Winter Days

Winter has finally arrived here in Kansas.  Though it is almost over and will probably be gone by the time I finish this post!  We had 2 weeks with more snow than our area has received in 20 years!

Here is a picture during the first big storm to hit us at the end of February.  I woke up at 6:30 am and it had not started snowing yet...this picture was taken at 10:30am, just a few hours later!

And here is a picture of the same view...without snow!

The girls loved it!  They got 2 extra snow days off of school per storm and we are still within our allotted extra days so they do not have to miss any of their Spring Break days.

I love any kind of weather, especially snow and rain, so I was thrilled.  It does make it hard during tax season as we have to get right out and shovel so clients can come to the door.  After the first snow, on the first day, we were enjoying a quiet, lazy day indoors.  The snow had stopped for a little while after about 10 inches and we were wondering if it would pick back up or not.  All of a sudden the doorbell rang and I thought it would be some of the neighborhood kids wanting my girls to come out and play in the snow.  But it turned out to be two of my neighbors, both women, who wanted to let me know that they had shoveled my driveway and walkway!!  WOW!  I was so grateful.  Not just because my clients needed to be able to get to me, but because I was kind of worried about what would happen if we had an emergency with the babies and needed to get out quick...you just never know.

This is also a big deal because while I love my house and the community we live in, we are not the most popular family on the block!  My neighbors tend to leave us out of everything...I mean everything.  I try not to let it bother me.  I know I am an odd duck of sorts.  I am older, have a LOT of children, most of my children don't match, and I don't drink!  My neighbors like to sit in their driveways on a Friday evening after work and drink wine and gossip.  I don't enjoy this, so I tend to keep to myself.  

My girls love to run around our street on a summer evening in the dark.  I know, it is fun, especially if you have flashlights or bug catchers.  And I don't mind sitting on the porch and watching them.  But the girls want me to walk to where all the neighbors are gathered and sit with them.  I think they think I'll let them stay out longer if I am distracted by the other women.  And that may be true, but I do not enjoy sitting with people who are drinking or talking about other people who are not there.  (Yes, I imagine I am part of the conversation since I am not there, but I don't really care.)

Anyhow, knowing that I am not the most popular gal on the street, I was touched that these two women did something so nice for us.  I really appreciate their kindness.  And it made my daughters feel really good also. So often the only interaction we have with the neighbors is watching them have a block party that they specifically did not invite us to.  And I know that will still happen, even the ladies who did this will probably not stretch quite that far.  But I am happy for the moment, and especially happy that my girls feel good about it.  Because no matter what, I expect them to continue to treat others as we would have them treat us, even if they don't usually treat us that way.