So This Was Jonas

I don't know who decided that snowstorms needed names, too.  Maybe the poor little ol' snowstorms got their feelings hurt when they realized that hurricanes got names and they didn't.  Well, now they can all be equal.  Is that better, Overly-Sensitive Snowstorms?  ;-)

Jonas hit us about 10:38 a.m. on Friday morning, January 22; and 20 minutes or so later, I took this picture out the front window.

About two hours later, I took this one.

The kids were so excited to have a big snowfall--FINALLY!--so they (minus my oldest and my youngest) hustled into their snow things and were out the door while it was still snowing pretty hard.

They had fun doing the things kids think are fun to do in the snow.  :)

Eating it, slipping and sliding in it, laying down in it, running in it, throwing it.

You know.  The fun stuff.  :)

A little over an hour later, this was the view out the front window.  Of course, it's hard to tell how deep the snow was here; but it had covered the grass more and accumulated on the holly bush more.

A couple hours later, I tried to take some pictures to show that the snow...

...had gotten deeper around Shav's legs.  Kind of an imprecise measurement, isn't it?  ;-)

An hour and a half later, as evening fell, I snapped one last picture from the front window that day--not to show the depth of the snow as much as to show the changing light reflected on it.  That blue evening light when snow lays on the ground is beautiful--almost magical--to me.  This picture doesn't do it justice (especially with the lights reflected from the inside of my house--oops!).

 The next morning, Saturday, the kids were back at it again; but this time the snow was considerably deeper and made the simple act of walking quite a challenge for my short-legged folks.

 I suppose that added to the fun for them however.  :)

 It's kind of funny to me now that I happened to take these pictures of Willow.

 Little did I know that in just a short while, she would be giving birth; and this would be the latest wow-look-at-her-big-belly picture of her.  She doesn't look very energetic, does she?  Makes you wonder how much animals know is coming, but she was definitely acting different the night before and the morning pictured here.

 Before they came in to warm up, I asked Tobin and Shav (aka The Masked Man) to stand out front and let me snap a few more pictures.

And then they came in, and it was as we were eating lunch that I went upstairs and discovered that Willow had given birth to her first puppy.  Well!!!

There went all my plans to continue to take pictures during the day on Saturday as the snow continued to fall.  There went my desire to go outside and play in the snow with the kids.  There went my idea to take a yardstick out to measure the deepest part.  There went everything!

Except Willow and those puppies.

And someday I'll do a post about them.  :)