Multiple Snow and Ice Days

The snow that came on Sunday night and during the day on Monday doesn't want to leave. The temps haven't wanted to get much above freezing for the majority of the week this week which has turned our schedules upside down. The kids have been out of school ALL week this week - this added onto what was to be a 4 day weekend coming up and well - you can imagine!

We've done a whole lot of NOTHING this week - the kids have been in their pjs more than they've been in regular clothes and I've accomplished nothing. We've done a lot of playing, watching tv way more than we should, eating entirely too much food and basically very little else.  Keeping up with laundry and cooking dinner has been about all I've done other than deal with 4 stir crazy kids on a daily basis. To say that I'm ready for school to go back would be an understatement at this point. If we make it through another five days it will be a minor miracle!

What's on David's feet? Well he had already been to work this morning and had been out in the snow for 4 + hrs - by the time he got home his boots were soaking wet so he put plastic bags with duct tape on his feet. This was during his hour long break before he had to head out again for more calls. Funny guy!

On the other hand the kids played in the snow Monday and then we didn't go back out again until yesterday. Yesterday was complicated though - after all the snow fell on Monday it was followed by sleet and freezing rain. I'll post about that in a separate post otherwise this might be the longest post in history!

 No makeup at all but I adore this picture of Allie and I!!!!!

 David insisted I let him pull me down the hill on the sled! I was covered in snow when I got done - usually I use my camera as my excuse to not get wet :(

Next week I believe will be endless cleaning and getting back on track because ZERO of that is getting done right now.

My World is Complete

There are still days that I have to pinch myself. I never EVER thought I would have this. I could sit and watch her dance, sleep, play with her baby dolls, do puzzles day in and out for the rest of my life and not have gotten enough. I love absolutely every single thing about her - don't get me wrong I love my boys but I'm smitten with my little girl. You see it never entered my thought process that she was a possibility. After three boys it just wasn't an option - even the doctors told me - it was 90/10. And now I have a pink bedroom with a little girl that has the cutest little pucker ever when she wants a kiss. These are the things I want to remember for the rest of my life - I want to remember her as I put her to sleep tonight - the way she held my hand and closed her beautiful blue eyes. The way she insisted she sleep with her pillow pet propped up and her lamb underneath her. I ADORE this little girl!!!!!

New Year

Since I'm trying my hardest to get back into blogging and keeping up with everything that is happening in our lives this year is more than just about pictures of the kids and things happening in their lives. When I started this blog I wanted it to be my digital scrapbook so at some point when I actually have time to start putting together more than just my 365 album on a yearly basis I will have everything written down and ready to put in my books. That means there will be more of me - good and bad :)

Frankly I've been in a rut lately. A real rut - I've found it hard to function and have totally lacked the motivation to do anything for the last couple of weeks. Before Christmas there was so much to do - I had list after list in different areas of the house - in face I think I used up an entire legal pad with my lists I was redoing them so much. I was organized and got everything I wanted to accomplished and it felt wonderful. You see ever since I've had my children I've always been one to get up at the crack of dawn and get things done. When I sleep even until 8 or 830 I feel like I've wasted half the day and then I find myself playing catch up for the rest of it. I just couldn't do it. Since Christmas and us getting off a schedule - I have found it almost impossible to get back into reality. I get up and get the kids off to school and hit the couch while the two babies are sleeping - it's been impossible to make myself do anything. When I get up I feel horrible - I am still getting things done during the day - those that I have do. I am keeping up with laundry and doing the necessary things that have to be done but I'm forcing myself to do them. I'm not organized at all - I feel the clutter taking over and it's so overwhelming.

I'm to the point right now that I'm having to make myself look on the positive side. I have so many things I want to accomplish this year that I think I'm just overwhelmed and I don't know where to start. I have goals both family wise and personal that I want to meet. I want to simplify our lives - all the clutter and unnecessary things that people think they have to have in order to survive - when it comes down to it all we really need is our families. I want to remember that each and every day.

Today is the first day I've gotten up and stayed up - of course I had a board meeting at school and then another volunteer spot to fill before I came back home so that kept me up this morning. I'm determined to not let it envelope me again though - I want the organization and determined tasker back. I'm tired of feeling like I'm tired and worn down constantly.

On another topic - one thing I'm extremely excited about is Project Life!!!! I'm so excited I can hardly contain it. Project Life, for those of you that don't know, is when you take a picture a day everyday of the year. There are other versions out there for those of you that don't want to follow it as strictly as a picture a day. You can do monthly layouts or event layouts if you chose to. However, I do a picture a day and with the first year under my belt I can't speak highly enough of it. It has helped me to look at those little moments in life and in my children's lives that 15-20 years down the road I want to remember. Becky Higgins has a wonderful system for these and a beautiful album that goes along with - it just can't get any simpler in my crazy life right now. I started a blog for my 365 project last year but I was horrible about keeping it up 2 weeks into the year. I did keep everything on my computer and have it all - I just need to catch up on my book now :) however this year I'm going to do it a little differently. I'm going to do a weekly post on Saturdays of my weeks pictures and I'm hoping by doing it that way I'll be able to stay on top of my album as the year goes on also. Just another motivator :) If you aren't doing project life and are interested you have to check out Becky's blog - it's awesome.