Blizzard 2010 - Austin style

I know everyone in the north has had to deal with months of bitter cold, horrible winter storms, and snowfall that's being measured in feet rather than inches, but we've had it bad down here in Austin, too.

Take this week - Sunday was sunny and 85 degrees. We had to turn on the air conditioning in the car on the way home from Cirque du Soleil. And then yesterday - it snowed. It was practically a blizzard. Some schools in Austin closed early, and others opened late this morning. There was a run on marshmallows and hot chocolate at the stores. It was chaos!

All for a whopping half inch of snow.

I mean, you can hardly see across the street for all the snow coming down.

It was so deep that Campbell could barely walk in it.

And we nearly lost Elizabeth in a snowdrift.

Ella and Lily and the neighbors were able to build a giant snowman with all the snow in the yard.

The snow lingered for hours after the sun came up this morning. You can't even imagine the mess on the roadways. Thank goodness TXDoT sent out sand trucks.

We'll be talking about the Blizzard of '10 for years to come.

Snow!

There's a saying in Texas that goes something like, "Don't like the weather? Wait a minute, it'll change." Yesterday was a prime example. We had a high of 81 in the afternoon, and then at 9:00 pm, it snowed. In between we had incredible wind and thunderstorms.

The kids were delirious with excitement this morning when they saw the snow/ice on the cars and the back porch. I don't envy the teachers at school today - they have 200 kids thrilled that it snowed. They were all a bit wild in the halls before the bell rang.

We don't get snow here very often, maybe every other year, and it rarely amounts to much. So we have to enjoy it when we can.

Ella and Lily hustled through their morning routines so they could go out and play before we left for school. They each made a little snowball.

LIly's excellent adventure

Lily had just the best day on Wednesday. Ella's class was giving performances of skits they've been rehearsing for the past several weeks. I couldn't go, but our neighbor, whose son is in Ella's class, was taking her daughter, so she offered to take Lily with her. Lily was so excited she could barely stand still as I got her dressed. Lunch was right after the performances, so our neighbor stayed for lunch with the girls. Lily got to eat in the cafeteria with Ella and felt very big. Ella felt very big because she got to show Lily where to line up and how to pick out her food, and she got to pay for Lily's lunch on her school charge account.

Ella's class party was after lunch, so I headed up there to join in the fun. The party was in the library, and it was so funny to see Lily file in with all the first graders. She fit right in, even if she was a bit shorter than they.

During the party, Lily and Ella worked together to make Christmas cards and ornaments, and they sat next to each other for snack time. I was really regretting having forgotten my camera.

The highlight, though, was the snow fight. Some of the parents brought in this stuff that is essentially the inside of diapers, which, when you add water, turns into this fluffy stuff that can be molded into snowballs. Ella's teacher lined all the kids up in the story area, told them about the surprise, and led them in a silent celebration, which was hysterical to watch. Lily had huge eyes through all of it.

After the fun of the snowball fight outside, Ella's class lined up to head off to music. Lily jumped in line, holding on to Ella's hand. When I retrieved Lily from the line and explained that it was time to go home, Lily threw herself flat on the ground and sobbed that she wanted to stay and go to music with Ella. I explained that the school rules didn't allow her to spend all day at school with her sister, that it was just a special occasion that she was able to be there for the skits and the party, but she didn't want to listen to me. It wasn't until I bribed her with the promise of cartoon time at home, that she pulled herself together and walked to the car with me.

As a result of all this, Lily is now chomping at the bit to start kindergarten in the fall. She asks me at least once a day how much longer it is until she can go to school with Ella. I think she'll be disappointed when she finds out she won't actually be there WITH Ella, but I think it will be a short-lived let down. She is just going to love kindergarten, especially if we can get her in with the teacher we want to have.

In the meantime, I have to reconcile myself to the fact that my baby girl will be going off to school in a few short months.