Snow is Relative

A close relative.

Living in Vermont there was only one day in four years that the medical school shut down...by 9:30 am the world looked like this...

and by the next morning you couldn't see the chain link fence at all and we could have climbed out of our windows into a snow drift. It was incredible!


Then we moved to Portland and after a couple of months of school I thought my first grade little Grace had missed the bus and drove her to school only to find the building dark and empty... the world looked like this...




and by 10:30 am it was all gone.

Anyway, it's all relative I guess.

One thing that I definitely wish I'd known sooner though was that the man responsible for the adage, "No two snowflakes are alike." was a living breathing Vermonter in the 1930's who spent years and years photographing snow crystals on a microscope and published in a paper with the National Weather Service his belief that there were never two alike.

Here's the man himself, nicknamed, "Snowflake" Bentley and here are a few of his crystal pictures. Beautiful! Always six-sided and always different.

ALWAYS put the markers away

We have had very few incidents of crayons on the walls or pen on the furniture. The secret? Keep all the writing utinsels separated and in one place at all times. It's worth the grumbling from Chris when he can't find a pen while he's on the phone to avoid fiascos like this one with five year old Will. Obviously though, even the best laid plans go awry at times. For his face he had to suffer through a homemade facial. For furniture I like to use Mr. Clean's magic eraser (that thing is a miracle worker.)

bath time

the total and utter catastrophe of the toddler to popsicle scenario modified here into a bath-extending, photo-opting, money-saving and childhood-memory building tradition. my boys, who largely hate taking baths as many boys do, jump at the chance to have their hair washed because they know there's some cherry goodness involved. and what better way to teach a one year old the finer points of summer refreshment than to practice all winter long in the privacy of the tub? after a few popsicle sticks have built up my engineer of a four year old sticks them to the walls of the bath with bar soap. he once drafted the outline of St. Paul's Cathedral. i'm kidding.