Snow, snow, go away

Two weeks ago, there was NO snow on the ground here in lovely Hoth.  The sun was shining, pigeons were cooing, and then...BLAM!...Mother Nature remembered we're supposed to be in the middle of winter and rectified the situation with a series of storms that have caused much whining in the Alfred household because it meant that the boys have had to....GASP!...work/shovel the driveway/sidewalk. 

Back when the first storm hit, we took some time to enjoy the local tradition of using Old Main Hill for winter activities before settling in for serious shoveling:

Elijah is like me when it comes to winter activities.  He seems to have an inherent grasp of physics and realizes that sitting on a slippery object and pushing yourself down a steep, snow-covered hill will probably result in injuries (see sign).  He tried it a time or two, and then came to an important realization:  when you get to the bottom of the snow-covered hill, there's only one way back up...and it involves a lot of huffing and puffing.  (Final score:  winter activities:  0, pragmatism:  2)  Elijah went down a few times and then found a mud puddle (yes, even in winter) to make "orcs."

Ethan, on the other hand, is the daredevil of the family.  He sledded with such intensity that HE BROKE HIS SLED.  Also, he freaked Gabriel right out.  There were a ton of people (read that, indestructible teenagers) on the hill and Gabriel didn't care when THEY went down the hill.  BUT...when ETHAN went down the hill...he had a little meltdown of fear.  Every time.

Note:  this is the snow AFTER most of the first storm had melted but BEFORE the two following storms hit

GAH.  It's a shame snow is so monochromatic.  It really makes it hard to see the snow forts the boys built for defense during their Ultimate Snowball Fight...which, of course, quickly degenerated into the Ultimate Shouting Match Wherein Everyone is Apparently a Cheater.  Good times, good times. 

In non-weather related news, for those of you who haven't heard, we're still waiting to hear the final verdict on where Jon has been accepted into a PhD program.  Texas A&M and the University of Tennessee are off the list, but we're still waiting to hear from THE Ohio State and Kansas State.  According to various breaking news sites for nail-biting grad students, if you haven't received rejection letters from THE Ohio State at this point, you're on their short list and they're fighting over funding decisions.  This is fabulous news because Ohio State is a Big 10 school.  Meaning:  AWESOME school with GREAT history program, especially in his area of specialization.  Not to mention that we would have family (Lisa!) less than two hours away.  Fingers crossed, perpetual prayer, all that good stuff.  My daily mail routine now includes a brief "please let there NOT be anything in it" shout out to the Powers That Be, because no news is good news at this point, but hopefully we'll know by mid-March. 

We'll keep you posted.