Blizzard 2010

I was awoken this morning at 8:45 (it was my sleep in day) by my middle son. "Mommy; Daddy told me to wake you up." My initial thought was, who is vomitting! I am of course thinking it is my little guy because I hear him crying and the bathroom doors was closed and I could see the light coming out from under the door. But, I realized shortly that all the kids were present and accounted for in the family room. So I ask my husband what's wrong and he said "sorry, I waited as long as I could, I need to try to save the trees". So out he goes to try to save the trees. We've lost three so far due to the weight of 20 inches of snow. My daughter accompanied my husband as did the dog. Luckily the dog is huge! He is a black lab that is over 100 lbs. He's just big so he was able to navigate through! My little guy kept yelling about the trees so after my husband finished saving the trees, he took the little guy out to see the trees! That little one loves his Daddy!

Snow Day Take 2!

Another snow day today! In anticipation of a major snow storm, the schools closed today so that the kids would slip! As I sit here right now they are calling for near blizzards conditions and there are 8 inches of snow on the ground. I spent the day working on my digital scrapbook from our ski vacation. I love the Creative Memories digital scrapbook software! It has been amazing! I finished the entire year, 2009 by the end of the first week of January 2010. This has never happened before! Even before I had kids I was never able to complete a year's worth of pages the traditional way. I swore when the software first came out I would never go digital and I would never purchase a Storybook. But, less than 3 years later, I absolutely can't imagine going back. My only fear is all the picture I have already printed and all the traditional scrapbook materials I already own. I guess over time I will go back to it to finish what I started, but for now keeping current from where I am and trying to go back slowly to what is not already printed and work on that will have to be good enough! Which it is, I sit and look at last years album all the time. I guess for me, it has paid off. Even the Storybooks from the 2 trips we took last year are frequently off the shelf! So tomorrow is the "real" snow day. I wonder how much we will get and if my little guy will be able to navigate through and when will they call school for Monday so I can escape and take the family skiing! Only time will tell!

It's a Snow Day!

I absolutely love the snow! I was so happy to wake up to over 5 inches of the white stuff! It is a snow day here, no school for the kids, which means no school for me! Love that! And so in a few short minutes I will take my kids outside to play in the snow and enjoy our snow day! I love the feeling of a snow day too! It always seems that things move more slowly as if time passes more slowly. Many of my friends can't wait for the kids to go back to school. Not me! I savor these days. They are my absolute favorite days off of school during the year. My kids school system has built in far more days than the one in which I work. I will now have to work later this month while my kids are off enjoying an easy and relaxing day at home. My mom on the other hand will have a more difficult time as she will now have to work instead of enjoying her day off too. Well, off I go to get the kids and myself ready for some snow fun! I have the squirt bottles full and am ready to paint the town or at least the backyard! It is a new snow day activity for us so I think the kids will spend a little more time than usual! Can't wait to play!

Post It Note Tuesday

MeMe Monday: What Stop Sign?

It's MeMe Monday!
http://mommybrainnw.blogspot.com/2010/01/all-about-meme-what-stop-sign.html

Top 5 Times I Have Been Pulled Over!

1. I was pulled over for the first time on the way back to school (Graduate school) from home in NY! I was on the highway and was 19 miles per hour over the speed limit, 1 mile per hour away from reckless driving! Since I had never been pulled over before, the officer sited me with Failure to Obey a Highway Sign! It was a much less fine and points on my license!

2. I was pulled over for running a stop sign in front of my work location. When the officer asked me if I didn't completely stop because I was late to work, I answered yes. Then he asked me where I worked and I pointed to the school which I was sitting in front of. Wouldn't you know, I had to stand at bus duty that morning starring across the street at him. He was substituting for our usual crossing guard.

3. I wasn't really pulled over, but caught by a red light camera! I was trying to keep up with my husband because I didn't know where I was going! I blame him (JK)

4. I was trying to run home during the day to check on my oldest son who was home sick (stomach virus). I was pulled over going 14 miles per hour over the speed limit. It was a motorcycle officer! I just started sobbing. I blame my husband for that one too! I was driving his car. I couldn't tell by feel how fast I was going. (O.k. again, JK)

5. Oh that is it. I guess I am not such a bad driver after all!

Long Time No Post

Now that the holidays are over and time seems to be, oh what am I saying there is no more free time in my schedule than since before the holidays. Activities are back in full swing, the kids are tired, sick, and I am just trying to hold it together both at work and home. Really it is work that I am having a hard time with. I did not get into teaching to be a politician, however sometimes it feels like that! My husband is a teacher too and he doesn't need to know or articulate half of what I do to people everyday!

My middle son has strep again for the 3rd time since Thanksgiving! There are a few schools of thought on this. One is that someone in the house is a carrier with no symptoms so he keeps getting reinfected, two the family dog is reinfecting him, or three it is caught in his tonsils. My money is on three. Mainly because nothing can be easy and having to go through another ENT surgery for one of my kids does not appeal to me. And second, because why would it only be him that is being reinfected and no one else? Hmm...

On a lighter note, my oldest son was 3rd in the Pinewood Derby this past Saturday for his age group, what a proud moment for us! He worked really hard sanding that car and his father and I in painting and assembling it just so. Yes, it was his project! He and my daughter are also playing Basketball which has proven to be really fun to watch. My son plays point guard and my daughter would make a really good one! She is pretty small and not tall enough for a center, but has great dribbling skills! Can't wait for this weekends games!

Magic of Christmas

I am ever in awe at Christmas time! Yesterday we made the 2 hour journey to the Children's Museum to see Santa! It always amazes me how emotional I can get at the site of the old man coming down the chimney. It was only a few weeks ago that my oldest son told my daughter that Santa wasn't real. How dare he! He told e he didn't but my daughter ratted him out. She was quick to tell me that she didn't believe him. I told her that I didn't either and that I believe in the magic of Santa! Because that is what I believe and I always will. I have my father-in-law to thank for that. From the time my husband and I started dating, I was never able to thank them for gifts because they were form Santa. I always thought it was funny, even after I had kids! Then last year, I realized that I truly believe! My father-in-law took us to the "real" Santa! And he is. It is the real deal. He comes down the chimney, has an elf and Snow Queen and when the kids go to sit on his knee, he calls them over by name! Of course, the queen has already asked them their names, but who cares! They tell him what they want and I take 100 pictures! And after they play in the museum, we have tea and sing carols with him and his elf, while the Snow Queen watches it all from her thrown! at the end, he reads a story and then they sit on his knee again! And at the end of the day, I thank m father-in-law and cry because I know that it is the most magical day I have experienced in a year and think it will be about 365 days until I experience this again and next year it will be all the more difficult to convince my oldest that Santa is real or at least the magic of Santa. Because we all know that you can't appreciate it unless you realize it in your heart and that is more than a 9 year old can comprehend even with Grand-daddy to guide him! But, I am all the more thankful for what I have each Christmas and what I have married into because I know that it has enriched my life and I would never have had these experiences if it weren't for my amazing father-in-law who can't sit still and has the attention span of about 5 minutes. But, he is on of the most caring, thoughtful people I have ever met in my life and thank God we have him in our family!