Whether you like it or not (or, Weather: You like it, or not)

I wonder if everyone else is as sick of the winter snow storms as we are. I can't remember having so many big storms so close together in some time. Usually, it seems like we get a couple of big storms each winter, but with a couple of weeks between them--at least enough for most of the snow to melt. Not so this year.

Andrew, of course, loves the snow. He loves to play in it, he loves to "help" shovel it, he loves everything about it (except, possibly, the cold--but even that's still open to question). On Wednesday, we finally did the only sensible thing we could do with all that snow: we went out and played in it. Sort of. Poor Evelyn just got strapped into the stroller and watched from a safe vantage point on the sidewalk. (I do have snow pants for her, but I was a little afraid she would get swallowed in so much snow). The weather that day was gorgeous--in spite of the snow, the temperatures were in the 40s, so we almost didn't need the coats I made us all wear (the picture was taken after the fact). Andrew and I built a pathetic little snowman. The relentless melting that day meant that by the time Andrew got up from his nap, the snowman had already fallen down. But at least you can see it here in all its glory.

Here's a picture of our street, so you can appreciate the snow better (and the spindly little arms of our snow man). The big pile of snow you see is where we usually park our car. Apparently, while we were in Cedar City for Christmas, the snow plow came through the cul-de-sac for the first time in my parents' memory and left all of the accumulated snow right in front of our house.

The biggest event of our week was Dan's visit to Cedar City--he had an on campus interview at SUU for a position as a chemistry professor. (You can read all about it at "Ahoy Y'all Children" if you're interested). Dan seemed pretty pleased with the experience and he enjoyed teaching the two classes he was asked to teach (I got to play student the night before he left, but I'm hoping that his actual students were more clued in than I was). There were only two on campus candidates, so Dan's odds seem good. But the question still remains as to whether or not funding for the position will actually be forthcoming. At any rate, we just have to wait and see.

Aside from that, we don't have a whole lot to report. School started for me with its attendant business and last minute complications--for example, just as we thought we had all of our class assignments worked out for our writing tutors, we discovered one more class that wanted Writing Fellows that we hadn't known about (but should have).

The kids continue to be cute (Evelyn) and vexatious (Andrew, on more than one occasion). But Andrew makes up for it by being charming and entertaining on occasion. His newest favorite utterance makes me smile everytime I hear it. Instead of simply answering yes or no, he's taken to saying "Oh yes," or "Oh no" in this drawn out dramatic way. And Evelyn, as you can see from the pictures below, is now officially in the "lumpy" stage of babyhood (as Poppy would call it). No signs of crawling yet, but she's certainly much happier when she can appropriately survey her domain.



Andrew, in his natural habitat: i.e., a mess.