Yay! Winter Is Here!

Some tigers got to work in the back yard...

We love snow days!

Look, Mom!  The water froze in our bucket!

 Winter has finally come to coastal Virginia!  Yay!  Last night while we were watching a movie called "Dolphin's Tale," the wind started picking up and the rain came pelting down.  Then, as the sun went down, the rain turned to SNOW!  And get this, it also thundered and lightning-ed with the snow storm for a little while...I don't think I've ever been in a snow/lighting storm before!  Not that it was a snow storm...we only got a little dusting, but it was enough to make the kids absolutely thrilled! (M's first words this morning were: "Mom! Snow!  We have to go play in it!" as he was perched on the back of his bed, peering out the window when I walked in his room).
As I write this, Anna is sitting beside me making Valentine's Day cards for her classmates and the boys are still out there, doing what they can with the little snow we have and some trucks and shovels.  Before I forget to write this down, I have to say that watching that dolphin movie last night was a big hit here.  It's about Winter, a dolphin in Florida who was caught in a crab trap as a baby and had to have her tail amputated...eventually, she learns to swim without it and then gets a prosthetic tail.  At one point in the movie, the boy who befriends Winter starts cutting summer school classes to be with her and his mother finds out.  He is trying to explain why he wants to spend so much time with the dolphin and his mother gets very stern and says, "You are going to school tomorrow!  Period!!!"  L, cuddled up on my shoulder smiled and said cheerfully, "Hey!  She sounds just like YOU, Mommy!"  Which made me laugh so hard because it's true!
At bedtime, Luke said, "Winter was very brave when she had to get that plastic tail!"  So I said, "You were very brave this week, too, Luke. Do you know when you were brave?"  He said, "At MRI!  I was as brave as a knight, as brave as Winter the dolphin!"  The kids were so excited about that dolphin movie that they eventually all got into trouble with Dad for making too many dolphin noises instead of going to bed.
Well, the boys are straggling in here, so I'd better clean them up and help them take off their layers of clothing...

What do you do when there isn't enough snow for a snowman?  Make a Snow Dolphin of course!  Then you celebrate National Snow Dolphin Day!