snowfall

the snow we have been getting is just crazy! the last time i remember getting this much snow was about 7 years ago. we were living in the carriage house then and daisy was about six or seven months old. she wouldn't stop crying and seemed to be in pain but i didn't know what was wrong. thankfully my parents were visiting and my mother suggested it might be an ear infection. i called the dr but there was too much snow for anyone to meet me in the office. i would've walked there if i thought someone would see me. we had to wait until the next day to find out that daisy had a double ear infection. i won't ever forget that!
today i am watching about eight inches fall on the two or three feet we already have. it's so beautiful. i love watching it fall and being stuck inside. it gives our busy family an excuse to chill and be together and watch movies and play games and have fun! not to mention, get laundry done, clean the house and all of that fun stuff too! for these reasons i love the snow. if it keeps me away from going to see my family this weekend i will be slightly annoyed at it...but for now i will enjoy it and hope that we can get plowed out enough for the kiddos to have school on friday. i'm sure God finds some humor in my plans.

disney world

disney was great!!! we all had so much fun and i can't even list the things we got to do. it would take up my entire blog space! some of the highlights were, watching tucker do jedi training and then fighting darth vader, watching the kiddos on the roller coasters...they laughed and put their arms up in the air, having lunch with all of the princesses and being very spoiled, watching the kids squirm everytime we passed a character that they were scared of, watching my kids LOVE being with my parents, and of course, watching my parents laugh and have fun.
we were exhausted every single night but we needed to take advantage of all of our time there so why not push ourselves to the limits?
the best part of the vacation was coming home (to my own bed) and finding out that i had lost 3.3lbs while i was gone!!!! imagine what i could've lost if i hadn't cheated on my diet at all!!!! i was pleasantly surprised!!!
so today i am off to the grocery store, working out at the y, and going on a date with my husband tonight! i don't have much laundry to do, just unpacking, but that can wait for another day...maybe tomorrow.
i'll post pix later!

biggest loser

i reached my first weight loss goal and that was to lose 20 pounds. my weigh in at weight watchers was quickly followed by a celebration between joe and i. we ordered in some dominoes and i ate until my stomach hurt...which didn't take very long. i guess my body is not used to that food anymore so i was up with a churning stomach most of monday night. tuesday i got on my wii fit and it told me i had gained 2.4 lbs!!!!! crazy...so i am working my tail off this week to get back to where i was.
we are leaving for disney world on sunday. i am so excited but so stressed at the same time. i will feel great when the plane lands and we are in FL....and also once the bags meet us at the hotel. i know the kids are going to flip their lids at what we will see and what rides we will ride. i can't wait to see them so excited. i will also treasure the special memories that we will make. my parents are going with us which will make it that much more fun.
lucy has a cold which i'm hoping she'll get over quickly. daisy and tucker seem fine now but you never know. the nice FL warm sun and air will help us all feel better, i'm sure.
lately, i have been feeling led to stay on our schooling path that we are on already. i will take it year by year and try to follow the path God is laying out for me. i do have a peace about where they are and i think keeping them there will be a good thing. i am still open to change though if that's what needs to happen.
just wanted to update everyone...i'll write more when we get back from disney!

public school

i have always been a die hard public school supporter....until now. for some reason i can't get rid of this feeling that i need to be sending my kids to a christian school. i don't know why i am feeling this...i don't even have a particular school in mind. to be honest, it's really stressing me out. daisy LOVES her school and can't wait to go up to the next building next year.
i could really use some prayers on this one. i need to know what i'm supposed to do and i want to follow God's path for us. if we belong in a christian school, then we will be there. if it's public school, that's great too. i'm afraid of messing it up.

the christmas story

we were thrilled that the kids' colds didn't prevent them from performing in their christmas program at school. the preschool that they attend always puts on the cutest little shows! as we were sitting at dinner last night and the kids were talking about believing in santa i asked them if they knew what the real christmas story was about. i was shocked when they gave me every detail of mary and joseph traveling to bethlehem and giving birth to jesus.
i am also realizing that scripture is playing a valuable part in their everyday lives. when i was putting lucy to bed last night there was strong winds still from the snow and her room by far is the noisiest with the wind. i reminded her that we wanted her to stay in her bed all night long and she said, "but i will be scared." then all of a sudden she remembered that she didn't have to be scared. she put her finger up in front of her and said "fear not! God is always with you."
my prayer is that they always get excited to learn more about God and to read their bibles. it's a little selfish on my part because i am always learning new things from them and they way they look at scripture. i love seeing the joy on their faces when hearing a new story about Jesus.
have a merry christmas everyone!!!!

the big purge

the purge of my house is going great!! i have already gone through the whole kitchen and my coat closet. i sent a box of items to joe's office on the off chance that someone there might want some of my castoffs. joe said within a minute the stuff was gone. yayee! i love recycling.
my next area will be the basement. i will be sending my old plates to joe's office for the girls to use for lunches there. apparently they have been looking for some cheap microwavable plates anyway so this is a perfect fit. as soon as the basement is done then comes the garage. that starts to get overwhelming so i am sticking with the basement in my vision. one step at a time.
this has been fun and i have been ruthless with getting rid vs. keeping. all of a sudden i have lots of space in my kitchen cabinets.
i'll post some pix soon.

the happiest people

i recently watched an episode of oprah that showed the happiest people in the world. they had traveled all the way to denmark to feature them on the show. i noticed one common theme in the people's lives that they followed....the absence of STUFF. there houses were tiny!!! but their houses were so clean and had no clutter. one husband even said to oprah "less room, less stuff, more life" i LOVE that.

i am inspired to get rid of stuff. in the near future i will be clearing out my house, room by room. i will start with my kitchen cabinets because our new flooring is being installed in a few weeks and i would love to not schlep stuff around that doesn't even belong back in my cabinets. do i need three sets of plates? one set for the kids, one set for us, one set for the basement? no way...i will be getting rid of one set...i will be getting rid of mugs, glasses we never use, gadgets, cookie cutters, platters, cupcake tins....i am getting excited just thinking about it.

when we first moved in i remember being so excited about all of the space in the house...why is it that now i need more storage? hhhhmmmm....hopefully i won't feel that way after my big purge. wish me luck!!