Quick, before I get Sidetrack'd

I’m not much of a cold weather person (Matt is laughing right now). In fact, I’ve mentioned a time or thirty that I would prefer to live south of the Tennessee/Kentucky border for the entirety of my life. Now, don’t get me wrong, I do sometimes dream of living in beautiful New England or maybe Minnesota…but only during the Summer.

Why do I dislike cold? Well, it could be because I’m pretty much cold all the time.

But I’ve recently decided that my number one, all-time reason for disliking cold weather is coats! “Coats?” you say. Yes, coats. Let me explain.

I have four children and two arms. I have a baby (almost 4 months) and a toddler (almost 23 months) which means I almost always have one diaper bag with me and often two. I’m often found wearing someone and/or pushing someone while trying to hold two or three hands. And my children are children; meaning they don’t like to deal with their own belongings. Coats are just one more thing to keep up with. Like four children to keep up with isn’t enough in and of itself.

And not only do I have to keep up with coats, I have to add ten minutes to our “get out the door” time in order to get everyone into their coats. Then there is the terrible hassle of buckling them in car seats in coats. Or taking coats off when we get to the car and putting them on again when we reach our destination.

When it’s cold enough that we need hats and mittens? That not only adds to the hassle but multiplies it exponentially!

So if I tell you we can’t go somewhere this winter, it just might be because it would require us to wear coats.

I know there are a few of you anxiously (or not) awaiting an update post on baby girl. Sorry, but you’re going to have to wait a bit longer for a couple of reasons: 1) I want to post this first, and 2) we have to take some pictures of the baby. Poor thing is seriously going to have third child syndrome; she’ll be a month old tomorrow and the only pictures we have of her are the ones we took in the hospital. Yes, I do feel Mommy guilt, so let’s move on.

Little is all about snow this winter. She talks about snow, asks when it is going to snow, and plots the things she will do when she finally gets to play in the snow.

Imagine her disappointment when our first snow of the winter left us with barley a 1/2 inch dusting (in fact, I think the layer of dust in my house is deeper than the snow was on the ground). When she looked out and saw the “snow” the following conversation ensued:

Little: Mom, can I play in the snow?
Me: Little, there really isn’t enough snow to play in.
Little: Can I make a snowman?
Me: No, baby, there isn’t enough snow.
Little: Can I make a snow angel?
Me: Sorry, sweetheart, there isn’t enough snow.
Little: Well, can I at least make a footprint?

Fortunately, there was enough snow for her to make some footprints.

So, that was our first encounter with snow this year. Then, a couple of weeks ago, the weather people started forecasting a big snow headed our way. We were supposed to get 6-8 inches, and everyone was very excited (and very anxious to get to the grocery for bread and milk). This is the South, people!

There was enough for the little people to go out and play, which they loved.

check out the tiny snowman; that’s all the snowman they could build

And the next day the ice made it perfect for sledding. They loved this too!

Little was much more impressed with this snow, but since it was mostly ice it posed challenges of its own.

She couldn’t make a snow angel because she couldn’t push her arms down hard enough to break through the ice crust.

And poor Boo had trouble walking in it. Just about every time he took a step he lost his balance as his foot broke through the ice crust and fell on his bucket. I so wish I had been filming him when he first went out; he stepped over the transition point between our concrete patio and the grass, lost his balance, and went sprawling face forward into the snow. It was hilarious!

That was the first of our two snows in a week and a half span. I’ll post about this week’s snow soon.

At the beginning of last week they were predicting a “substantial” snowfall in our part of Tennessee for Friday. Now, we don’t get snow often, so when we hear this prediction, at least once a winter, we usually go on about our business and expect rain. But this time, as we neared the end of the week it looked as if the moisture and cold air would indeed be here at the same time and that we might get some of the white stuff.

Friday, the city was in panic mode – schools were closing early, streets were being salted, people were packing the grocery stores – before a single flake had been spotted. Oh yes, these are the ways of Southerners when threatened with winter weather; even if the prediction is only for a 1/2 inch this is how we react, but now they were saying we could get 4-6 inches.

About 1:00 Friday afternoon the snow began to fall. This wasn’t our usual half rain/half snow slushy accumulation type of winter weather, this was full-blown all-white, all-the-time snow. It snowed consistently for about 10 hours, and we woke up Saturday morning with approximately 4 inches of snow.

This was the scene in our backyard….

Later in the morning we took Little out to play in it. She was not overly impressed and even seemed a bit frightened at times; I guess that is only to be expected, though, since this was really her first experience with snow. She did walk into it when coerced, but for the most part she preferred to stay on the patio, driveway, and sidewalks where most of it had already melted. Her biggest concern was that the snow was getting on our shoes; she would point at her shoes (or mine or Matt’s) and say “shoes” with a very worried expression on her face and tone in her voice. It was like she thought the snow was eating our feet or something.

Here’s a picture of her “playing in the snow”…

(Please disregard the fact that she isn’t wearing mittens or a hat. I tried, but she kept taking the mittens off and her hood kept falling off her head. We weren’t out that long, and she never actually touched the stuff, so no fingers or ears were lost in the making of this post.)

I enjoy watching it fall and seeing it lay prettily on the ground, but I think Matt enjoyed it most of all. He was able to make snowballs (which Little thought were pretty funny), and even had plenty of snow to build a small snowman.

And today, the temps are in the mid-60s, and that is more than fine with this Southern girl. A bit of snow is fun every now and then, but now that I’ve seen some this year I’m ready to move on. Bring on Spring!

This weekend a group of 13 ladies (including me) were able to get away from everyday life and take a little retreat. It was a weekend filled with girlie activities, girlie food, girlie conversation, and staying up way past my bedtime.

We were fortunate enough to be able to stay in a lake house owned by the parents of one of the ladies. I wish I had pictures to share of this beautiful house, because my words will not do it justice. You entered into the main level of the house which included a living room, dining room, kitchen, and powder room. The floor throughout the area was gorgeous tile, a huge gas fireplace with stone hearth and chimney anchored the living area, and the kitchen was filled with granite, tile, and stainless. Upstairs to the right were 2 bedrooms and a full bath; upstairs to the left was a “grandkids bunkroom” with 4 sets of bunkbeds, a full bath, bookshelves, toy boxes, a game closet with about 150 board games, and lots of room to play. The downstairs (3 stories total) had a nice big television viewing area, a pool table, an air hockey table, and a theater room with a 400 disc DVD changer. Other amenities included beautiful views from the back deck, a hot tub, and lake access (though it was a bit chilly to be on the water this weekend). And one of the neatest things about the house was the scripture used throughout the decor; there were scripture tiles in the floor inside the front and back doors, scripture in the wall decorations, and scripture on knick-knacks all over the house. It was truly an amazing house and such a blessing that we were able to stay there.

We spent the weekend watching movies, gabbing as only a group of ladies can, and eating delicious food. On Saturday my friend Lindsey set up a “salon” area downstairs and did haircuts for several of us and practiced wedding hair with our soon-to-be-bride. A group of us stayed down there pretty much all day watching TLC (What Not to Wear and Miss America Reality Check), watching others get their hair done, and making bead crafts (the lady of the house makes bead jewelry and has a bead collection so big it overwhelmed me just to look at the boxes); others stayed upstairs and worked on scrapbooking; and still others just enjoyed good company. That evening about 10 of us piled into the theater room to watch the Miss America Pageant on the projection t.v. It was such fun to watch the pageant with other women – we talked about the contestants, we critiqued, and we laughed hysterically at the lipstick all over Miss America’s face when she was crowned.

It was so wonderful to have a weekend like this where we had no agenda, no plan, and no commitments. We were free to spend time together, spend time alone, and spend time with God. I am grateful to Matt that he was willing to stay home alone with Little and allow me to go. It was refreshing and relaxing; and even though I came back tired from the late nights, there is a feeling you have after a time like this that transcends the tiredness.

Sometimes it is good to have a break. And as Lindsey told her husband, “it was so girlie it would have made you gag.”