Last night it started raining. That turned into sleet which then turned into snow/rain (which Brian loves to call snain...hee hee). The snain finally turned into actual snow...which stuck to the ground. Before bed, Brian & I talked about a couple things 1. that we wished his flight to New York would be cancelled and 2. that the snow, which had already started to accumulate, was actual perfect snowman snow.

Background: I was beyond bummed that we NEVER had a good opportunity to make a snow man this past winter. I was especially sad because, right after Christmas, I found this adorable "snowman kit" and it's done nothing but sit in a cabinet since I brought it home.

We woke to a mini winter wonderland that was already drip, drip, dripping away. I promised the boys that they could play outside after neighborhood playgroup.

Pros to April Snow:
* It was ACTUALLY warm enough to go outside and ENJOY the snow...this never really happened last winter! If we had snow, it was like -20 outside!
* It was really fun to get one more taste of a winter wonderland...it's always so pretty and now we'll REALLY appreciate the upcoming spring and summer weather
* The unexpected is (usually) a great way to lift spirits and serve as inspiration to do something new and fun
* The snow was pretty much gone by the time naps were over and we were back in crocs (with socks <-- that should be a modern day Dr. Suess book!) and warm hoodies as we hit the gym and the grocery store this afternoon

Cons to April Snow:
* I had to track down the snow pants, snow coats, boots & gloves that I started hanging WAY in the back of the mud room closet and shoving in various places around the house
* It took no less than 20 minutes from the time we walked in from playgroup to get re-dressed to go outside and play for about 20 minutes
* It took about 20 minutes of stripping, redressing, washing and drying of cloths and towels at the END of the event
* Brady....not so good at walking in snow boots...lots of face-planting :(

Here is the top of the box to the snowman kit. When I saw it in the store, I just couldn't resist and I was itching to give it a go!! It comes with 2 button eyes, a wooden carrot nose, more circles for a mouth and three front buttons plus a hat, a scarf and a wooden pipe....oh, and a heart.
I rolled the body parts, Logan and Aiden shoved clumps of snow in between them to "seal" everything together.
Brady walked around, fell a lot and cried quite a few times.

I missed a good photo op this morning when our spring flowers actually had a dusting of snow on them (more than a dusting really). I thought this was still pretty cool....our spring flowers coming in with snow in the background. You can see that the snow is completely off the patio (and all the roads, driveways and sidewalks) at this point. In fact, we even walked to neighborhood playgroup instead of driving. The idea was to let the boys "romp" a bit, but Aiden just wanted to grab hand-fulls of snow and eat them! <-- thanks to our neighbor down the street, the boys think snow is a rare delicacy and munch on it whenever they can. yuck!

Logan puts on the hat while Aiden unfolds the scarf. At this point, they had actually used some of the "front buttons" as the eyes.

We got all the dots sorted out, attached the hat with two grill skewers, put on the wooden carrot nose, added the pipe and convinced Aiden that the heart goes on the snowman's chest and not near his feet.

Guess what Logan named the snowman. You'll never get it....not in a million years! Ok...it was Frosty. Here, Logan is saying "I'll pose with our new friend the snowman" and Aiden said "I'm going to give him a hug" <--really, that's what they said!

After I took a couple pictures, Aiden the budding artist insisted that we move the heart back to the bottom of the snowman.

(I think he decided to put it back later). I totally thought we were done until Logan said "oh! we forgot arms!" Oops! So...first we tried golf clubs, but those didn't look right...too long. I have one little play broom, but nothing to match so we fished some shovels out of the sandbox. They were too small, but better than the crazy golf club arms!

I took this picture because you can see the paths we made rolling the snowman parts.

After the snowman, the older boys threw a few snowballs at the wall while I made lunch and took poor Bray inside. I have to say that the prep for this event made me rather cranky, but playing in the snow with the kids was fun and lifted my spirits!

I was cleaning up after lunch and had to smile at the view from the kitchen window. It's hard to see, but there is our cute little snowman in the middle of a yard of rapidly melting snow. Around 5 this evening, he was the only snow left in this view!

I dig Frosty because he looks like he's leaning to one side...sort of like he's dancing :)

In other news:

* Sunday morning, Brian went to answer one of Aiden's early morning cries (4:45) and couldn't get the crib tent open! The zipper was stuck so we had to cut the mesh to get him out. Needless to say, after the excitement, he was up for good. Instead of buying yet another tent, we made the pretty impromptu decision to move him to a big boy bed. The whole family was involved while we moved Logan's old bed from his room (where there were 2 beds set up!) into Aiden's room. Last night was GREAT (Aiden was exhausted from skipping a nap in the broken-tented crib and from waking up too early). Nap time today was NOT good...he didn't sleep and just bounced around in his room for an hour or so. Tonight....he passed out quickly again. Updates to come I guess

* Tonight, I was trying to explain to Logan that I needed to get downstairs and start working and that he really couldn't keep calling me up to his room (I was summoned 3 times between 8:15 and 9:00). My reasoning went something like this, "honey...if you keep making me come up here, I can't start work and then I have to stay up late and then I'll be cranky mommy and that won't be fun for anyone tomorrow". Logan cocked his head to one side, giggled a sweet little laugh, waved his hand in a stopping motion and gently said, "mommy....mommy.....tooooo many words!"

* Last but CERTAINLY not least, Brian's little brother and his wife high-tailed it at a moment's notice yesterday (with help from my husband the master flight finder) to be in Denver for the birth of their son!! The birth mom had been having some problems so they knew she wasn't going to go full term. Charlie was born last night just shy of 34 weeks weighing 2 pounds and 13 ounces! I've gotten several updates from MIL and Brian today and things sound very good. The baby is doing GREAT. He is drinking bottles, maintaining his temp and even breathing on his own. Our latest bundle of joy makes 10 boys in a row on Brian's side starting with Brian's oldest brother. Now Pete and Sara have to figure out how to stay in Denver while Charlie reaches 5 pounds in the hospital and while they wait out the requisit in-state stay for their adoption. Brian used some of his gazillion Marriott points to get them a hotel room for this week. What a sweetie!!