Where Did I Put the Snow Clothes?

I'm looking outside this beautiful October morning and I see tons of snow and sunshine! It is unquestionably gorgeous, albeit a bit early for my taste. Living in Utah means living with snow. I'm fine with it. One day, when my kids are a little bit older, I intend to utilize the ski resorts again. I prefer sunshine and green grass, but I'm able to see the beauty in snow. In fact, I hope we have a very snowy winter this year. After all, more snow on the mountains will translate to more water in the reservoir that we love to boat on. Water is good!

So seeing the snow is fine. The trouble happens when my kids get involved. Of course they are thrilled with the snow because they want to play in it. I love to see them so excited. I don't love to search the house for snow attire that fits. This is always the drama on the first snow day of the season. First and foremost, where did I put all the snow clothes? I'm sure I tucked them away somewhere very clever indeed, but where would that be? No, I'm serious....does anyone have an idea of where the hell I put it all?

So now that I've located all the gear, lets try it on my children. The coats are tiny, the snow pants are short. No problem for Lyla, the younger kid can always rely on hand me downs. The trouble comes for the oldest child. Luckily her snow pants will work for one more year and her head has stayed the same size for her hat to fit. Dave and I hit the jackpot on gloves at Costco last weekend so we're good there.  I was also fortunate enough to have stumbled upon an adorable snow coat at Walmart last week. I wasn't shopping for one, I just found the cutest coat and bought it for Sasha on impulse. I am so thankful that I did because we would have had a serious problem this morning if I hadn't bought that.

It seems that we are set, but no. Boots??? The bane of my existence is keeping up on the correct size of shoes for my children's growing feet (every mothers nightmare). Sasha's snow boots from last year didn't even come close to fitting. She tried to wedge her foot into one, but it was like a scene out of Cinderella. There was just no way it would ever work. Just then a light bulb went on in my brain. Yes, I had recalled that I had bought her clearance boots last spring. I did my best to guess what size her feet might be come winter time. I remember that I wanted to be prepared for winter this year. Hopefully I guessed correctly, because if not, we've go NOTHING! Now where did I put those boots? Ten minutes of searching later, I found them.  The moment of truth is here. They are......freaking HUGE. Oh well, good enough. It's monster boots or sausage casings. She decided on the enormous clown boots and who could blame her? So I shoved all her snow clothes in an extra bag and handed it to her in addition to her already full back pack. She picked it all up and headed out the door. The last thing I heard my six year old say was, "It's okay  that I have two bags mom. I bet most the kids in my class are going to bring a lot of extra shit to school today." And there you have it, the apple didn't fall to from from the snow covered apple tree.