Snow Day

It snowed all day yesterday. Caleb's school closed at noon on Thursday, and remained closed today for our first official snow day of this school year! It took all my self-discipline to quit my "busyness" and get out there and play with the kids (why is playing so hard for some of us?), but I am so glad that I did!

Caleb's snow tunnel...

which ran underneath his impromptu "sledding hill" in our backyard!

At age 31 I built my first snowman... 

only to have the carrot nose repeatedly stolen by the hound below.

Spring Break Brokenness

Anyone I talked to last week knows that it was a very rough mommy-week. I could tell you about endless bouts of sibling rivalry, screaming, kicking, flat bike tires, hitting, name-calling, ungratefulness, and grumpiness. 

But then last night before bed, Caleb put his arms around me and said, "Thanks mom. This has been the best spring break ever." I was more than a little surprised as he recounted several highlights.

So instead, I'll tell you that the Lord framed and filled our days with BEAUTIFUL weather -- sunny and in the 70s. Caleb loved riding at the BMX bike park with his friend Brandon one day. We had the opportunity to take a day trip to Breckenridge and visit our good friends from Texas, the Vanns. The drive there was gorgeous, and we went sledding, rode the gondola around the mountainside, and went out to dinner. It was GREAT to be with our friends for the day. The kids and I met Darin for lunch one afternoon -- a rare treat to see daddy in the middle of the day! We watched Hotel for Dogs at the $2 theater here in town. Saturday we went for a family hike to Horsetooth Falls and back, and enjoyed dinner on our back porch together. I'll tell you that my kids and husband and I are healthy, that I am thankful to be married to my closest friend, and that God is good.

All of which reminds me of a worthwhile quote from Calm My Anxious Heart:

"Two women looked through prison bars.

One saw mud, 

the other, stars."

Hope your eyes are uplifted.

Milestone for Meghan

After numerous "encouraging" conversations with Darin and I (translation: we are ready to go on long family bike rides unhindered by training wheels), Meghan tentatively agreed to give it a try yesterday. She did AWESOME! We started out in Caleb's school parking lot -- a big, traffic-free and obstacle-free area. After about 15 minutes, she asked for Darin and Caleb to take the car back so she could pedal all the way home (which meant a nice mini-jog for me!). Our Little Meg is growing up so fast.

Blowing all the Stereotypes

Today it was sunny and in the 60s, so Darin, the kids, and I hiked in a nearby natural area. It was both beautiful and challenging (quite a climb -- at times literally! and the kids did GREAT!)... 

but never mind all that.

Along the trail we met a chihuahua named Stewart.

Not Chile... not Jorge... not Tamale....

Stewart.

Sleepless but not in Seattle...

Meghan, after being in bed 6.3 seconds: "For some reason I'm more hyper when I'm lying down."

me: "It's called Murphy's Law."

Meghan: "What does that mean?"

Darin: "It means you go lie down, or Murphy's gonna getcha."

(he has a separate therapy account set up for the children...)

Inspired

For those of you with two or more children who are less-than-blissful-bosom-buddies, try this.

The next time Thing 1 slugs Thing 2, have Thing 1 give Thing 2 a 3-minute foot massage*.

*the foot massage should take place under full supervision, without the use of pumice stones or other hard or abrasive objects. 

The Little Stuff

(...and then, after a month of silence, she blogged every little thing...)

This morning, 4 Texan-born individuals (and 1 Texan dog) awoke to around 3 inches of snow.

In March.

Which of course led to a mad scramble to locate coats, snow boots, gloves, etc. in time for school, and to one grumpy mommy yelling (yes, YELLING) at her son, who was calmly perusing his Lego catalog throughout the said ordeal. 

And yet when I dropped him off at school, it was CALEB who reached over from the backseat to ME, gave me a hug and said, "Love you, Mom."

*    *    *    *    *   

Yesterday, I was getting things ready for a picnic lunch at the park, when Meghan exclaimed "Gross!" from her room. (*This is a girl who loves roly-polies and earthworms.) She had found our MIA lunch thermos and assorted little snack-holders in her lunchbox, in her backpack, in her closet. Items mysteriously absent for well over a month.

It is impressive what can grow on stainless steel if you leave a little corn chowder behind.

TRAPPED!

OK. So that's not really my excuse.

(hee hee:  just had to correct "that' snot" above.)

Since the last post, I've failed to report Darin's AWESOME completion of our downstairs family room, giving our guest room a face-lift, battling the blues, a wonderful visit from Judy (Grandma), and carpet installation. Sprinkled with lots of Star Wars sound effects (Thing 1) and requests to "play puppy" (Thing 2). 

But at one point in the mish-mash, Meghan and Darin were trapped. Really and truly. And I stopped to grab the camera before grabbing the screwdriver and hammer my sweet husband requested. WithOUT profanity. Gotta love him.

Above: Meghan's sweet visage (?huh?) framed by the top of a newly installed and perfectly aligned double door, and ceiling sheetrock. 

Note: Always remove the double-door-swing-preventing-stabilizer-ma-bobs BEFORE installation.

Also note: Meg evidently suffers from mild claustrophobia.