winter beauty

Erin, author and photographer over at bluebirdbaby, is hosting an inspiring winter photo challenge: over the next 30 days, capture something beautiful and share it on your blog . . . it is Erin’s way of working a little more visual beauty into the winter landscape. Pretty neat huh? If you want to join in, visit her blog and copy the html (that the above badge links to) to show her badge on your blog.

Since we were just hit with the blizzard of 2010 here in Northern Virginia, I thought I’d post a few pictures of the beautiful, the astounding, the simple (just us having a good old time in the snow.)

Our townhouse, early in the day, after the first 20 inches arrived.

I feel so bad for our trees; the snow is so heavy and is weighing the branches down. So many trees have been knocked completely over. When we went sledding, I’d stand up and shake those branches I could reach just to give the trees a little bit of relief.

Oh, but the snow is so beautiful, isn’t it? Everywhere it looks like a snowy dreamland. If only the 200,000 people without power could enjoy the snow too. Hopefully, the power companies will safely be able to restore power soon!

I have to say that Annabelle is just completely overwhelmed by this completely overwhelming snow. When she walks along the shoveled out paths, the snow rises well above her head. She pleaded with us (and we are New Englanders) to stay inside; we don’t want to be pushy but at the same time, we want her to experience the fun of a good heavy snow.

Our snow plow worked through the night; the hills of snow built up from the snow removal reach almost as high as the roofs of our homes. Little boys (and big ones too) are having a blast digging out forts and igloos in the snow. Today I even crawled inside of one where our little ones were enjoying a morning snack.

The ground, where shoveled, is a slick sheet of ice. Apparently our street, a residential one, is better plowed and safer to drive on than our major roads. Schools have already been canceled for Monday and Tuesday. We are wondering whether the government will shut down too.

Beauty, though, is everywhere:

and the spirit of our childhood is there too; my husband turns into a big kid whenever the snow falls:

lucky for Matt and me, the snow lulls little babes to sleep. While Levi slept for an hour or so, I enjoyed ten or so runs down a luge that Matt dug out last night . . . yes, the snow is that deep!

We’re having fun, doing our best to stay warm, and for the most part, enjoying each and every snowflake. On Tuesday, we’re supposed to get a bit more . . .