Luge!

Our sledding hill has been out of commission for a while given the depth of snowpack we have on the ground. I decided to put a little effort into getting it back up and running and created a pretty fun "luge" track! 

 Caleb and Lina working in their ice factory!

More Snow...Blah, Blah, Blah!

In honor of Valentine's Day, Randy, Adelina, and Levi decided to get a family flower bouquet, featuring everyone's favorite colors. We definitely need some brightness in the house! 

 Our second blizzard of 2015 set in mid-afternoon on February 14th. It snowed at a pretty good clip for most of the afternoon before a break in the action came. I have to admit the setup of this storm was pretty fascinating.  The clipper that brought us snow during the day on Saturday turned into a giant powerful storm that brought us snow from midnight until about noon today. The winds were pretty impressive and we saw blizzard-like conditions even after the snow had stopped falling. The mayor of Melrose reported that we got another 15 inches of snow, so I'll take his word for it. It was pretty much impossible to measure.

 Randy has started digging paths in the yard so that the kids have a little more space to play. They could literally get lost in this deep snow.

 The snow pile across the street continues to grow.

 The snow pile on our side of the corner has gotten pretty impressive as well.

 Ice dams.....sigh!

 Adelina being dwarfed by the snow piles all around.

 I climbed on top of the snow pile at the Ryan's house and took some pictures. It's just about two stories tall.

We've got another 3-5 inches forecasted for later in the week, so I suspect we'll be re-digging some of these paths. I'm working on making a luge track for our sleds and will certainly post again when I'm done.

Happy Sixth Birthday Adelina!!

After weeks of counting down, it was finally February 12th...Adelina's 6th birthday! She has been super excited for this day and was in a bubbly mood all day long. Per usual, I found myself emotional and wanting to take a million pictures of her sweet face! It's hard to believe that she's so grown up. 

Levi was pretty exited about it being her birthday and sang "I just want to keep on loving you" to her.

Not only was Thursday Adeline's birthday, but it was also her 100th day of school. Her class had a big celebration and they even made t-shirts. It was pretty much the perfect kindergarten day! Adelina chose pancakes and fruit as her birthday dinner and was eager to open up her presents afterwards. Caleb had spent quite a long time preparing his gift to Adelina. He made her a book, complete with a treasure hunt and fun coupons. Adelina was thrilled with her surprises from Caleb! 

 Levi had picked out a new dress for Adelina a few weeks ago. He couldn't wait to give it to her.

Finally it was time for the big box. 

 It's an American Girl Doll!!

 No birthday is complete without cake. This year Adelina wanted a carrot cake. Happy birthday Adelina!

The Winter That Won't Stop

Over the past three weeks, we've endured about six feet of snow. At this point, it's too much to measure and too much to even comprehend that we are going to be hit with yet another blizzard this weekend. Not only have the kids missed six days of school because of the weather, the lives of everyone in this region have been strongly impacted. Commuting into Boston is a nightmare, small businesses are suffering, and the meager public works budgets are being depleted. In addition, there is simply no where to put the snow. A round trip drop off to the kids' schools used to take me 20-25 minutes. It now takes 50 minutes. Driving is dangerous even though the roads are no longer snow covered. Every intersection has a literal mountain of snow, so visibility is diminished. Roads are significantly narrower, which makes fitting two cars traveling in opposite directions nearly impossible. People's patience is being tested daily and the sense of winter weariness is palpable. The other major concern with the amount of snow is the ice building up on the roofs of houses. We've had some pretty impressive icicle build-up. While pretty to look at, they are, at the least, threatening to bring down our gutters. Lots of neighbors and friends have had leaking in their houses due to the ice dams. Here are some images of around our house this week. 

 Here are the remnants of one of the large icicles that was hanging from our house. We have salt bombs on the roof to encourage melting and are knocking down as many icicles as we can. Getting better insulation on our third floor has suddenly become a spring to-do priority.

 The mountain of snow on the corners of Lebanon and Hopkins are impressive. The kids have fun climbing on top and sledding down.