Building a Snowman Taller Than the House

After a huge storm in January, my teenage sons decided to build a snowman taller than our house. I told them it was impossible. They took that personally.

They worked for two days. They recruited the neighbor kids. They used a ladder, a sled for hauling snow and an elaborate pulley system involving a laundry basket that I don't fully understand. My husband supplied hot chocolate and engineering advice nobody asked for.

The final snowman was twenty-two feet tall. Its eyes were two hubcaps. Its nose was a traffic cone. Its scarf was three of my old bedsheets knotted together.

People drove from across town to take pictures with it. The local news came. My sons gave an interview in which they described themselves as "snow architects." It melted in eleven days, and they've already started planning next year's.