The First Snow with the Tylers

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by Ronnie Tyler | on December 9th, 2009 | 10 comments

couplefamilysnow

by Ronnie Tyler

The family in this picture looks picture perfect …right? They look like they are having fun in their perfectly coordinated winter outfits. Well at the Tyler house we have fun in the snow too…but we are not looking picture perfect like the family in that image above. Check out our kids in the picture below. The baby has on one glove. Our oldest daughter has on mismatched gloves and a coat from two winters ago. And our 3 year old…well I don’t know where that big coat came from..a cousin must have given it to us. So yes..they are looking scraggly in a hodgepodge of old play clothes and winter clothes. But they had fun!!

We had our first snow last weekend and the kids begged and pleaded to go outside in the snow. However it was snowing most of the first day and I really did not feel like going out into that cold wet snow. But early the next morning, the kids and I raided the storage room in the basement looking for winter essentials. This was really our first cold weekend in the area..and I was majorly unprepared. However, I keep a bag of hats, scarves, gloves without mates, and mittens, in the basement. I also keep the old winter coats and boots down there. So it took us about 40 minutes to get the kids layered in old play clothes and old winter coats. Then we raided the bag of old gloves and hats. (The baby ended up with one glove because there weren’t any more gloves in the bag and she rejected all of the mittens.) And headed to the backyard where the kids proceeded to play and I worked on getting the snow off of the grill that we just purchased this summer (so much for that heavy duty grill cover that you can see on the ground behind our oldest daughter.)

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We were outside no more than 45 minutes before the little ones asked to go inside. And as we were walking in, our 3 year old said: “Good time Mom.” And my seven year old seconded that motion by saying: “Yeah..I had a good time too.” I felt so good. And to think, I almost did not take them outside. I had all sorts of excuses in my head: I need to buy more hats and gloves, I am tired…yada yada yada. But I am glad that I didn’t wait until all conditions were perfect. I took the kids outside anyway and I am sure they will remember moments like this one for a long time to come. (They will also remember having mismatched gloves and they will be telling their kids..when I was little, we didn’t even have gloves..we all had to share gloves and take turns making snowballs…ha ha.)

This year make sure you take time to create some memorable moments with your kids this holiday season. And it doesn’t have to be anything that costs a lot of money either. This year, the kids and I will make ornaments out of salt dough and paint them, we already decorated the Christmas tree together (which they thoroughly enjoyed), we are going to buy gifts for a family in need.

BMWK family please share with us some of your family traditions old or new.

About the author

Lamar and Ronnie Tyler are the creators of the award-winning blog BlackandMarriedWithKids.com . They also are behind the Amazon.com bestselling DVDs Happily Ever After: A Positive Image of Black Marriage, You Saved Me and their latest documentary Men Ain’t Boys that explores manhood in the African American community. The Tylers are also the proud parents of four children.

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Comments (10)

CS Wednesday - 09 / 12 / 2009 Reply

Ronnie that pic is priceless and so are the memories you created. I don't think I had matching gloves until I got my first job. :-)
Dee Wednesday - 09 / 12 / 2009 Reply

Ok, I have to share this story, that your post reminded me of. 10 years ago we moved from West Palm Beach Florida, to Grand Rapids Michigan, oh and we did it on December 15th. Yes it was a move for a job. Even though my kids had been born in Philadelphia and Atlanta respectively they really hadn’t seen snow yet, and they were 7 and 4 at the time. I’ll never forget the day we left WPB, our flight was at 12:00, and I had gone out for my last run at 6am that morning. I loved my early morning runs back then. The course I ran wound past two beautiful lakes with flamingos all around and was totally shrouded in palm trees which were gently swaying in the breeze. It was about 80 degrees that morning and the breeze was blowing from the east, so that I could smell the salt from the ocean which was about 2 miles from our villa. AHHH I can still smell it. We got on the plane went through Detroit, and my kids were mega excited to see snow especially my seven year old girl. Sure enough on halfway between Detroit and GR, looking down at the ground it had gone from brown to totally white. The pilot, sadistic SOB that he was said “The local temperature in GR is a balmy 3” and snowing. That’s THREE degrees!! This did not please me, but thrilled my daughter to no end. She had never been in, as she put it at the time, “Any degree less than 40!”. Well we land and it was the cutest scene ever. My little sweetie goes out in the parking lot and starts screaming ITS SNOW, ITS SNOW!! And drops down and does a snow angel in the middle of the parking lot. By the way my littlelest was completely shocked and started crying as soon as the cold hit his face! My wife, yea she was not amused. So anywho, a couple of weeks go by. and if you know anything about Western Michigan then you heard the term “Lake Affect Snow”, which is Michigander code for, the snow never stops!! The rest of the world may be totally dry but its almost guaranteed to snow in Western Michigan, and maybe AntFREAKINartica. And snow it did. Every day. Snow. You go to sleep its snowin, you wake up and you guessed it, its snowin. At first my daughter would sit in front of the window and just watch and marvel at the beauty of the snow. Day after day, just watching the snow. I knew she had finally gotten over it though when one day she is sitting in front of the window and she abruptly gets up and says “OK GOD, YOU CAN MAKE IT STOP NOW”!! And walked away from the window and turned on the TV. After that I couldn’t drag the kid out in the snow!!
Anna Wednesday - 09 / 12 / 2009 Reply

What beautiful memories Ronnie & Dee. It does take forever to get the play clothes on and the mix mated gloves. I have 3 kids and when they were little it is a job to go outside to play in the snow. My son had the zip up snow suit and it never failed that when I thought I was finished for the kids to go taboggoning in the snow he was always the one who had to use the bathroom before we ever made it outside. As the kids got older we would get our snow fights in while shoveling snow. The kids are in and out of the house now so last winter hubby took over shoveling the snow. Monday he came home with a snowblower. LOL. All those years we never had one and hubby has to take the easy way out.
MissJay Wednesday - 09 / 12 / 2009 Reply

@Dee that story was hilarious!!! @Ronnie glad the girls had fun! That picture is priceless!
Attorneymom Thursday - 10 / 12 / 2009 Reply

Your children are adorable!!! Sidebar: I see you are a sponsor for Kemi's- the Canadian celebrity blogger- website. Well, please review the following link and let me know what you think. http://charactercorner.blogspot.com/2009/11/round-2-kemi-vs-attorneymom.html .-= Attorneymom´s last blog ..GATORADE DROPS TIGER WOODS' DRINK =-.
Ronnie Thursday - 10 / 12 / 2009 Reply

Thanks CS, Attorneymom, MissJay and Anna!! @Dee - I love that story. It reminds me of when we moved to PA when I was in graduate school. Of course the winters there are probably not as harsh as Michigan, but they were very harsh to me (coming from the south.) The one thing that I could not get used to was that nothing shut down when it snowed. The snow could be up to your waste and the schools were open and work was open. In the South, we shut every thing down if we even think it is going to snow. .-= Ronnie´s last blog ..Does Looking To The Future Hurt Or Help Your Relationship? =-.
Tara Thursday - 10 / 12 / 2009 Reply

It's so funny because the first snow pictures I took was my view of the backyard and the front yard from my bedroom 'cause I wasn't about to go outside! Shoot, Ohio winters (and yes Dee, "lake effect snow" is the polite way to say "Everyone needs to keep their butts inside!") are no joke and I wasn't ready for that yet! LOL. I love the family picture! It makes me remember how last year (yes, I was 23 years old, a grown woman) I was so scatterbrained that I couldn't find my gloves. Like, ever. So I wore socks. On my hands. The WHOLE winter. They're like mittens, only...not in any way. LOL. .-= Tara´s last blog ..YML Gives Back: Meet Rebecca =-.
2boys1girl Thursday - 10 / 12 / 2009 Reply

I remember the biggest snow I think the DMV area has had in my lifetime. I think it was '81. We were building igloos there was so much snow! Priceless. My oldest has had a really good one but the younger two don't know about the real fun. Every child should have one snow filled experience. Ahhhh....memories... Thanks for the post!
CJ Friday - 11 / 12 / 2009 Reply

Love this! and their exaggerated stories to come:) .-= CJ´s last blog ..Laid Life: She's on a Diet . . . =-.
Anna Friday - 11 / 12 / 2009 Reply

9 CJ December 11, 2009 at 8:28 am Love this! and their exaggerated stories to come:) ~~~~~~~~~ LOL. I can say as a kid I really had to walk a mile to school, rain, sun, snow. We did not have room in the cafeteria for anyone but the kids who were bused in, so the walkers had to walk home for lunch. When I started high school we had to walk a distance to get to public transportation in the rain, sun and lots of snow. I can't tell you how livid I was when my baby sis attended high school, they put a bus stop 3 houses(down the street) from our home. See CJ, not all stories are exaggerated. LOL. Didn't Bill Cosby say he had to walk up hill 20 miles in the snow to get to school. LOL. And yes, I also love this site. @ Tara, I too remember weaing "socks" as gloves. My kids should feel special that they had mix matched mittens.