Sweet as Sugar Candy

We are having a sweet time of it, mid-February in Blacksburg.

Both kids had Valentine's Day parties to enjoy at school. I took a late morning to put Miles on the bus for his after a 2 hour delay.

Here Miles is before getting on the bus in the 5 degree weather (YES he wore a coat):

I really just told him, "I'm taking your picture for Valentine's Day. Smile!" & that's what he did. 

As usual, we were in the dance studio bright and early on Saturday morning, Valentine's Day notwithstanding.

Here, Adele puts naughty Optimus Prime in time-out. He's apparently a big hitter:

Saturday was a cleaning day, since our condo was being shown by the owners to potential buyers and it has been looking rather lived-in. A good afternoon for clay, crafts, and play-doh.

"Mummy, look, I made the United States!"

Jon and I got our date in on Thursday. The graduate school has a kids' night out at the Women's Center on Thursday nights- free babysitting! So we nipped over to Our Daily Bread for an absolutely delectable dessert and good conversation. Thank you, Women's Center volunteers!

Sunday, the choristers (children & youth choir) sang the offertory, and several junior members got their ribbons, including Miles:

He behaved beautifully, and sang even better. 

On Sunday night, as we were leaving to visit a friend's house for some King Cake, the snow began. My heart has been sorely wanting it.

To my immense satisfaction, the storm gave us about 9 inches. 

Virginia Tech closed at noon yesterday, so after Adele was up from her nap, out we went into it!

Adele did a lot of sculpting and rolling in it. She also bravely went down a hill with me three times! The third time by request!

Miles did it all, including a really ecstatic snow angel:

My favorite sled type: oblong, and plastic. 

After she got a bit too much snow in her face, Adele opted to go butt-sledding. 

9 inches of snow and everything looks like frosting. We'd gotten just enough sun so that it was soft and fluffy, but still plenty cold, so no melty-freezy. Perfect.

As packing snow, it wasn't awesome; this is the best snow-being I could manage.

Miles was the sledding king today. He probably did 5-6 runs by himself, which is a first. 

I was just so happy. 

I've been pondering snow as I watch my NYS and New England friends get pummeled with blizzard after blizzard. I don't really need constant storms, or 6 feet of snow on the ground at any given point. I would absolutely see snow as an affliction, at this point, were I living in Boston this year. But down in VA, deprivation has raised my enthusiasm. I wish we could take some of it off your hands, northern readers, because this would definitely get old on a daily basis. 

They remind me of A Snowy Day, here. 

But for a special occasion? Yes please!!

Keep Jon in your prayers; he's still toiling on his prelims. A week from tomorrow, those will be due, and maybe in the next months, next year will begin to come into sharper focus for us...