Did We Get Enough Snow?

Yes I do declare we definitely received more than our fair share of snow yesterday. The kids had a snow day, and for the most part it was a very laid back kind of day. We didn't get shoveled and plowed out till about 4:30 yesterday which was fine since we had no where to be. In the last photo it's a little hard to see, but that is Brandon with his sled on top of the mound of snow. He kept losing the sled over the back.

The Snowball

Yes I'm aware I haven't posted in awhile, and I'm also aware that the title and the picture are not going together very well. The title of this post isn't about the extreme cold temps we have been getting or the lovely amount of snow all over the place as I look out the window. The title is more of a metaphor. I believe it was last week when I read my cousin Danielle's blog about her washer woes I instantly cringed about her situation and then immediately began praying blessing on her and her husband. The snowball effect is hard one little thing goes wrong and it snowballs. Well a day or so after reading her post I began to have my own snowball effect going on, but I kept thinking I'm not going to let this snowball inside me. I kept visualizing a hot torch melting the snowball of my own pity party inside me. (Yes believe it or not I do have an occasional pity party for myself) For every one thing that happened I forced myself to do something nice, or take a regroup moment. By the time I fell down my front steps from the ice I didn't even think that this event was a snowball, but a weird twist of karma coming back to me after chuckling at my sister last winter. So finally the picture is not me complaining about the weather, but reminding myself that summer isn't far away.

Looking at the Bright Side

Well it's that time of year....the winter blah time of the year. The holidays are over, and it's hard to find things to really look forward to. (Besides our everyday lives) A lot of us don't have money after the holidays to take little mini vacations, etc. So sometimes the winter blahs seem to hit a little harder. Well even my kids seem to get the winter blahs. They can't go outside a lot because it's so cold, and the sun seems to not shine as bright. It gets dark so early, and for some reason it just seems dreary outside this time of year. All of this being said I realized this year that I had to teach my children to not just survive, but to thrive during the winter blah months. How to do this? Well the first thing I did was organize. I organized their schedules out daily, and have really been reminding them about taking one thing at a time. Meaning this...when you are in math class think about nothing but math. When you are in basketball focus on basketball not math. They don't just survive the boring day, but thrive at each task at hand! As for me I'm back to my 'to do list' it seems to keep me more focused, and I don't have time to let my mind wonder on the things that detour me from thriving during the winter blah. The other part to beating the winter blahs for me and the kids is constantly looking at the bright side of any situation that weighs us down. They are really getting this they are telling me their drama and then say but on the bright side mom. Madeline was bummed about all the other girls getting growth spurts and not her, "but mom on the bright side I get the rebounds before the other girls." I was a little bummed about my entire weekends being consumed by the kids and their sports, "but on the bright side, Brandon choose his own jersey number this year, and picked his sister's number not some pro ball players number".

Finishing Christmas

On New Year's Eve we celebrated Christmas with dad. He was able to make it in this year for a couple days to celebrate Christmas with us. The kids loved there gifts, and Sienna even used her "Easy Bake Oven" to make us some REAL cookies. She was so excited!! The kids spent the night with Pooh, and I headed home for some shut eye. I make it as far as the ball dropping for New Years and then I'm off to sleep. I hope everyone is getting a great start to the new year.