Winter Storm Octavia

So as of February 15th, if you had asked me about our winter, I would have exclaimed the injustice of it all. We had only gotten enough snow to barely cover the ground the whole live long winter. I think maybe once we got 3" and school was closed. Spring kept getting closer and it looked like our chances of getting a big snow was slim to none. Then we woke up Sunday morning on February 15, 2015 to news everywhere declaring a winter storm headed our way. 

We were stinking super excited!!!

We had church at 2 o'clock that afternoon so everyone would be safely at home before it started snowing and plus the roads were a little icy from the night before. 

After church we went to the grocery store. Bad mistake, but we were for real out of toilet paper. 

I only needed a few things because we had groceries already at the house, but the lines were long and the shopping carts were scarce. I had several ladies waiting for mine while I unloaded my groceries in the van. I wanted to start the bidding, but decided these ladies may be armed and dangerous. 

We woke up to this Monday morning. 

It looked like my van was sinking. That's a lot of snow. It snowed and snowed and snowed. Maynard called and said his boss called all his Fed Ex trucks back in so Maynard was home by 11 which was nice. Then he didn't have to work at all on Tuesday because the interstates were shut down in places and their main trucks couldn't even get there to drop off what needed to be delivered. 

He still had to get Tara back and forth to work which was rough. We sure was thankful for his 4 wheel drive truck. 

The kids had a blast playing outside. I didn't set one foot out until Thursday evening and that was because our groceries were low. I mean what do you do all week when you are snowed in?  You cook, bake, and eat!!  We had some good meals that week for sure!!!

We had snow cream and "snow" cones. 

Lots of playtime outside for the kiddos!!

Daddy played with them and Tara did one day. 

Amelia was proud of her giant snowball. 

I wasn't much on getting outside and playing in it this year. Last year I almost broke my neck while sledding and I was a tad apprehensive this year so I opted out. 

Poor kid's sled didn't survive last winter so they used whatever they could find. They used tote lids, trash can lids, and their most favorite was a plastic kiddie pool. I kept meaning to get them a new sled and never did and now it was too late. 

School was canceled all week, but my kids still woke up between 7 and 7:30 every morning. They couldn't wait to get outside even though the temperatures kept dropping.

 Yep!!  That's pretty cold!!

Titus would have lived outside if I let him. I had to force him inside to warm up. 

8 days later, after I had only been out for an hour to the store, we had church on Sunday at 2 again. I was happy as anyone to get out of the house. After church I was the last one in the car because I did not want to go back home. I had been stuck in the house and it felt good to talk to grown ups once again. We went out to eat with friends and just took our time getting back home. 

The kids went back to school that Monday. Well, their school did, but the county has still been out for 2 weeks now.   There is still snow on the ground and I'm not sure if it's ever going to melt. The snow is so hard and crunchy that it's hazardous. I made it almost 2 weeks without falling and then I fell yesterday on the sidewalk. Titus was watching from the window and found it quite hilarious. 

I jut wanted to blog about our snow storm because it apparently hit some records of snow and temperatures. We ended up having almost exactly a foot of snow. I think the last biggest snowstorm was in 1994. This will definitely be a winter to remember and I'm glad to have it documented.