What a Morning

This morning I woke up to a sweet little boy crawling into my bed to cuddle, showering me with kisses and saying "Mommy. I'm never going to marry anyone because I want to be with you forever." This was followed by a sleepy little girl crawling into bed to cuddle as well. And it was just after 8am. It can't get much better than that.

Later in the morning, Rowan got out her brand new Twinkle Toes light-up shoes and tied them herself! She was so proud of herself, she said "Don't you think we should call Grandma?"

Then we did some playing outside at the Winter Carnival at church--a treasure hunt on the trail complete with finding a real fox den and wagon rides behind a 4-wheeler because there isn't enough snow for snowmobiling (Did I mention we rode bikes yesterday? It's JANUARY, people!)

Lance is, of course, working, but will be home soon and I'm guessing we'll have an evening of going out to eat and playing games and reading in front of the fire.

That plus a great adult dinner with friends last night makes me a happy girl!

Maybe It's Cold Outside

Tate has taken to singing "Maybe It's Cold Outside" (to the tune, of course, to "Baby It's Cold Outside") and it seemed like a fitting title to this blog. Maybe it is cold outside. Maybe not. Today, yes, it's cold. Really cold. Last week? A random 50-degree day. NO snow on the ground. SUN SHINING!!! While I'll always take warm over cold, sunny over cloudy, the pool over the sledding hill, I have to say I'm not feeling entirely defeated by winter yet. I'm sure it will come. But it's late January and I'm still feeling sane. That's saying something.

And when it does get too cold for me and the kids still want to play in the snow, we do a little something like this:

Deserting Desserts

Since our family ate enough dessert in December to last at least two months, we've decided to skip the sugar this month. I've always had a sweet tooth, but I don't know if I realized just how often I reach for sweets during the day. As soon as Tate is down for "rest time", before anything is crossed off the to-do list, I have dessert. At least a cookie or two, some ice cream or some sort of chocolate-y goodness. After dinner, more of the same. Once the kids are in bed, same story.

Lance and the kids are joining me in this (thankfully, because watching Lance eat cookies would make it much harder). The kids can have a few cheats. If it's someone's birthday at school, they can still eat the treat. If they are at an activity and the snack served is something I'd consider a treat (fruit snacks, etc), they can still have it. But they've been pretty good about it, too.

I find myself reaching for fruit or yogurt when I want something sweet. I feel like I have a touch more patience and energy (though I feel that's possibly due to the fact that we've been defying winter here for quite a while now) and I'm pretty sure I can get through the month without cheating.