We woke up to a beautiful and very wet snow on the morning of 22 January 2008, and the girls couldn't wait to get out and romp around in it. We went for a walk up and down the street, tagging nearly every yard and driveway with a snow angel. Yvonne discovered the joy of throwing snowballs at Daddy at point-blank range, and Zella learned the importance of not losing one of your gloves.

After a while, they could think of nothing but building a snowman. I taught them how to roll up a big snowball, and we rolled the snowman's body along the sidewalk from three houses away. After a few mishaps, we had three misshapen body parts stacked up, and looked around for decorations. His nose came from the fridge (left over from the pot roast a few days ago), his arms from beneath the gumball tree, and his eyes from underneath the snow. They wanted buttons for his chest. I said, "I think we'll have a hard time finding buttons out here," to which they replied, "You have buttons right there, Daddy!"pointing at my coat. I managed to keep my buttons by running inside to get the camera.

Unfortunately, I did have to go on to work (arriving bright and early at 11:30), and the snow had melted away by the time i got back. I learned that the girls watched in horror as the boys across the street demolished their snowman shortly after i left.