Is that still ice on the road?

Evidently, us Plano-ians are suppose to be comfortable driving and walking our kids to school on LOTS of patches of ice and snow.

Because that's exactly what we all did this morning. The roads are still FULL of ice. And here we all were, parents with our little darlings strapped in the back of our cars, driving, in my case, EXTREMELY carefully because we didn't want to slide into our nearest neighbors.

That's not water on the side of the road; that's ice.

I understand the frustration of NOT having school. Parents have to find child care or stay at home. The state mandates we have to have have 180 days of school a year. And I understand no one really wants to have make-up days. BUT, it was not very safe out there this morning. I saw several tires spinning because they had no traction.

My front walk.

I drove Payton to school this morning because I didn't want to have to navigate a quarter of a mile of icy sidewalks. It would have taken us at least 15 minutes to get to school when it normally takes us 5 - and it's 13 degrees outside, with a wind chill of 4!

So, why did Plano ISD not at least have a 2 hour delay? Is it because the roads and sidewalks wouldn't have been any better at 9:45 than 7:45am? I think it would have been a little better.

Road to Payton's school (and sidewalk).

But, maybe I'm just from south Texas and just haven't been seasoned enough for these inclemate weather conditions. Maybe, there were no accidents today due to the icy roads. Maybe there were no falls because of icy sidewalks. Maybe....

But was it worth risking that possibility?

Just another day in Dallas....

Today, Scott had to work. And because he had to leave the house early and drive in the snow/ice, he took our Nissan Murano. Therefore, I was stuck at home with the Corolla - which I did not want to drive this morning unless I HAD to.

I was determined to get out of the house. So we had a mandatory walk to the pond at Russel Creek Park. I was hoping it would be pleasant, but we didn't get 100 yards from the house when Ian began to pout. My eyes were bothering me because of the glare, so I asked him if it was bothering him too. He latched onto that excuse right away, so we trekked back home for sunglasses.

The sunglasses were all in the Murano.

This is where Mommy get resourceful and grabs the swimming goggles :) Please don't laugh too hard - I was desperate to get out from under my roof.

So, we continued on to see the pond and stopped at a couple of playgrounds along the way.

Sure, enough, the pond was frozen. There was once patch that wasn't that the ducks were huddled on. Then there were a couple of seagulls walking across the ice. It's not everyday you see a frozen pond in Texas.

About 4 o'clock I couldn't take it any longer. We piled in the car and went to WalMart. The roads were melted enough by then that I felt pretty safe. Tomorrow we have another chance of snow and this time they are saying there won't be any accumulation ;)

Just a little crazy.

So Thursday night, the weather forecast predicted a 40% chance of snow with accumulations of less than one inch.

We woke up Friday morning to 5 inches on the ground.

The weather forecast said the snow would end by noon, and it didn't stop till almost 4pm! By the end of it, we officially got 6.1 inches of the white stuff.

I don't know who is picking the forecast model, but he/she/they were terribly wrong in this instance! Good Lord.

At least the snow allowed us enough traction to walk around today.

That's Payton's school on the other side of the houses.

Here's an aside...There is a parking lot on the side of Payton's school. It's not very wide, but it's as long as a football field. Well, earlier in the week when that parking lot was just a sheet of ice, some kids decided to got butt-boarding across the lot. I'm not sure if butt-boarding is an actual past time because I just pulled the name out of the air. But, a guy was sitting on a board (of some type) while his buddies pulled him by a rope that was tied to the back of a truck. The two of them fishtailed across the parking lot - for fun!

When we had the snow, these same guys were out in the same parking lot, but this time they were snowboarding behind the truck....

The pond has disappeared.

It was nice to get out of the house. We sled down the driveway :) before Daddy shoveled it.  It's not much of a hill, but it's close to a warm fire and hot chocolate. (Pictures are still coming - we're having technical difficulties with our memory card.)

Brrr

It's flippin' 20 degrees outside today! - with a wind chill of -2 below zero. This is absurdly, freakishly cold.

We had icy rain and sleet last night with wind gusts up to 50 mph! There was even thunder along with some of that sleet.

There is some snow, but it's just a thin layer on an inch of ice. And the pond is frozen over.

Needless to say, there was no school today. Scott is stuck up at the hospital. He came home last night just as the Arctic blast hit, packed a bag, and went back to the hospital because he's on-call today.

So, it's just me and the kids. Poor Ian has a cough and and a little cold - no fever, but still not quite up to par.

Payton's been great at keeping herself busy. I even helped her with one of her 'I Wonder' projects and we read together :)

Now, why do people in Dallas not shovel their driveways?

I decided to shovel mine because it's a steep incline. And that steep incline backs right out into my neighbor's fence. It would suck if my car started sliding down the driveway into my neighbor's fence. But it doesn't appear, judging from my immediate neighbors, that they care about removing some of the ice and snow from their car's path. Humf. I don't know what to think about that.

My driveway

Neighbor's driveway

Then again, let's just say, I back out of my driveway successfully. I still have to get down the alleyway without hitting anything before I even make it out to a road.....

The Great Bed Unveiling

This weekend Oma and Opa came up to, ahem, take home the bed that Scott made for them. Yup, Scott, the woodworker, has made a king size bed for his parents! It is/was a Christmas present for them. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite ready for Christmas, and it wasn't quite ready this weekend either.....But, it is a huge project and you don't want to rush greatness :)

Honestly, I'm very impressed with my husband's accomplishments with this bed. I didn't know he had it in him. This whole woodworking thing is relatively new to him (and me). I didn't know what to expect.

I didn't expect....the sawdust on my car, in my house, on everything in the garages.

I didn't expect, my husband suiting up like he's going into chemical warfare (with goggles, breathing filter, and ear muffs - I really need a picture of this, but haven't achieved it yet).


I didn't expect all the trips to Rockler and the other woodworking stores and websites, and movies watched on YouTube.

I didn't expect, how nice it turned out......

Headboard

Footboard

White Rock Lake

The weather this weekend was absolutely beautiful.

Payton is encouraged to do an extra 'I Wonder' project school every 6-9 weeks or so. One of the projects, that she chose to do this go-round, reads, 'After the lessons on rocks, soil, and water compare different rocks, trees, landforms, etc. Make a poster and share your information with the class.'

First of all, can we get any broader in scope? Second, I have no idea what was covered in Payton's class about rocks, soil, and water. Third, can the teachers really expect my 5 year old to fully convey what was covered in class to me, and then apply this knowledge to the outside world?

Given all this stated above, we took a trip to White Rock Lake this weekend, in hopes of finding some rocks. I focus in on rocks particularly because Payton told me they had identified several different rocks in class. She couldn't tell me the names of all of them, but she described them to me. From what I gathered, there was mica, sandstone (she called it sand rock), quartz, and pumice (she remembered the name of this one). There could have been others, but you know, she's 5 and she's trying to learned to read, and she's worried about running away from Conner on the playground.....you get the idea.

White Rock Lake is close to downtown Dallas, but really pretty. There were tons of people out running the path that circles the lake which is 9 miles long! We parked close to a little pier, checked out the water fowl, and had a picnic.

Unfortunately, White Rock Lake has no rocks. Not even white ones.

ps - Oma and Opa were here this weekend for the great bed unveiling - hopefully, blog on that to come.....

Payton's Ballet Class

Payton's ballet school had an open class, or sorts, that the parents could sit in on. The ballet school only does one recital in May, so this is just for the parents to get an inside peak to a class.

Payton wanted me to try to catch her in her jumps, but of course this is really difficult to capture.

All the same, as a mother, I thought she was adorable and did a great job. So here are some pics and videos of Payton practicing her ballet.