I'm Gonna Miss This

It's been a long 10 days - there were moments I thought I'd never make it through another day during our unexpected ice vacation however there were so many wonderful things about it at the same time. You see tomorrow morning at 6:45 am everything starts back - the kids have to get up and head back to school and the last 10 days will be over.

There will be no more not worrying about bedtimes, not worrying about whether lunches are made, not worrying about if laundry is done or homework is completed. No more sleeping late or having not a care in the world about a schedule - it will all come to a hault at bedtime tonight.

On one hand I'm ready to get back on a schedule - our house has taken a hit over these last 10 days. I haven't done much of anything in the cleaning area other than wiping the kitchen down, cleaning the toilet, doing laundry and cooking dinner. I haven't even taken down our Christmas decorations yet - it's pitiful I know! Things need to be cleaned and scrubbed and organized - it's going to be a long process. I have the big consignment sale coming up that I haven't even started on so it's time to kick my butt into gear. On the other hand I'll miss these days of no schedules and nowhere to go. It'll be back to the grind with homework and car lines and studying for endless tests and projects - that I don't miss!

Is it summer yet?

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 :)

Project Life ~ Week 1

I'm so excited to be doing project life again this year!!! I'm even more excited to be posting them on a weekly basis on my blog. I feel like I can keep up with it easier than posting them on a daily basis. I am using Becky Higgins system to keep my album and everything organized - if you haven't done project life before you really should look into it - it has been a huge turning point in my life. I'm looking at the small moments in life now - I'm enjoying each and every one  and cherishing those memories all while document them for my family. I truly believe these small things in our day to day life that mean so much to me I would have forgotten 20 years down the road when my kiddos are gone if it wasn't for documenting them with project life. I'm now going to start linking up on Tuesdays with Jessica Turner at The Mom Creative rather than Saturdays. I love that she's doing this to help keep us all accountable.  Now for my first week of 2011:

Caleb is obsessed with flashlights right now. He got two new ones for his birthday from Nendny and Papa and as he went to bed that night he slept with one of his new ones and his headlamp right by his pillow. I adore this shot!

Anytime Allie sees a piece of paper lying around she grabs a pen and parks herself. I frequently find my papers that she has put her mark on. Her mark? Loads and loads of circles!!!!

Two of my Christmas gifts from this year. An external flash and a new 50 mm lens. I'm still learning and have loads more to go but I love them so far!

My new project life kit arrived today! I'm so excited to start this year!

One of my favorite shots of Caleb. He will hardly ever sit still for a picture these days but as I was taking some shots of Allie the other night he hopped right in front of my camera and posed - love his eyes!

Jacob has a daily reading log for school. When they fill it up they get to turn it in and get a ring pop - always a very exciting time for him. He worked very hard the last couple of days to finish up his old reading log and came home with a new one and a ring pop today.

Grandma King is here from OK for two weeks and we went over to Dad's for the first time to see her tonight. David, unfortunately, is on call and had to work late. Dad put so much detail and LOVE into preparing his meal for me to take home to him. I am so thankful for my Dad for the love that he has given my husband - truly the greatest gift ever!

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!!!!!

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!