Snow Day, Redux

The first thing Jones said to me when I got him out of bed this morning was, "Is it snowing?" He then ran to the den window to see for himself. Not long after that, I had one of my favorite moments of the day.

We'd eaten breakfast, and I was in the back of the house, collecting the million pieces we'd need to keep us from freezing outside. When I came back into the den, Jeremy said Jones had dressed himself. By "dressing himself," Jeremy meant that Jones had put on his Wah-ken drawers, his snow boots, and his "Goofy hat" (as Jones calls it).

I naturally grabbed my camera as soon as I saw Jones. As soon as HE saw ME, Jones ran as if we were both headed outside, but then he stopped himself.

"I KNOW I forgot sumpin'," he said. "A JACKET!"

You know, Son, that's not ALL you forgot.

This picture, which is already one of my favorites of the entire year, also offers another opportunity to remind the world of how much Jones looks like young Jeremy. They are genetic TWINS.

My other favorite moment of the day came at the end of it. I was sitting in Freddie's dark room; he was on my lap, as I sang to him, and Jones was standing right beside me, listening. He does this all the time. What he's never done before, though, is climb up into my lap beside Freddie. Tonite, though, he did. "Hold me," he said, before making himself a spot right beside his brother.

So, there I was, both of my boys sitting on my lap, both of their freshly-washed heads laying on my chest, and I made a mental note to make that happen every nite until they're too big to share the space, which I know will be here all too soon.

Between the moments that bookended my day, there was a flurry of fun.

Back to this morning...

I spent the standard 30 minutes squeezing my children into more layers of clothes than they'd normally wear in a WEEK. Finally, we made it outside. Jones told me, "Let's go look for snowballs, Mama," as if snowballs are something you FIND instead of something you make.

He then took off running "in da field," as he calls ANY patch of land, no matter how big or small. For a boy who typically stays pretty close to his mama, taking off like this was a big deal. He LOVES this snow.

Freddie ... well, not so much. He remained super whiny the whole time we were out, which was a lot longer today than yesterday (it was warmer, because the sun was out, and our faces weren't being pelted by sleet).

Jones, however, treated the snow like Winter's massive sandbox. He dug; he threw; he jumped. He'd have stayed out all day if I hadn't been home alone (Jeremy went to help his dad scrape a friend's driveway) and sick of listening to Freddie's whines.

The rest of the day was spent very similarly to yesterday - lots of "The Clubhouse" before watching the Wildcats, who appeared much-improved, incidentally (I hope it lasts), before dinner before baths before bedtime.

Likely, we'll do it all again tomorrow. Church has already been cancelled.

Truth to tell, I'm ready for warmer weather, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit to THOROUGHLY enjoying our unexpected there-day weekend.