Hooray for a perfect snowstorm!

Winter storm Jonas couldn't have been more perfectly timed for our area! We had days and days of lead-time, so there was no excuse for being low on food or missing a shovel. Snow began falling late evening on Friday, once school and work were well over. The storm raged and snow fell all day Saturday, but not so dreadfully that power was lost or trees came down. And Sunday dawned in brilliant glory, giving everyone a full and warmish day to dig, clear, dig, clear, and dig, clear some more. The shoveling was mighty hard work on Saturday and Sunday, don't get me wrong, and I know we were fortunate not to have any need to leave the house for the weekend—but if a snowstorm was going to hit, this was about as perfect as one could ask for.

You can get a sense for the depth with this picture of the driveway on Sunday morning. Jesse had finally busted a path through the icy, dense, snowplow mountain at the foot of the drive. We had around 28 inches of snow on the level and of course anywhere from 3 to 6 feet in the drifts and piles.

The aforementioned path was important so that Jim and Tillie could make it up the street and into the house for a big Sunday morning brunch. With a travel ban in Lancaster, there was no church, so we got together and feasted on yeasty waffles, fresh fruit, bacon, eggs, and a few gallons of hot tea!  :)

In the afternoon there was plenty of snow play. After lots of sledding and general horsing around, the boys convinced Jesse (who'd been shoveling and snow-blowing nonstop) to help them make a spiderweb of tunnels in the 5-6 foot mountain of snow that had become our front yard. Can you spy Jesse's feet in the photo below? What a dad!  :)

Kings of the mountain!

Here the boys are posing by some of the tunnels later in the day (after snow play was over, hence the lack of snow pants, before they headed up the street to watch the Patriots at Mama Cas and Pop Pop's).

Clearly we've enjoyed the snow and the storm! Now let's just hope no one goes and spoils the joy by canceling school in the morning, right?  :)

Friends

I felt exhausted last Friday morning. The week had seemed excruciatingly long (Jesse had been away and became quite ill while he was gone to boot; it was the first week of classes for the spring term, always a mad scramble no matter how one tries to prepare; several deadlines hit all at once; and one of the boys—bet you can't guess who!—gave me a run for my parenting money all week long).

Getting out the door felt impossibly hard that morning. Given my druthers, I may not have left my bedroom. But how thankful I am that we were committed to hitting the road: What a joy it was to spend a rejuvenating, funny, happy, warm weekend a few hours south of here with the Millers! We laughed a ton, played hard, ate amazing food, had good conversations, and basically had a perfect friends weekend (the work I dragged along notwithstanding, seeing as I didn't officially have the days off like Jesse and the kids). 

Saturday was warm (50s) and beautiful. There was pretty much nonstop basketball and football among the boys (yes, big and little boys alike). You need to view the picture below with the soundtrack, "Eli, I'm open!" chirping out of 3-year-old Marcus' mouth on never-ending repeat. (Replace "Eli" with whomever had the ball throughout the game.)   :)

It was SUCH a treat to have Steve Del visiting too—all the way from sunny California!!! We celebrated his birthday Saturday night even though it was a week or so early.  

(ignore the weird candle camera reflection business on Steve's forehead) 

In addition to outdoor sports, games (board and other) were played all weekend too. Zach taught Josiah this football game...

The animal stacking one was played many a time...

We all enjoyed various board games anytime a few people were available... 

Naturally there was the watching of professional games 

(appropriately attired in front of the television)...

And...speaking of games...I'm beyond thankful that no one thought to take a picture of me on any of the occasions when the kids got me to play Twister!

Also not pictured were the many times we played "three on a couch," where the goal was to get either three of the five little boys OR all three girls (me, Marcia, Hélène) OR all three big boys (Jesse, Steve, Steve) onto the couch at once. If your team won, a pig pile was obligatory. Naturally. It was hilarious.

Sunday's weather couldn't have been more different than Saturday's. Snow! The kids were crazy excited and played for hours. Snow football, fort building, snowmen, the usual.

Speaking of the usual, this is, um, not the usual. I'm one lucky lady, eh?  :)

Boys' team huddling during football...

William having a small meltdown on the field...sigh...

Hélène for the adults' team...

Adults' team huddle...

Marcus, one cool cat!

Big brother Zach...

 Action shot!

Some post-football snowman building...

These three have been friends for 20 years now (the Steves longer than that; Jesse was a latecomer). 

Thank you for a wonderful weekend, Steve and Marcia!

A short post for Daddy

We're so thankful that this current trip is just a few days long, Jesse! While you've been gone, we have...

1) ...worked on the super fun colorable Paris tablecloth that Hélène's parents sent to the boys for Christmas.

2) ...made, umm, celebratory objects (not sure what to call these creations!) with which to fête your parents upon their return from two weeks away. Your mom and dad rolled into town last evening and joined us for dinner; William greeted them with a feather blowing thing and Josiah with a homemade catapult. 

3) ...played in a half inch of SNOW! The boys were beside themselves with joy tonight when they saw that a bit of snow had fallen while they had been playing in the basement. Despite the hour, I let them play out in it before getting ready for bed. They made snow angels, pulled the sled, and did some shoveling (of questionable value, although I was hopeful). Seeing as we didn't have any snow last year in France, it's been nearly 2 years since their last snow-play. 

And now we just look forward to your return. Safe travels!

Florida

In case we weren't already overwhelmed by their daily manifestations of love and care for our family, Jesse's parents invited us to join them in Florida for the week between Christmas and New Year's. Out of the goodness of our hearts, we agreed. I mean, you can't say no to a gift, plus it was the gracious thing to show Hélène a different part of the county, right? Martyrs, I know.   :)  

We were right on the water in Panama City Beach — crashing waves, sugar white sand, perfection! Well...almost perfection. We forgot to put in an order with Mother Nature regarding the weather, and it was rainy / foggy / stormy almost the entire week. The picture above was taken a few hours after we arrived, and that was the only time we saw the sun all week. Ah well.

In spite of the weather, we did find a few brief windows to get outside. One morning we enjoyed a walk at a nature conservancy just a few minutes from our timeshare, dodging raindrops for some of it but interspersed with bright moments too. We walked all through the woods and on pathways built over the swamps. It was beautiful and so different from home, and the place was basically deserted.

A football was thrown for the duration of the walk (to motivate two small somebodies). 

I like this picture with William in the air and Jim's great expression!  

 Hey look! It's almost hinting at "sunny" for a second! 

Here's a shot from the balcony of our unit, looking out at the ocean. The roar of the waves was relentless and so, so peaceful. 

When it was too poor to be out, we watched a lot of movies, read books, ate fro-yo, found indoor activities, visited the indoor pool...and stuffed our shirts with towels and laundry. We Caslers know how to have a good time, that's for sure!

Mid-week Jesse, the boys, and I visited St. Andrew's State Park (Jim, Tillie, and Hélène went to the movies). We took advantage of a few clear-ish hours, and I especially loved it because I got to join in after finally—that morning—submitting the last of my grades for the fall semester. I'd lugged a pile of papers and spent the better part of several days of the holiday working on them (boo). 

The idea was for Jesse and Josiah to snorkel, but they didn't see a blessed thing in the water. 

William and I coaxed them back to land where all the fun and action seemed to be taking place! 

We saw herons...

...and a raccoon (can you spot it below? William was so thrilled!)...

...a sea cucumber...

...and a bunch of big hermit crabs.

They just looked like shells in the shallow water, but when William and I pulled them out, lo and behold:

In another part of the park: Can you spy an alligator eyeball?

I rather like these two non-indigenous critters!

Here are a few parting shots from the indoor pool.

 

Happy 2016, everybody!