True to form around these parts ~ where it snows so infrequently that cities don't find it beneficial to add snowplows to the budget ~ our hectically scheduled weekend ground to a halt and we suddenly found ourselves blessed with a day with nothing to do (and nowhere to go as EVERYTHING was cancelled or closed).

Kylie and Caleb could hardly contain themselves as we finished bundling up this morning.

They were thrilled to get outside!

Flashing that "million dollar" grin.

Working on cleaning off the deck, one dump truck load at a time...

Even Daddy had fun!

Perhaps though Maya was the family member that enjoyed the snow the most. We haven't seen her that frisky since the last snow.

What the pictures don't show is that around 8 this morning the snow changed over to sleet. And it continued most of the day. Yeah, that's right. We played outside as sleet pelted us this morning. Here in NC you gotta take what you can get.

Nothing that a cup of "warm cocoa" with marshmallows couldn't fix...

After lunch, some games, and a long nap for the kiddos (while I worked on organizing Kylie's closet so that it is now "the girls' closet" and Ian researched transportation options from Shanghai to Hangzhou), we headed out for round two.

"Taste of ice anyone?"

Digging for the sake of digging.

Then we headed out front and the real fun began.

Let me preface what you are about to see with the fact that Ian stopped by Walmart yesterday morning on his way to work to buy our kids a sled. Walmart doesn't carry them. Last night we were at Toys R Us to trade in an old car seat for their 25% off "trade in deal" to get Ky a new one. (Hers is only rated to 40 pounds and while she's been hovering at 37.4 since September, we decided to go for it while it was on sale). They carried sleds but were sold out.

The hours of sleet had reduced our road to a nice hard pack. Our hill was begging for some sledding action. I'm sure my "snow savvy" friends in the Northeast and Midwest have plenty of sleds in their storage areas. But here where we're lucky if we get one three inch snow a winter, we just don't keep them handy. Unfortunately that meant we got caught without a sled for the storm of the season. And after last year's sledding adventures with Lottie and her family, our kids were hungry for more.

Luckily I'm married to an engineer who can improvise on the fly.

Well, actually I'll take credit for the dog leash.

I'm sure that a laundry basket being pulled down the street with a dog leash may look redneck to some.
My kids thought it rocked. Kylie even practiced her parade wave as Ian pulled her back up.

And we went back down,

and up.

Again and again and again. Until Ian and I could pull no longer. Then it was time for the potato soup that had been simmering in the slow cooker all day.

I love snow days with my family!

And I love weather patterns in NC. Weren't my kids just standing at this mailbox barefoot earlier this week?