snowtime

I knew we were supposed to get an inch or two of snow last night, but I was quite surprised to wake up to a generous 4-5 inches this morning. 

On one hand, I'm a little tired of the snow, but on the other hand - it does make things prettier, and this wasn't so much that it was going to prevent us leaving the house or anything.  So, eh, it's fine. 

But here's the thing.

Ever since the first snow of the season, there are two things Abby wants to do when she sees that it snowed.  1) Jump in the snow 2) Make a snowman. 

Every time it snows she gets excited and says "I go jump in the snow!!!  I make a snowman!!!"  

Well, she has jumped in the snow a few times - but that was hard to do when we were 2 feet under.  And, a lot of the time, the snow was too icy, too dry, too wet, or it was too cold or too windy or too something to be outside for snowman making.  But, it never fails.  She always asks "Abby go jump in the snow?  Abby make a snowman?"  And my response is usually "We'll see, maybe later..."  

...and we never do. 

So, this morning.  I told Abby to go look out the window.  She went and got her trusty step, hopped up and looked out side.  She said "Oh, Snow!"  Then (brace yourself, your heart may break) she says while looking down at the ground and shaking her head, "Abby no jump in the snow.  No snowman for Abby.  No jump, no snowman. Not today" 

--> this is the sound of my heart shattering into a billion pieces. 

because you should have heard her tone of voice.  It was the tone of voice that said "I really want NOTHING more than to go outside mom, but I know the drill, I know the answer, and I understand I'm not going to get to go outside and play in the snow, and I'm really really really sad about that, but I'm used to being let down, so it's ok"

I really did want to cry.  It was so obvious I'd failed her all those times before.

But, instead, I decided that EVERYTHING in the world could wait today.  At that moment, there was absolutely nothing more important than putting on our coats and boots and going to build a snowman with my little girl.  It was like a-deadly-meteor-is-heading-for-Earth-and-I-wouldn't-have-cared-important.  I could have been in labor and I would have made that baby wait.

As soon as I told Abby we were going outside - she burst into a little ball of excitement.  She ran around, she found an old bell rattle of mine and started shaking it while dancing in circles and singing "jingle bells" at the top of her lungs (I was surprised she remembered it all and sang it so completely).  Such a winter's baby she is.  It was fun to see her so excited about going outside.

So, that's what we did.  And luckily, the snow was a pretty good snowman consistency.  A wee bit on the dry side, but we made it work.  We only made a small one since the snow took a bit of work to stick together, but I think Abby had a great time anyway.  We stayed outside for probably an hour or so.

little dry ice flakes

rolling and patting the base

 Helping me put on the nose and eyes

Our little snowman.  Turns out, m&ms don't make the best snow-decorations.  :)  But, you know what?  Abby was pretty darn excited about the idea. 

this face makes me laugh

After we'd made our snow man, we made snowballs.  Dozens of them.  Abby very much liked that part. She took each one I made, one by one, and threw it either down the stairs or over the rails.  Such a simple activity, but one she didn't get tired of.  She laughed every time she threw one.

snowballs, ready for throwing

Carrying this one off for it's final flight...

 We even attempted snow angles...but she got snow on her neck and couldn't really relax. :)

After the snowman was made, the snowballs all thrown, and we'd taken our turns digging, sweeping, rolling around, dancing and singing in the snow...we were both ready to come inside to warm up.  Hot chocolate was in order.

"Abby, can you smile pretty?"

(sorry I asked)

As we were putting away our boots and hats and gloves and coats, Abby said "Thank you mama, that was weally weally fun"

And that, my friends, meant the world to me this morning.