Snowlympia!!!

This week's giant snowstorm resulted in four cancelled school days, three cancelled Army days, cancelled dance, basketball, church, 30 hours of lost power, and almost as many hours of Wii in pajamas. Our neighbor said he hasn't seen this much snow in the 40 years he's lived here.

Charlie loved playing in the snow until the additional foot we got on Wednesday. Then it was too deep and he was sad.

The big kids got to go sledding with their dad and had a ball.

Violet failed to notice the storm.

We had to borrow a shovel for Barrett to clear the driveway. Luckily when the power went out the roads were good enough for us to go stock up on firewood and flashlights. We were expecting 3 to 4 days of powerless pioneer fun, so we were especially celebratory when the power came on after just one night.

The house was pretty cold by bedtime, so we all shut ourselves into the living room and had a camp out by the fire. We were toasty roasty, and it would have been a lot of fun if Charlie wasn't such a maniac. He kept running over everybody and getting into everything, and nobody could go to sleep until Barrett finally took him for a drive. He crashed in the car at 11.

For dinner we roasted hot dogs, warmed up leftovers on the fireplace, and made s'mores.

We all played games together until bedtime - here the children are playing Guess Who with the aid of headlamps.

The next day we were packing for Portland (camp out was fun. For one night. Then we were stinky and cold and the house was dirty and we wanted out) when the power came on. Oh how grateful I am that I live in a world with electricity.

We loaded up the car and took a drive to survey the damage. Lots of fallen trees. Lots.

No wonder a quarter of a million homes lost power. Most of the power lines around town looked a bit like this.

Today (Monday) is my first full day alone with four kiddos, and I have this storm to thank for it. I love being shut up with my family for a good cozy snowfall!