Today we celebrate.... WINTER

With it being 0 degrees with wind chills well into the -20's I thought why not celebrate it. Its easy to get discouraged at this time of year and I know with my boys being trapped in the house can have us all bouncing off the walls. So today we celebrated a little... well in our own sort of way. We began with a little picnic breakfast, cinnamon raisin bagels on our little blanket in the livingroom while Mommy enjoyed her coffee and we watched Curious George. Its my favorite way to start the day, a cup of coffee in peace. You know what I'm talking about Mommies! The blanket idea is brilliant, when the kids are done I bring it in the bathroom and shake it into the tub and BAM my carpets are cleaner. Its called being resourceful =)

So this is actually a cake that I made for a Mom's group that I'm apart of that got together, so yes it was leftovers but it was STILL winter festive appropriate with the blue frosting and snow sprinkles. Devon was quite fascinated by them as you can see. He picked each one off and ate them first of course, then devoured the frosting and then picked at the cake... like any child's order of eating cake.

Jack cooperated quite nicely with his huge goofy smile. He ate his cake with a little more of the shove as much in my mouth as possible tactic, this is obviously a before picture where I captured his anticipation =) How did I celebrate winter? I stayed in my pajamas till 3:30pm and only got dressed for my husband's sake. It was the first day in weeks that I woke up from my afternoon nap feeling refreshed instead of exhausted which is FANTASTIC! I hope this means we're on the up with the whole mono thing. I have bloodwork this next week to make sure its out of my system and that my liver is functioning properly, making sure there was no permanent damage. Prayers appreciated.




While feeling couped up in the house I tried to think of fun things to do with the kids, something we don't do everyday, so we made a fort in our livingroom. The kids absolutely loved it, I used my camera tripod to prop up the middle which worked wonderfully and then chip clips to hold the blankets. We've done this a few times, John does the best job but I thought for today that I would try it out with the kids.

It took up our entire livingroom, it was pretty big. If mommy was going to climb in there, it was going to be roomy.

So what spurred on my Winter appreciation day? I called and talked to my mom this morning, and she tells me "I'm sitting out on my veranda and I need to move into the shade because its just too hot." BOO! I can't go outside because my nostrils will freeze shut, its cold! So instead of feeling bad for myself or jealous at how great my mom has it (which I am a little jealous but we'll be with them in February!), I decided to appreciate the moment and make the best of it. I think far too often we get caught up in what is wrong with the world instead of what is right. I've ALWAYS tried to be a glass is half full kind of girl so I hope today that I could pass it along to you. Today we appreciated winter, the beauty and the wonder of snow from the warmth of our house. I love living in Wisconsin, having 4 seasons makes you truly appreciate each one. We can get caught up in what we don't have (sunlight, warmth or the ability to feel our fingertips) or we can look to what we do have. Have a fantastic warm night! Go light some candles, cuddle up with a blanket and movie.