Early to bed

Every night when I go to bed I think about how great it would be to wake up early and exercise or whatever. You know, just get a good start to the day and then I set my alarm accordingly. However, every morning when my alarm goes off I wonder what on earth I was thinking and then I roll back over and go back to sleep for a bit. I have been doing this for quite a long time now. At this point I need to just accept the fact that I was not meant to get up early as it goes against all of my natural instincts.

He's his own man

Not too long ago Tiger celebrated his 100th day of school this year. The kids were encouraged to dress up as 100 year old little people and the day was dedicated to the number 100. Very cute. I thought for sure that my little man would totally get into this since he loves to dress up so much, and I was right. Just not about him wanting to dress up like a 100 year old man. He wanted to dress up, but on his terms and he knew exactly what he wanted. He wanted to wear his white shirt because he likes to pretend that it is his lab coat and Flint Lockwood from Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs wears a lab coat. He also wanted me to draw a mustache and goatee on him because that's what Tony Stark has on his face. So there you have it. Instead of a 100 year old man, he was just a slightly older man. I'm sure no one at school got it and his teacher probably wondered what was going on, but my boy was happy and looking pretty dapper too. He then continued to have me draw that mustache and goatee on through the weekend, but I drew the line when it came to church. Goofy kid.

Thankful

Since I haven't been feeling a lot of gratitude these days I have made a goal to write down 5 things that I am thankful for every day for the next 4 weeks and since I am too tired to get out of bed to find a pen to write with I thought that I would just post today's 5 here on my blog. So, here we go:

1. Sunshine

2. Delightful non-freezing temperatures today

3. Ice cold tap water thanks to the freezing cold temperatures of winter

4. Electric blankets

5. Bed

Tooth

Last week this boy lost a tooth. His front teeth have been so loose for so long, but unfortunately he is scared to death to loose teeth and so I thought they would never come out. Luckily, when he was outside playing in the snow he accidentally hit himself in the face with a little plastic shovel and his tooth popped out into the snow. He handled it quite well, actually. In fact, he was quite proud of himself. Now, if only we could get the other one out then all would be well because it has turned into quite the nasty snaggle tooth. I'll spare you a picture of that.

Snow

Snow is the theme for this winter. Snow and cold. Today I will focus on the snow because that is what my kids love and what brings them joy. The fact that most days have been too cold to play in the snow has been one of the biggest disappointments of the season. However, there have been a few times when the temperatures and the snow actually worked together and they were able to go out and play. Here's an example:

 Getting ready for some serious play. This is after my boy had already spent an hour shoveling driveways.

 

 The snow was so light and fluffy. The kids thought it was super fun to just shove their faces in the snow because it wouldn't stick. We finally had to tell them to stop. You know, because of the possible breathing in of too much carbon monoxide and passing out and whatnot.

 

 Just laying down in the snow wasn't nearly as much fun.

 

But throwing snow is fun. 

 

 Of course the problem with dry snow is that it doesn't stick together which means that it doesn't make a very good snowball which means that the anticipation of getting hit with snow is much greater than possibly of actually getting hit with snow.

Attempting to sled down the shoveled snow pile in the front yard. It didn't really work, but each kid gave it a try.

This kid would not stop eating the snow no matter how many times we told him to stop. "I can taste the butter" he would say. No my son, that is not butter, that is dirt and it is nasty.

 Pure joy.

 Hip hooray for playing in the snow.

Winter

Winter is getting to me. Actually, it has probably been getting to me for awhile now, I just haven't been willing to admit it. That is my excuse for not blogging much these days. I haven't been feeling jovial, or funny, or like sharing anything positive and I really try not to whine or complain too much publicly. That special forum is a treat reserved for my love. He is one lucky guy. Anyway my head is a jumble of crazy these days which is super fun, but it chases away the desire to blog. However, I will push that aside and share a few pictures from life the last little while.

We try to spend Friday nights as a family doing something fun or just staying home and watching a movie. A couple of weeks ago Tiger requested that we go to Cabelas for our "party Friday night". We love to meander through Cabelas. The boys dream of camping and fishing and hunting and the girl and I pretend that we care as much as they do. Plus, we like to look at all of the dead stuffed animals.

Trying on sunglasses and giving me his "cool" look.

 Sheriff Tiger and his trusty dog.

 Two boys warming themselves by the fire after braving the sub-zero temperatures in the parking lot.

 We have had a lot of snow this winter, but sadly none of it has been any good for making snowmen or snowballs. However, as the snow melted Tiger discovered that it had finally become wet enough to stick together to make a snowman. As he put in the snowman's left arm he said, "That is the best arm I could have ever found." His winter is now complete.

 I have been trying to find ways to keep myself busy, or more accurately I have been trying to be less lazy as I hole up in my house this winter. So, I have started crocheting hats again. They're easy and fast and I can pound them out while I am sitting around and watching TV. As I was walking through the store the other day I came across this yarn and it screamed "Woo" at me. I knew that my girl needed a hat made from this yarn because these colors represent her personality perfectly. My favorite is that she requested a pom-pom for the top of the hat. She is seriously so fun.