Stevens Family: BOO-tiful Snowmen

Move over witches, goblins, and ghouls. Yes, it may only be October 6th--but Ammon, Idaho is Jack Frost's own personal playground. He really loves it here. Didn't it just barely stop snowing... like two weeks ago? Well, no matter how early the first snowfall comes, to kids, it's MAGICAL!

When the kids noticed that the rain drops were looking awfully thick this morning, all at once I began hearing gasps, giggles, and cheers! Within minutes of the kids confirming that it was indeed snowing, they began demanding that they NEEDED hot chocolate. They're conditioned. Next came the demand to find the snow clothes that were (just barely) stowed away in the tippy most toppy shelf in the garage. With Justin working out of town, I knew that I was going to have to find a way to get those snow clothes down--no way around it. I lugged out the ladder, bravely climbed up, and then, standing on the very top step, reached for the bin... and could just barely budge it. It had to be 50 pounds. I was scared. How was I going to lift this crazy-heavy bin over my head and down this ladder? I expressed my concern to the kids. It was in that moment that I learned which child loved me the most. Kyler screamed, "Don't do it, Mom!" In an annoyed/impatient tone, Kenna replied, "Just do it, Mom!" Interesting. Anyway, with Kenna and I both on the ladder (and probably a few guarding angels), we somehow got the bin down. It's amazing what a single mom can do when she has no other choice. I was pretty proud of myself.

With snow clothes finally in hand, I was quickly reminded of one of my least favorite parts of winter: Getting kids snow-ready. Seriously, it feels like an Olympic event. Why is it so hard to pull coat sleeves over gloves and snow pants over boots? And the hardest part: getting a two-year-old's thumb in the thumb hole of a mitten. Next to impossible. But, like the snow bin, I, super-mom, conquered the impossible. Soon the kids were relishing in the amazing wonder that is SNOW.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I finally sent them out the door... and wouldn't you know it... 10 seconds later, they were at the door requesting I find them a hat, eyes, and nose for a snowman. I thought I was pretty clever to grab a witch hat--it is October after all! Well, when I came outside to take a picture of their snowman, my clever smile quickly faded when I saw that instead of one snowman, they made the "Stevens Family"---and of course, Mommy snow woman was sporting the witch hat. What was going through my mind in this moment? Things like... the thousands of hours spent nursing them, the millions of times I've wiped their bums, the billions of band-aids I've applied, the trillions of socks I've folded... and THIS is how I'm portrayed as a snowman?! THE WITCH?! "Don't worry, Mom," said Kenna. "You're a nice witch!"