Blizzard!

Yesterday it snowed!

So the boys went out and shoveled:

And tackled:

And threw snow at each other:

And then last night the blizzard arrived:

We got about 13" of snow and wind gusts up to 50 mph. Blizzards are LOUD! Usually snow is so quiet and peaceful, but last night? Last night the wind and snow smacked against the windows so loudly that it woke us all up.

And today, our local news' website, notice the school closings:

And lots of businesses were closed, too. It's weird to watch the TV news crawler list closings besides schools, like Bank of America, US Bank, Nationwide Insurance.

The little birdies outside our kitchen window still enjoyed their breakfast:

I ventured outside to take some pictures. Because blizzards are kind of exciting if your family is all at home and safe and cuddly like we were.

I went out through the garage. Here's where our garage door was before I opened it:

Because I couldn't get out through the front door:

And here's my street. I mean, this is where my street is supposed to be. When it's not camouflaged by snow:

Here's the top of our little front yard Christmas tree. It's decorated with a string of lights. Which are now buried in the snow:

James loves that little tree, so he dug it out:

Pretty, pretty snow.

The side of our house loves snow drifts. That's our 6-ft tall swing set there on the left and our kitchen window in the back:

And the backside of the snow drift:

Visibility: not so much. With the wind chill, the temperature is 14 below zero. When I was in the front yard, it didn't bother me. When I walked around to the back, the wind whipped up and started smacking me hard in the face with snow. And I was all, "What the hell, snow?!? I was trying to show how beautiful you are and this is how you treat me?"

So then I retreated back to my nice, warm house.

Here's Ella checking out the front yard:

Our front door wreath from the inside:

And the view from our basement window:

LOOK! I've never seen this before! It's called a Sun Dog. I took this picture right outside my house:

So you can just guess what's in my crock pot today:

With chili and cornbread for dinner and my family safe and warm, it's the perfect blizzardy day.