Freezing weather (literally!!)

It was SO SO cold last week, right before Christmas!  I didn't think IL could get that cold, but yup! 

The snow is so light and fluffy that it's going everywhere!!

And it's sticking to the tires too - this looks like a bad sign:

We've had some questionable moments with these tires.  So we figured it would be best to change them out before our road trip:

Still just as chunky but these new ones will definitely do better in the cold weather.  Even the guy at the tire store didn't want our old ones. Ha!

So we are still keeping the old/summer tires. Maybe these could come in handy for an exercise routine or a team rally down the driveway. LOL!!

Brrr... it's cold outside!

-5F and can't remember what it was with wind chill.  Lake is definitely frozen over now!

There are a few people ice skating!  

Can't wait to get our ice skates out on the lake as well. Graham and Charlie has some hand-me-down skates and I have new ones for Christmas.

It was so cold I decided to pick Graham up from his school bus.  Plus, he also forgot to wear his waterproof boots:

Thankfully, that was the last day of school!  The boys are happily playing computer games - and somehow, still in this tiny strip of floor by the window:

So pretty, when you don't have to go outside.  Ha ha!

It's so cold that even the door knob is frozen on the INSIDE of the door!  Crazy!!!

Even so, we decided to bundle up and brave the wind and cold.  Bobby, Graham, and Charlie are testing out the theory of "huddling like penguins":

Bobby is pointing out to the thick layer of ice.  He is saying he can see the bubbles frozen underneath:

Family we-fie!  My sunglasses are frozen over so I had to put them on my nose:

Who knows what the "feel-like" temperature is right now.  Something like -30F??

It's so cold that there are icicles on Bobby's lashes. LOL!!

I finally made my snow angel.  Yay!!

For whatever reason, Charlie didn't want to make one. But Graham did.  Glad he still wants to participate in all the stuff Mommy wants to do :-D

Actually, Charlie didn't want to even get on the ice.  He was truly afraid!  I guess all the times we told him not to go on the ice really did work.  Unfortunately, there has been a few deaths from kids falling into the ice.  So, I'm glad he has actually been listening to us.

We didn't get as much snow as the forecast predicted but it is definitely cold:

I'm just so happy (knock on wood) that the house held up nicely. And that all the water pipes stayed intact.  There was a water pipe that burst and the community was trying to figure out where it was.  It ended up being in an empty wooded lot.  There was low pressure for some homes and/or no water at all.  I was almost afraid that we were responsible because we were not home during Christmas to really know!  Glad the community was able to fix it quickly and that the boil order has also been lifted.  Phew!!

But this is definitely one cold December winter that we will remember, especially being our first!