Winter Storm Fern

In case you haven't heard, it had been an unseasonably warm winter until this past weekend when winter storm fern decided to blow through. This was some of the coldest weather we have had since several years ago when we had out last big ice storm so this time, I was ready! I went to the store early in the week & stocked up so we were ready for a few days at home. The temperatures started dropping on Friday & it rained all day but somehow overnight it turned from regular rain to freezing rain/sleet/thundersleet - whatever you want to call it! It looked pretty when we woke up the next morning, but it wasn't the pretty fluffy stuff, it was ice I heard it hitting our windows all night long:

The girls wasted no time getting ready to head outside to meet their friends! In fact, they have spent the past couple of days walking back & forth between each other's houses:

There has been lots of snacking, lots of hot cocoa, lots of late nights & multiple sleepovers:

Of course, with cold weather come lots of gear:

Ha! I had a few old towels on the floor to collect ice/water, but this slowly became their dumping ground every time they came home. Thank goodness we only get this a few days a year or this would drive me crazy! 

The first 48 hours were full of precipitation & mostly ice. And since I hate the cold, I stayed inside the entire time & only took pictures through the window:

That's the advantage of having older kids who can go outside & play by themselves now! By Sunday morning, we finally had the fluffy white snow:

 

and then it finally moved on by that afternoon. So here we are a few days later & we haven't had any precipitation since Sunday afternoon, but nothing has melted either, so the girls had school cancelled Monday thru Thursday. They are loving life & I am over it. Ha! I hate to say that I am ready for basketball games & volleyball tournaments again. A few days at home is fun but I think we are all ready to get back to life as we know it.