Texas has delivered us a little gift this week. Monday and Tuesday, the kids and Josh were all home due to an "ice storm."

Which is basically code for having an inch of ice on every road and sidewalk, for which the city does nothing. No plows, no salt, no nothing.

Which then makes for a pretty dangerous world, especially with all the Texans who have no clue how to drive in it. We hunkered down. The kids walked to Target for snacks and supplies as needed. I spent my days in sweat pants cooking chicken noodle soup, sitting by the fire, and taking nap after nap after nap.

It was heaven. Heaven that sadly melted when temperatures climbed back up to normal.

It seems that our heaven gets extended by a few more days.

Snow is quite the novelty here. The last time Texas had it was two-and-a-half years ago, long before we made the move to the Lone Star State, and that was a one-day fluke. People here are not prepared to deal with the snow. We do not even own a snow shovel.

The school district was adamantly not canceling or closing early today, in spite of several hoaxes on Twitter to the contrary. It seemed ridiculous to spend the last few hours of a Friday sitting in a near-empty classroom, so I joined the throngs of parents who waited in line to check my kids out early.

After all, if 75 percent of the student population goes home, teachers are obviously not doing much teaching, and why not win mom of the year award in their eyes, right?

So Right. Worth it for this face alone.

That, my friends, is pure, unadulterated happiness.

It's hilarious to watch the little brown girl enjoy her first snow. She didn't know what to make of it at first. Biting each flake maniacally, skidding and jumping with joy, trying to catch everything she could. She is a kid in a candy store. She rings the bell to go outside constantly and comes bounding in a few minutes later, looking at us with eyes that beg for company in the backyard.

Which do not remotely have any power over me.