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.

Really?

It's Sunday night 10 o clock and they say a major winter storm is on the way. SC just doesn't get snow like they are calling for - as of right now they are calling for multiple inches of snow then followed by sleet and freezing rain. We're in the South - we don't deal with conditions like these. As of right now there are over 130 closings and not a single flake has dropped from the sky.

To make matters worse David is on call - they sent him home with chains for his truck. He's still out tonight running calls - people going crazy with no heat right now. People that haven't had heat since this morning but wait to call until 730 at night???? Really???

I think it's going to be an interesting week - I've caught up on all my laundry preparing just in case we end up without power and can't wash clothes so we don't run out. We're stocked up on food and drinks so we're ready to go but praying it doesn't come to that. The temps aren't supposed to get out of the 30s all week and it's supposed to be in the teens and 20s at night so the likelihood of everything melting and not causing any problems is not very good. Kids are already supposed to be out of school on Friday and then Monday for teacher workday and state holiday so it's looking like an extended vacation this week. I may need Prozac by the end of the week :)

However - one good thing about snow - taking us back to the day after Christmas this year is I get adorable pictures of my babies - like these :

We even play baseball in the snow :)

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.

Christmas 2010

I've decided what my new year's resolutions are going to be. I have two this year - I'm sure I need many more but for starters I'm going to keep up with my blog. I love the connection I have developed with so many people and I miss that when I'm not blogging and regularly keeping up with everyone elses. I'm also going to dig into my camera. I've had it for a little over a year now and have yet to sit down and really LEARN about it. I got some wonderful gifts for my camera for Christmas and I'm so excited to learn about all the ins and outs of getting better pictures of everything.

I am so behind in blogging but instead of getting even further behind I'm going to write about Christmas and then I will just have to fill in the spots I missed down the road. That's one good thing about doing my 365 album - I have those daily pictures so I can still remember the small things I'm not wanting to forget - that's one of my most favorite projects EVER! If you're not doing one you should totally look into it.

Christmas was fabulous this year - we had a wonderful time with our family and the kids were very happy I think. I love Christmas - there is just this vibe in the air that is contagious. I can't get enough of it. We went to my dad's on Christmas Eve and had our annual spaghetti dinner followed by the kids "little" surprise that night. Each Christmas Eve Nendny and Papa get the kids a little "sursey" and we always give them new pjs for Christmas Eve night and a book.

 Caleb was very unhappy with almost every present he received and bless his heart he let everyone know it. This little boy wanted a flashlight more than anything in the world and he was getting one (or two) on Christmas morning so I told Nendny to wait and she did but he wasn't happy about it. You can see it in his face here - I felt horrible but love the capture.

Allie wasn't interested in sitting for the picture but I got a pretty good one of the boys.

I finally got Allie to sit for me when we got home in her new pjs - loving the gown :)

Christmas Eve was a LATE night - I'm talking like 3:30 late. I think it could be the latest one we've experienced yet. I don't ever do any wrapping until Christmas Eve - one reason is I have a very hard time finding the time to wrap with four kids around and by the time they are in bed I have so much other stuff to do that wrapping falls by the wayside. I am thinking I may try and wrap some beforehand for the very first time next year - I say that every year though so we shall see.

Christmas Eve or morning at this time before we went to bed.

Lucas was the first one up on Christmas morning followed by Jacob and then Allie. Caleb was last and the most anticipated I think :) He took FOREVER to wake up - it was close to 9:30 before he actually crawled out of bed despite my repeated attempts to wake him up. We ate sausage and gravy biscuits for breakfast and then dove into our gifts. Christmas morning is a process at our house - it takes a while and it's not rushed. We open one gift at a time rotating around the room.

 Right after Caleb got his police car - he was in shock for about 5 minutes when he walked out almost like he couldn't believe that a police car that he could ACTUALLY drive was sitting in his living room. His response to me was "See Mommy I told you Santa could BUILD one!"

I was very blessed this Christmas - I got a new Keurig - which is sooo cool! If you haven't seen one it's almost a show just to watch it brew a cup of coffee. My goal now is to find someplace around town that sells the tea k cups so I can have tea at night. I also got a new baking stone so I can throw away my ratty pans for my oven. Funny the things we find exciting as we get older :) And I got goodies for my camera too - so fun! I got an external flash which I am very very excited about and  new 50 mm lens. I'm still learning the lens - I'm sure I'll be doing that for some time to come. I have the Nikon D60 and therefore the lens has to be operated in Manual mode. That's something I need to work on a lot but I'm excited to learn!

 And this my friends - this is immediately after I received my external flash - the different is like night and day and it's pure love! I'm head over heels!

 All of these wrapped gifts are the ones that Allie didn't get to on Christmas morning. She opened gifts for the next two mornings before she finished them all. She would open a couple and then play with something and then open a few more and play some more. Funny girl!!!

 Overall we enjoyed the day with family and didn't want it to end - until it was time to hit the bed which we did hard!

Discouraged

See these babies? Well they're all home today UNPLANNED and it's just screwed my plans up so that I'm not a happy mama. You see Caleb and Allie were supposed to have their Christmas program this morning at preschool. Now that they have closed schools Caleb and Allie's program has been delayed until tomorrow at 1 pm. However Lucas and Jacob have their parties tomorrow at 1:30 that I HAVE to be at because I'm a room parent. :( So it's Caleb and Allie's first Christmas program and now there's a chance I won't get to see it. I'm so incredibly discouraged and upset right now and can't for the life of me figure out how to make it work. My parents have graciously offered to do whatever is needed but I am still stuck with the fact that I won't get to see their program. Sooooo today I'm hoping I'll sprout wings and develop a twin so I can be in two places at once tomorrow and not miss anything! Join me in my prayer  -  nothing's impossible, right?

Double Digits

I'm going all the way back to October for this post :) See what happens when you're on top of things behind. Lucas is getting harder and harder to buy for as he gets older. This year was no exception. Both kids decided to have their meals at home for their birthdays instead of going out to eat - shock of the century! Lucas wanted spaghetti and Nendny and Papa came over to celebrate with us.

He was estatic to get money like his brother did - I think if he didn't then we'd still be hearing about it 10 years from now.

I love this look! Priceless!

 Have you ever seen a kid so excited over a Scrabble game?

 His grandmother gave him baseball gloves and hid money in the fingertips - funny when he tried to put them on and couldn't get his fingers to go in. Took him a good five minutes to dig all of the money out.

Then he got more books to read and an MP3 player that I still haven't figured out how to load songs onto. I am thinking we should have gotten an easier one to operate. I didn't want to spend an arm and a leg on one since it was his first one and he's 10 but I can't seem to figure out how to get songs loaded onto the one that we got. I might have to break down and actually read the directions.