Snow day! Well, snow half-hour, after which everyone got cold and bored.

I'm pretty sure you all heard that Alabama got some snow last week.

Wasn't much, compared to what many of you get all winter long, I know.

But we only get one or two inches once every two or three years, so it was a BIG. FREAKING. DEAL. around here. And Someone didn't like being left inside to watch from behind glass. Like a zoo animal.

She wasn't quite sure what to make of all the white stuff, and didn't know why the boys were throwing it at each other, but she really wanted to be a part of it.

The big boys are old enough to remember the last time we had snow, and they were disappointed with how long it took me to get home from work so they could come home and play in it.

IT'S A SHAME I WAS BUSY TRYING TO KEEP MYSELF ALIVE WHILE DRIVING WITH THOUSANDS OF "CHALLENGED" ALABAMA DRIVERS WHO CAN'T DRIVE IN SNOW. So it took me almost two hours to make it the 11 miles from my office to their school.

So even though it was 5:00 when we got home, we still had time to play.

I would like to point out that while my children THINK that they will play in the snow for seven to eight hours, they have never made it more than 45 minutes.

Everything starts off great, and everyone's happy.

Then people get bored and start throwing snowballs at their sister for fun.

She is intrigued, but it only makes her want to come outside even more.

Anyway, as I was saying, it's all smiles at first, everything's good.

Snowballs are thrown, and nobody's good and wet yet.

A few balls hit toboggans, but nobody's cold, no snow has gone down pants or shirts yet.

We're all smiles.

And then.

AND THEN. Someone makes a particularly on-point throw ...

and someone else gets NAILED.

And downhill the afternoon goes.

And poor sister behind the glass gets upset because she sees her brother upset ...

... and we decide it's not fair to keep her inside any longer.

So she gets to come outside and hang out with the big kids.

Please note how we took the time to bundle her up in layers AND SOCKS AND SHOES.

What's that thing they say about Arizona? "It's a dry heat"? We're the opposite here. It's a warm cold. Or something. Don't worry. She was fine.

Even though Grayson originally wasn't going to "get involved," ultimately he couldn't stay away.

Jake was so excited because I think he thought Daddy was going to be on his side.

Grayson's not really a "team player."

He's always been more of an "every man for himself" kind of guy.

But all's fair in love and snow, I suppose.

Poor Jakey. It's hard to learn these lessons.

Still, even with some tears, much fun was had in the, oh, 40 minutes or so we spent in the snow before everyone got so wet and cold that they were miserable.

Spirits were generally high until the end.

And as bad as the weather had been earlier in the day,

as grey as the skies were that brought the snowstorm into Birmingham,

the evening ended in beautiful, clear skies, a cotton-candy sunset, and a bright moon to light our path back to the door.