Winter Wonderland ... in Texas!

This past summer was apparently a "mild" one for Texas, but it sure was a whole lot of "Yuck!" for me. I know that my discomfort was exacerbated by my first trimester nausea and all-round feeling terrible, but I was so glad when the temperatures finally dropped below 80 degrees ... in October.

Two weeks ago, the weather people told us we were going to have a "wintry mix." Living here, people are constantly saying, "If you don't like the weather, just wait an hour." It's not true in the literal sense (or summer would be more bearable), but the basis of it holds true. Things blow over this former prairie (read: FLAT) land rather quickly.

That "wintry mix" never happened.

Needless to say, I was a little skeptical when they said we were going to get lots of freezing rain and sleet this week. Actually, I scoffed. After all, we had a a gorgeous day with a high of 75, accompanied by sunshine and clear blue skies earlier this week!

But with the "arctic front" that arrived on Thursday, the temperatures plummeted into the 40s and then overnight, this happened:

It's *not* snow (although it looks deceptively like it, doesn't it?). In fact, it's solidly ice, but we'll take it! We sure have missed seeing "real winter" and looking out onto a blanket of white outside our windows.

Our town is thoroughly encased in a coat of ice.

We actually had quite a few branches snap and fall off the large trees around our property, but thankfully, the only damage we have seen so far is to a corner of our gutter. We're very thankful that there wasn't damage to our neighbors' roofs!

As soon as B woke up and saw what was going on outside his window, he exclaimed, "It's SNOWING!" He ran to look outside our bedroom windows, and having confirmed that this was real, he wanted to go outside to look at it. He was delighted to find that the Tonka truck he had left parked outside right next to Daddy's car had filled up (just like he had wanted) overnight.

It wasn't quite as fun as snow (since everything was frozen solid and couldn't really be played with), but he did enjoy hopping around the yard while N and our neighbor cleared a couple branches off the rooftops.

We took a short walk down the street to the playground, where B discovered the joy of knocking down icicles. He quickly decided it was much too cold and declared it time to return home.

Following a visit to our other neighbors to make sure that they had not lost electricity/heat (which led to tea, hot chocolate, a good conversation about books for the adults and play time with a very cool, hand-carved wooden Noah's ark for B), we returned home for soup and nap time.

N and I were able to clear out our old guest room, which is slowly turning into the nursery, and relocate some furniture to the office/new guest room. When B woke up, he did a great job helping N put together the crib while I began compiling a list of Baby G2's needs.

All in all, we're pretty thrilled with this unexpected treat of a winter wonderland in Texas! And now, if you'll excuse me, there is the delightful aroma of chocolate chip pancakes and the sweet sound of my little boy's voice singing along with Daniel Tiger, "It's snowing, it's snowing on Snowflake Day!" beckoning to me.