I H.E.A.R.T. Snow Days!!!

I think they've got to be just about one of my very favorite things. Other then 20 minutes of complete and utter heartbreak today, this snow day was no exception.

And in that 20 minutes of tears and sadness I learned a very valuable lesson....the kids agenda on days like this are WAY more important than mine! Sometimes I really do know what their hearts desire....and other times I couldn't be more wrong.

We got to...

slept in

do P90X with McKenna

video games with Dad

made sugar cookies with McKenna

And then came the tears....

We only received about an inch of snow the day before and the expected high today above 40...so that inch of snow was not going to be around long. In my mind an inch of snow did not equate with playing outside or sledding down our front hill. I couldn't have been more wrong.

I sent the kids up to clean their room at about 11, thinking it would take 10-20 minutes and then we'd have lunch, start our games, watch a movie and decorate sugar cookies...all the fun snow day things that were swirling around in my head to make the day perfect.

Instead Zachary came down 40 minutes later sobbing uncontrollably because the sisters wouldn't help him and he thought he had to clean his room before he could go play outside in the snow. He was so utterly heart broken to look outside our windows and see grass with only a little bit of snow here and there. And my heart broke right along with his. It was one of those parenting "I should have known better" moments. I should have remembered the magic that comes with snow, even if it really is only one inch. I should have forgotten about clean rooms, movies and games and sent him out very first thing. Instead I had to get down, hug him as tightly as I could, and apologize for not realizing he'd want to play outside. Bret had to tell him he had a decision to make...he could be happy and make the most of what was left or continue to cry while the snow continued to melt.

And my amazing little Zachary...he did just that.

He stopped the tears, gained control of himself and had 25 minutes of whatever snow fun he could muster up for himself. When he came back inside he was happy, cheerful and his eyes sparkled with the magic of snow. I was so proud of him in that moment. His great big heart had been sad and disappointed to the core...yet he choose to not dwell on the sadness of what he had missed and instead enjoy the moments he still had.

And we continued on with the perfect snow day. Movie, games, decorating sugar cookies and freeze dancing. Minus those 20 minutes that reminded me to look through the day with the lens of a six year old, it was a picture perfect snow day...(without the pictures as I left my camera at the church on Sunday.)

Bieber Fever

Abby came home from school last Friday with a funny music video on YouTube she wanted us to watch...a parody of Justin Bieber's song "Baby." The kids all thought it was the funniest thing ever created and watched it about 15 times that afternoon. Click here to watch the video...and if you watch it, the remainder of this post will make a lot more sense....

So last night at about 8:45 what sounds come out from Gavin's room but...."You're a baby baby baby baby doll...You're a baby baby baby baby doll."

And from Bret downstairs..."You're just a baby baby baby doll, a baby baby baby doll."

Then from Abby in her room across the house..."You freak me out just like the sham wow guy."

And then Zachary added to the mix with, "You're just a piece of plastic...you're a baby baby baby doll."

All coming from different rooms in the house, and I sat in Bret's office with the computer on my lap and laughed so hard my stomach hurt. Thanks Gavin for getting us started last night!

Filled

I stood at the kitchen sink scrubbing my hands with soap after preparing Parmesan Chicken for Bret's birthday dinner. (more on the fun day to come)

The kids were in the other room watching Harry And The Henderson's and I looked out my window at the blue sky an clouds with a slight hue of pink. Honestly I was thinking of nothing at all when I was overcome with one of those feelings that warms you on the inside from head to toe. One of those moments when I swear my heart is going to burst with love and gratitude for all in my life. I knew the source of the warmth that filled my soul and said a little prayer of acknowledgement and gratitude.

Life is good.

So very good.

I have an amazing husband who cherishes me and I love and adore him right back.

I have four wonderful beyond description children who fill my days with work, love, laughter and joy.

I love being a wife.

I love being a mother.

The kids have been off of school the last two days and I've loved the long weekend. We've watched movies, played games, painted our master bedroom, organized our playroom, stayed up late and slept in. There's been a squabble or two or three and my kitchen has never stayed clean. I have piles and piles of laundry and I'm hoping the kids have clean underwear and socks for the morning.

And I have to sit back and soak it all in. I want to remember the sounds I hear coming from the playroom as Bret and the kids play the wii together. The blushing and giggles from Abby as we watched Avalon High. The "oh yah, oh yah" while playing "Ticket to Train" with Zachary. (It's really Ticket to Ride but we have a version all our own we play together.) The sounds of thumping as McKenna dances and jumps her heart out while listening to Taylor Swift in her room. And how happy and content Gavin is with a full and very noisy house.

These next four months will be busy, and undoubtedly hard...but that's for another post.

And in spite of all the craziness that is to come I'm going to pray that everyday I can have such moments. Moments when I can see past all the mess around me. Moments when I can negotiate with patience when emotions are running high. Moments when I can feel the tangible love of my Heavenly Father.

It's moments like these that make all that craziness so very worth it and make me say to myself...what did I do to deserve all this goodness?

2011 Will Be The Year Of...

The last sentence on my previous post got me thinking last night...

What else will this year hold for our family?

2011 will be...

the year of comprehensive exams

the year of potty training Gavin

the year of Abby's last year in elementary school. (the 2011-2012 school year)

the year I hopefully send Gavin to preschool...making 2011 the year I have all four children in school for at least a few hours a week.

the year I become a better photographer

the year of the dissertation proposal

the year of soccer tryouts for challenge team

the year Abby reaches double digits

the year of basketball for McKenna and Zachary

the year McKenna starts playing the piano

the year of organization...or at least it will start out that way, hopefully it will end that way too

the year I finish painting every room in our house

Gavin's last year in nursery

the year I by my child her first bra

the year Bret plays golf in Virginia for the first time

the year Zachary starts reading the Book of Mormon on his own

the year of my parent's 50th wedding anniversary

the year I go to Time Out For Women with my sister

the year of teaching our kids out of the gospel principles manual for FHE

the year of eyes shinning back and finding joy in interruptions...more on that later

2011...what else will you bring?

Blurb

I've finally done it.

The whole reason why I started blogging.

I've "slurped" my blog into a book. Or at least August-December 0f 2008.

And man oh man. I could spend days and days, hours and hours playing and editing and creating.

It's going to be so fun for me to nibble away at. I plan on working on it a few hours at a time when the kids are in bed at night. That's the goal...hopefully I can restrain myself during the day from becoming pulled in.

But I have this thought...if those 5 months from 2008 automatically create 248 pages without my editing and changing things...what are the full 12 months of 2009 and 2010 going to look like? Can't wait to find out! :)

2011 will be the year of the blog books.

This Morning...

it looked like this out my front door...

and we had a TWO HOUR delay start for school!

I had gone to bed with hopes of more accumulation and a full snow day...but I'm happy with at least a two hour delay.

It gave us time to:

sleep in

eat a yummy breakfast

and watch Despicable Me (that I had rented in anticipation of a snow day)

I just love unexpected time from our usual schedule to spend with the kids. Makes me happy.

Surprise...We're Going To Disney World!!!!

We pulled off the best spontaneous surprise last week. We woke up the kids one morning at 5:00 at put them in the car telling them we had received a phone call that we needed to help clean the church building and to go back to sleep we'd wake them up when we got there. We didn't hear one word of complaint, just "we're going to clean in our pajama's?" from Abby. I told her I brought cloths for them to change in to and to go back to sleep. When they woke up 3 and a half hours later at 8:30 Abby said, "First of all, I know we're not going to clean the church because we've been in the car for like 5 hours! And secondly, there are sleeping bags in the back!"

Bret told the kids that he had bad news and good news. The bad news was that we were not going to clean the church. The good news was that we were going to Disney World!!!! Screams filled the car and it was so fun! And thanks to points from Bret's travels we were able to spend 2 glorious days at the happiest place on earth with no out of pocket costs other then gas!

We had the best time! The weather was perfect with a high of 76 each day and lows in the high 50's. In the two days we were there we did Magic Kingdom and then Epcot/Animal Kingdom the second day. Gavin was a crack up. He LOVED meeting all the characters. 7 years ago we stood in line to meet all the princes when we went to Disneyland, now we're standing in line to meet the good old classics!

Of course we had to see Mickey...Gavin's absolute favorite. He is still talking about the kiss Mickey gave him on his cheek.

Showing Buzz his strong muscles

The two days we were there he carried his Mickey everywhere we went...many times on his shoulders.

Of course we had to watch the parade. This year it was all the princes, not the princesses, that waved and winked at my girls that got them giggling and blushing. They're definitely growing up on me.

And of course the rides...we started our day at Magic Kingdom by doing Dumbo first thing...

love this look of total focus and concentration...she's one good driver in the making!

Gavin made the 40 inch cut off mark...he was tall enough to go on Thunder Mountain, Soaring Over California, the Test Track, and even the scary dinosaur back in time jeep ride at Animal Kingdom. He would say each ride was fun, but the only one he would go on more then once was Soaring.

After Thunder Mountain he was a little nervous before getting on each ride...this is his nervous expression with finger in the mouth.

Love, love, love Disney World!