Life is Normal Again

Hallelujah! I woke up this morning singing this song--did anyone hear me? I'm singing because the boys went back to school today after 6 1/2 snow days in the last 10 days of school! Poor little Lydia is still trying to have her Valentine's Party at preschool! It has been crazy here with all the ice/snow/power outages etc. Don't get me wrong--I love my children dearly and love spending time with them but honestly, we all do better when life is somewhat normal and we are on our regular schedule! On the snow break we actually accomplished alot--Caleb got 4 permanent teeth pulled and the rest of his braces on, Mark and I got away alone together for 2 full days in Paducah over Valentine's Day, Levi got strep throat again for about the zillionth time this year (someone please buy the boy a new toothbrush!), and Caleb's soccer team won 2nd place in a St. Louis tournament! Wow! We probably shoud've used the time to clean closets or organize something around the house. But that's not near as much fun! All that said, I'm finding myself looking at the clock all afternoon wondering is it time to pick up the boys yet? Maybe the house is a little too quiet with them gone after all!

On a final note, snow days are great days to curl up with a good book and I found myself with a little extra time to read. I am not much of a reader, thinking it's such a waste of my precious time. But last year I stumbled onto an awesome Christian author named Karen Kingsbury and I cannot stop reading her books. They are absolutely life-changing and I challenge anyone reading to check her books out. The best ones are the series that starts with the book Redemption and continues with several books about the Baxter family. Over the snow break, I read Oceans Apart which taught me about learning to love those who hurt or disappoint you by forgiving them. Just a warning tho--always have a kleenex close by when you read--she will have you tearing up on page one!

It's a Snow Day--FINALLY!!!

Lydia's in green with her neighbor OliviaCaleb trying to snowboard!

Levi ramping it!
The 2008 neighborhood snowboarding team!