The Magic of Snow

Yesterday, just as I was picking the kids up from school, the rain turned into tiny floating snowflakes, to the great delight of Misha and Sebby. Their joy was even greater this morning, when the first thing they did was run to the window to see the white world. "It snowed, Sebby! Woo hoo! Mom, the trees look like Christmas!" Misha cheered. When the words finally made their way through Sebby's sleepy head, his eyes snapped open and he too jumped up onto the couch to peer out the window. "Oh! Oh! Oh! It snowed!" he gasped over and over. Then he chimed excitedly, "I wanna make a SNOWBALL!" 

The next several minutes were spent trying to get the kids dressed and fed with a little bit of cocoa, while all the while they were dashing around to each window in the house to see the view. Five minutes later, Sebby announced, as if it was a new discovery, "Misha, it SNOWED! Santa is gonna COME!" We bundled up with coats, hats, boots, and minutes and headed outside. It snowed once in October, but this is the first snow that lasted, outlining treebranches in fuzzy whiteness and accumulating on the ground. The boys immediately made a few snowballs to toss.

Then came the fun of trying to get the kids to school, which took forever even though it's only a five minute walk away. They dawdled, poking the snow and scooping it to form snowballs despite my urges to hurry up. Misha flicked branches to make the powdery snow shower down around him. Sebby brushed off fences and ran around until he fell over in a slushy puddle. By the time we got to school, they were both covered in snow. As we took off Sebby's wet hat, mittens, coat, and boots, he announced to his teacher, "Sniek!!!" (Snow!) 

All the snow outside makes our apartment feel warm and cozy. I think the cats feel the same way.