There was an aqua blue 17.5-foot-long stegosaurus snow sculpture in their front yard.

It was supposed to be green.

The siblings and their younger sister, Mollie, built the dinosaur in their East State Street yard on Tuesday with the help of their neighbors and parents. Mackenzy still couldn’t believe they actually went through with it.

“We usually say we’re gonna make something and then we never actually make it,” she said, as her sister sprayed a fresh coat of emerald food coloring near the spikes. “It’s just an idea. This year is a little different and we actually made it.”

It was green when they went to bed on Tuesday, but bright blue when they woke up on Wednesday.

“It was blue green dye so it faded to blue overnight,” Morgan explained.

Aspiring snow artists across Mason City had a lot to work with in the 10 inches of wet, heavy snow dumped on the city during Tuesday’s blizzard.

The snowfall broke a daily record for Feb. 2. The previous record of 6.3 inches was set on Feb. 2, 2004, according to the National Weather Service.

Much of North Iowa got a minimum of 6-7 inches of snow. Some areas, including much of Wright County, reported more than 11 inches.

The heavy snow and high winds caused school cancelations across the region Tuesday and Wednesday. Many also planned late starts on Thursday.

In Mason City, Morgan and Mackenzy and their younger sister, Mollie, along with neighbor Corwin Lodge, put their creativity to work with help from their parents.

First they built two snowmen, but had to come up with something else after Mackenzy and a friend knocked them down. The settled on a stegosaurus because the girls’ mother, Carol McCutcheon, made one back when Morgan was a little girl.

“It’s the only thing I know how to build,” McCutcheon joked.

Budding artists should have at least a few days to channel all that heavy, sticky snow into some unique yard art before the temperature drops early next week.

The National Weather Service forecast calls for highs in the mid-to-upper 20s through Saturday. Sunday is supposed to be even warmer with a high near 34.

Transcription and note by Sharon R. Becker, March of 2016