Virginia

Almost two years ago we were deciding where Derek would go to school for his graduate degree. He had been accepted to the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Ohio State. The same week that Derek got his acceptance letter to Ohio State, Columbus (where Ohio State is located) got hit by a blizzard, and got about two feet of snow (I am not positive about that number, but that is what I seem to remember). I looked at Derek and said, "I'm not going there." Obviously, if that is where he really wanted to go, we would have gone there, but that snow was definitely a deterrent for me.

For most of my life I have lived in places that get snow. It is beautiful, and I enjoy sledding. However, I hate driving in it, I hate shoveling it, and I don't overly care for the cold. Plus after a while it gets brown and yucky, and then it isn't fun to look at anymore. When I was around 9 years old we moved to North Carolina for about two years. I loved it! I loved the weather. Since then, I have always wanted to move back to North Carolina. That is one of the reasons Virginia was so appealing. I knew that the Virginia Tech area gets a fair amount of snow. This area, however, doesn't get that much. At least that is what I thought. Last winter we got a snow storm that brought about 8 inches of snow, and that was a huge deal. This area actually deals with ice more than snow (or so I was told). I was so excited to get away from the snow for a little while.

Boy was I mistaken! This weekend we were hit with our third large snow storm this winter. In December we got 2 feet of snow. Last weekend we got over a foot of snow. This weekend we got another foot of snow (at least the totals are slowly dropping), and we may get more snow on Tuesday. This storm brought very wet snow, along with sleet. That caused a lot of damage to trees, power lines, and my back (it has been a long time since I have had to shovel heavy wet snow). I am starting to think we should have gone to Ohio State. :) (Just kidding. Ohio actually got slammed by this storm too).

These were taken at the start of the storm on Friday.

Our house


Our street. Notice the tall pine trees on the right side of the street.


We ended up losing power for about ten hours from Friday evening until Saturday morning. I was worried about our pipes freezing, but luckily the power came back on when the temperature in our house was 56 F. We were all able to stay warm in our beds through the night. We have a very small amount of fuel left for our fireplace (the propane company was booked until this coming Friday), so we knew we could use it as a last resort, but we wanted to save it until necessary. Thankfully we never had to use it. We lost power again on Saturday afternoon (after the house had warmed back up), but only for about three hours. It came back on right at dinner time. We celebrated by watching a movie, eating popcorn, drinking hot chocolate, and making chicken corn chowder for dinner. Yummy!

Kevin thought it would be fun to climb this tree. This picture was taken on Friday at the beginning of the storm. Notice how nice the tree looks.


This is the same tree on Sunday morning, after the storm had passed. The branches are all hanging down with the weight of the snow.


The little trees never stood a chance in this heavy snow




The big trees had some trouble too. These two pictures are of the same trees that were in the earlier picture from the first day of the storm on the right.


These trees bent so far over that they completely blocked our road. I am glad they didn't go the other way, towards our neighbor's house. These were cut down this morning.


Surprisingly, the snow hasn't bothered me too much. I think that is because all of the storms have come on the weekends when we have all been home as a family, with no where to go. Everything here shuts down, thankfully, so it really just means a nice time together as a family. If we get hit with a bad mid week storm, that would be different. UVA almost never closes, and it would be a challenge for Derek to get there and back in bad weather. It would also be a challenge if we lost power for a long time, which does happen. We have been lucky to be fairly prepared for all of our power outages so far.

The kids had a great time playing in the snow. Unfortunately they got cold pretty easily because the snow was so wet that it would soak them. They were able to sled at a couple of their friends' houses. I, on the other hand, stayed inside, except to shovel and take a few pictures. :)

Jenna after being outside for a while.

She was freezing! (I promise that her coat was zipped, and she had gloves on. She just took them off before I got my camera).

Our winter wonderland:

View from the back yard


View from the front yard


This past week Kevin only had school one day, and Jenna didn't have it at all. It took them both Monday and Tuesday to clean up from the storm over the weekend. Then Tuesday night we got another small storm, so they canceled school on Wednesday. Thursday they went, with a 2 hour delay. Friday they canceled because the forecast said the storm would start early in the day (it did, so I am glad they canceled school). His school has already been canceled for tomorrow. That is the end of their banked snow days for the year. I really hope the roads are clear enough for him to go back to school on Tuesday. If they miss another day this week, they will end up having to make it up next Monday (President's Day). :(

Since Kevin and Jenna didn't have school on Friday, they decided to prepare their school Valentines. They are both really excited about it.


Kevin also kept himself entertained by reading Calvin and Hobbes comics. He doesn't completely "get them" yet, but he thinks they are fun.


*Caution: Potty Training Info, read at your own risk.*
Because I knew we were going to be stuck home most of the week, the kids and I went to Walmart on Tuesday and bought Jared some underwear and potty treats. I feel like he has been ready to potty train for a while, but I hate potty training, so I have been putting it off. I figured that now is as good a time as any.

He does OK. He will go on the potty when I tell him to. As long as I am aware of how long it has been since he went, and have him go every 1-2 hours, we do OK. However, he won't initiate it himself. Instead, he just goes in his underwear. Three times he has initiated going number 2, and two times he has just done it in his pants. However, he has not yet initiate number one. I hope he can pick it up soon. I hate potty training. I don't mind changing diapers. I will probably give him to the end of this week, and if he doesn't get it, we will go back to diapers (I go straight to underwear, no pull-ups, except at night). The other two picked it up in that amount of time, so hopefully he will too. I have also noticed that if we go into the bathroom with him, he will go on the potty, but if I send him in by himself, he will go in his underwear (while standing next to the toilet). Grrrr.... I just keep telling myself that this is a necessary developmental step, and it will be over soon...hopefully. :)

Jared with his potty treat for going in the toilet


This is our little turtle after taking a bath


Please ignore the ugly green faux marble floor and the ugly green sponge painted walls, and focus your attention on the cute boy. (Somehow he even managed to stay modest). :)


Jenna's Moments of Zen:

She and Jared were taking a bath together one day. I was washing Jared when she asked me if I had already washed his bottom. I said yes. She said "It doesn't look wet." Ummm...he was sitting in the water. I pointed that out. She said, "Oh, well white skin never looks wet."

Today some men were cutting down trees that had fallen across the road due to the snow storm. Jenna looked at them, and said "Are those fishermen?"

In response to something Jenna and Jared had done, Derek said "How did I get such wonderful kids?" To which Jenna replied "Because you have such a wonderful wife." (It's nice to know my brainwashing is working...)