Picture Perfect Snow Day....

Hot chocolate!


The best part of the snow...eating it!

This is a scary picture...reminds me of "A Christmas Story"...

Collecting Snow for snow cream...

We even got to play with Drew next door! Snowball fight!

Going over to see Drew on the Gator!

Daddy's Snow Angel...

Lane and Bo have been asking for it since Christmas....and we finally got enough to play in today! Lane kept saying that she didn't understand why it didn't snow at Christmas....but I told her it was still possible, so she now says, "It can still snow because it is still Christmas season!" ...So Bo said this morning, " I am so glad it is Christmas outside!" I have a new name for Rob it is called "Snowbird"...he has been waiting for a snow day from school all year....he was up at 3 am this morning and didn't go back to sleep till 7, after he was sure that all the little children would have their day at home today, he was so worried about those Memphis city and Shelby County kids because they waited so long to cancel school (I think he was just empathizing with the teachers if they had to go today!) So nonetheless, lucky for me today was my day to work in the schools, so I got to take a snow day too! Rob often calls me "cliche", you know the kind that likes New York at Christmas, jumping in the leaves in the fall, sipping a daquiri on the beach, popcorn with movies......so what else would I want on a snow day.....sleep late (except Rob), get up and cook a big breakfast with the kids, drink coffee, put on layers and layers of clothes, have a snowball fight (try to build a snowman in that sorry little dry snow!), come in for hot chocolate, have homeade vegetable soup for lunch, make snow cream, (a tradition that comes from my "Granny", I remember her making in for Clayton and I), take a nap, watch the Tigers win big, and then blog about our day.....just what I would have wanted today to be....usually it doesn't work out so perfect, some mishap during the plans usually occurs, but lucky for me, today I got a perfect snowday (except that sorry dry snow!). So, thanks Rob, Lane, and Bo for making my snow day!

January 20, 2009......History

When I look back at my memory book from 2009, I want to remember today. The inauguration of the 44th President of the United States. I have been watching the pre-inauguration activities this weekend, and it has made me even more proud of this country and excited about the possibilities than I was when Obama won the election. I loved the inaugural concert, and to see black and white come together and so much open conversation about togetherness and being an American (not a black or white)....watching those singers (old, young, country, rock, rap, black, white), I hope was just a taste of what is to come! I have butterflies in my stomach when I think about it! President Obama was just sworn in and the proceedings of today were amazing to watch, to see how many millions of people gathered to be a part of it. May God give this man all that he needs in the coming years to serve this country, and may he give us as the citizens the courage to follow him and be engaged in our government.....

Preschool Mornings....

Some memories from our mornings between 6:30 and 7:00, the time when I get Lane and Bo ready for school everyday..... (I warn you this is boring for anyone who is not me, but it's my memories to capture, so read at your own risk of boredom!!) I was just watching them this morning and thinking that this would be their only year in preschool together to get to be together in the mornings on the same schedule and it made me want to snap a couple of pictures and write about it.

I'll start by remembering Lane last year (when Bo got to sleep in since Miss Summer was there to keep him in the mornings...first of all "Shuckybear" (what a terrible nickname Rob has given her..) is not a morning princess, more like a sunrise grouchy bear.....I drag her out of the bed, take her downstairs, sit her on the potty (she usually can't hold herself up because she is still asleep, so she leans on me while sitting on the potty), then she does this cute 'i am still asleep', stumble walk into the living room(which I have video taped because I never want to forget that cute little hair all messed up, stumbling walk!), I turn on the t.v. (last year "Little Einstein's was the 6:30 show), and coax her into staying awake, which she sometimes does, and sometimes she stays asleep. Then I would dress her like a baby doll (and sit her in the booster seat for breakfast, which usually she'd finish on the bus with Miss Delores (who is such a sweet smiling face for us every morning!). By the way, we started out last year fighting most mornings over what she'd wear (she likes "sassy" and I like "sweet" (ask KK, she knows from my shopping at the Freckled Frog, how picky my 4 year old is (and was when she was 2 and 3!), nonethless, I got some advice laying out choices on Sunday night and letting here choose the night before, so that is what we do, and it works beautifully. That was last year, and most of that routine has carried onto this year!

So, on to this year, it is virtually the same with Lane, and quite different with Bo, he wakes up hugging and kissing me and then he starts in that he doesn't like his clothes (he is so hard headed that he doesn't even like to choose between my choices, he wants to pick all by himself!), but he gets over it,dresses himself (has never let me help!) and goes and watches "Mickey Clubhouse" with Lane. We then go eat breakfast and I kiss them and put them on the bus (still our sweet Miss Delores)!

Most mornings in our routine are good, but we do have some rough ones too.....I can remember giving multiple spankings and time outs to both kids in the same morning (in a 30 minute span) on occassion!

Thank you Lane and Bo for these morning memories....

Wonderful Maker

No, I am not obsessed with the sun....but I am also not going to deny God!! I know these pictures aren't as good as the sunrise ones I posted the other day....nonetheless, here is last night's sunset. I went running at about 5:00 yesterday, and as I turned around on Hall road when I got to Hwy 59, this is the sunset I saw (not quite as gorgeous as that red sky sunrise, but still pretty nice).....but to top it off, right as I saw it, my IPOD (which was on shuffle songs) started playing "Wonderful Maker" (this is an old hym in contemporary style). I listened to every word of the song and wanted to share it with you:

You spread out the skies over empty space
Said, "let there be light"
To a dark and formless world
Your light was born
You spread out your arms over empty hearts
Said, "let there be light"
To a dark and hopeless world
Your son was born
You made the world and saw that it was good
You sent your only son, for you are good

What a wonderful maker
What a wonderful saviour
How majestic your whispers
And how humble your love
With a strength like no other
And the heart of a father
How majestic your whispers
What a wonderful God
No eye has fully seen how beautiful the cross
And we have only heard the faintest whispers
Of how great you are
you made the world and saw that it was good
you sent your only son for you are good

If you have time, you can watch Jeremy Camp's video on "you tube"....amazing, it uses the imagery of a sunrise/set!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoYWDCwxExs

Also, worth mentioning and reminding myself of, is the fact that our Sunday school class yesterday was on "Resting in God"....and I went to a worship service last night (with some good friends from church) out at Pinecrest that was in honor of some of our youth....and the message that was recurring was "resting in God", creating space for him.....OKAY, so I am getting the message God, I'll try to do better

(By the way, the reason the pictures don't really do it justice, is because I am not a fast runner!! It was starting to get dark by the time I saw it, so I ran fast down Hall Road, back to the house to get my camera before it was completely gone, God, if you would give me that 7 minute mile I've always wanted, I could have done a better job capturing a picture of your sunset!!)

It's long enough!!

The last time I took Lane to Caroline's to get her hair cut short (in that cute little bob), she cried, and I said that would be the last time I made her cut it for a while anyway, so....now it has been growing out for a few months and it has finally gotten long enough to braid (or plat, as mamma says). So, this morning i took a picture because she was so proud that we were able to braid it without it all falling! I also snapped a picture of her washing the dishes this morning...she washed every single dish from breakfast today!

Movie Night

Lane and Bo look forward to movie night about everyother weekend...popcorn, a movie, but most importantly a pallet (spelling?), or as Bo says a "pilot". They get every pillow in the entire house out and most of the blankets. Lane asked me last night to take a picture of the popcorn popping in the microwave, so I thought I'd take a picture of movie night. I had to set the timer to get all of us on the pallet, so it is a pretty bad picture!

It's a Beatiful Morning....

Rob and I woke up to no electricity this morning (Bo was upstairs crying at 5:30 because his "closet light wasn't on)....so we spend the morning getting ready in the dark, we had to use a flashlight in the shower, couldn't blow dry our hair, freezing our butts off....so more than most mornings I couldn't wait for the sun to come up...about 6:50, I glanced out the window and this was the sunrise that God sent my way....by far the prettiest sunrise I have ever seen in my life, the picture doesn't do justice for what it did for me this morning.l Thank you, God, for the little things you do for me that I take for granted...

Crazy Bathtime...

Okay, so this may be the last time I can take pictures of Lane and Bo in the bathtub together, but I couldn't resist....last night, I started their water and they climbed in the tub...I went to take something to the laundry room and came back to see how they were doing...it had been long enough for the water to run about a foot high and they were standing up... i said okay let's wash up....only to reach in and feel that the water was ice cold....Lane had turned the hot facuet off because they said "We like it cold!"....i was about to start yelling at them, then I just laughed and went and got my camera because they just kept hugging and laughing (because they were trying to stay warm). Needless to say, I turned on the gas logs and we went to the den to get them warm after bath!

For my girlfriends...

A friend of mine showed me this clip, and as I watched, it was unbelievable how much we love, need, and enjoy our friends. I know that it is family first, as it should be, but to think about life without my friends is so boring and depressing! We are women who have the same sort of souls, who crave many of the same desires and feelings (that God just did not give to men, bless their hearts)...so please enjoy this clip from my heart to yours! By the way, this lady won a battle with cancer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_4qwVLqt9Q&eurl=http://bluepoppy.omworks.com/?ty=2009&sid=745&feature=player_embedded

Cupcake Maker....gone wrong!

Any other little girls out there get a "Girl Gourmet Cupcake Maker" for Christmas??? Looks like a great girl toy, right??? Wrong! Momma and I used it last night for the first time with Lane and Bo....the cupcake part went great, in fact I said, this is a lot easier than the Easy-Bake-Oven...because you just pop one single cupcake into the microwave and it's done in 30 seconds...but then comes the icing....I opened 5 packs of frosting trying to get the right consistency to get it to squirt out like it does in the picture....not so simple, we had icing everywhere and ended up just letting them put lots of sprinkles on to cover up how terrible they looked, but know what? They never said one thing about it, that it didn't work right, that they were ugly, just devoured every bite of the nasty little cupcake and left us with this messy icing mess of a "cupcake maker" to clean up! Actually, I am going to try again tonight, but if anyone knows the trick to working this thing..let me know!

christmas cookies

It is a tradition....I remember the first year that Rob and I made Christmas cookies....in our old house on Drummonds Road the first year or 2 we were married....it has been a tradition (most years) since. Last year, we did the pre-cut sugar cookies, but this year I thought the kids were old enough to do it the old fashioned roll 'em out and cut them with the cookie cutter way! And they were...we had so much fun, although I think Bo digested more cookie dough before it was cooked than he did baked cookies...everytime he would cut out a cookie (as I wasn't looking) he would tear off the edges and eat them (I don't mean a little edge, I mean like there was space to cut out 3 or 4 more cookies there!). Nonetheless, everyone was tiered after icing the first batch, so I finished them myself, and I told Rob it was a good thing people who we were giving them to would "think" the kids decorated them because that's how terrible my skills are.....it looks like it would be so easy!

This is Life....(P.S. I love you)

Kate's post this morning led me to this post...I love the movie "P.S. I Love You", and I recently recorded it off of tv, becuase I told Rob I needed to have it on hand to watch when I am mad at him! I love the scene at the start of the movie when they are fighting, it is so typical husband and wife (to me anyway)....he is fine with the way things are, not interested in any changes, she wants more, wants something different (not that either is right!).....She asks him "when is our life going to start?" but he tells her in his cute irish voice "This IS our life, honey! This is it, we are living it...." I constantly tell myself that when I am overwhelmed, when I am wanting a change, when I am frustrated with my kids or husband, when I am looking for something more, when I am sad, when I am happy....this is my life and it is great, a God given great life....not a perfect life, but my life given to me to enjoy or be constanly wanting to change.....I TRY to live day to day, but I need a wake up call every now and then! If you haven't seen the movie, go get it today or wait until you are having a bad day and go get it!

New Year's Eve

New years' eve this year was spent watching the Tigers beat Northeastern and dinner at Texas De Brazil with Tiger fans......good game, good food!

Breakfast with Friends

My group of "high school friends" have a tradition of getting together around Christmas...some of us see each other weekly, others not so often, so we stand firm in making sure we always make time at Christmas for each other. Some years we do a girls only thing, some years we include the rugrats...this was a rugrat year! KK hosted a breakfast for us(complete with lots of powdered donuts for the kids). It seems each year there is a new baby to join our group and this year it is Whitten...Thanks girls for your faithful friendship to me!