Blessings: We have Many

It's burrrr... cold here and we didn't get that big snow we were hoping for.  What we did get was lots of ice and wind.  Riley was out of school yesterday and Mike attempted to go to work, but turned back because of icy roads.  So, we spent the day inside the house (except for our one mid-morning sleet filled trek out into the woods to explore).  

 

We played games, I did my standard list of daily chores (you know the ones you do every day that make you feel like a hampster on a wheel) and we just relaxed.  Riley and Mike played vet to a little finch that flew into a window.  They scooped it up and put in inside a box until it recovered and flew away.  I think Mike was as happy about that as Riley was!

A little after 7 pm we lost power and we had a little adventure.  We (I) scurried about gathering flashlights and candles and Mike turned the gas logs in the fireplace on so that we had a way to keep warm.  Riley gathered her precious stuffed piggies to keep her company beside the fire, and we spent the next few minutes explaining ALL of the MANY things that just stop working in a house when the power is out.  I re-lived those cold winter adventures mom, dad, Jeff and I had in NC circa 1982 or so.  Roasting hot dogs for dinner in the fireplace (the real kind of fireplace with real wood) and camping out in the den because that was where the warmth was.  Ahhh, good times!

 

Queenie went to the pantry with flashlight in hand and got herself some raisins.  She proceeded to open the fridge and grab a bottled water.  On her way back to her "nest" she was making in front of the fire she announced, "at least we have water, that's one of our blessings, we have many"!  ****INSERT GREAT BIG SMILE BY MAMA HERE****  What a sweetie!  How proud was I that our good girl (who, thankfully, has no idea of hard or struggling times) recognized how blessed our little family is?!  So, it's Saturday morning and we aren't going to see temperatures above freezing until sometime on Monday.  However, that's ok because I'll be in my warm house with my sweet family enjoying cabin fever, I mean enjoying all of our many blessings. 

80 Days

Today is Riley's 100th day of school!  She was really excited to "celebrate" with her classmates.  Her teacher suggested the students make a t-shirt to wear today and decorate it with 100 items.  We started brainstorming last week and after discussing the pros and cons of using 100 real plastic pigs, 100 piggy stamps, 100 piggy erasers, 100 piggy stickers, 100 pictures of the stuffed piggies she has we finally settled on ...(insert drum roll sound effect here).....100 "puffy paint" dots arranged in the shape of a piggy.  Her finished product:

She was thrilled with her little piggy and the 100 puffy dots she used to create it!  I added the eyeball and curly tail for her while trying to ignore the fact that the dots were not the same size and they are a little crooked here and there.  ;)  Wink, wink.

She was getting ready for bed last night and said, "Mama, I only have 80 days of Kindergarten left!"  OH MY GOODNESS!  MY TINY LITTLE 6 LB. 12 OZ. BABY GIRL IS ON HER WAY TO 1ST GRADE!!!!!  MAKE IT STOP!  I didn't give my permission for her to grow up!  Only a total control freak would be miffed that her bright, well adjusted social butterfly was growing up, right? 

Perseverance

Riley's class had their Guidance lesson this week at school and she came home talking to us about what it means to have "perseverance". She had to write a sentence and draw a picture of herself working towards a goal she has for herself. She drew herself with a circle around her waist and wrote, "I want to learn to hoola hoop and I will not give up."
While this little clip from last weekend's bird house building extravaganza has nothing to do with hoola hooping, I thought it was a great example of "Perseverance in Action"!

Celebrating the Letter "B"

Brought in 2010 with some fun hats, streamers, a case of food poisoning (it will be a long time before Mike eats a chicken wrap from McDonald's again).  It was just the two of us since Mike was in bed trying to forget about McDonald's, but we managed to have a good time!

Before bed, we sorted through and washed the Black Eyed peas for lunch the next day (a thrill a minute I tell ya)!

Thankfully Mike was feeling better on New Year's Day, so we did a little Bowling:

On Wednesday, we celebrated mike's 39th Birthday with a cookie (decorated by Riley).  We got him a new travel mug for his coffee and some sort of saw that he didn't have.  He got a homemade meatloaf for dinner (his choice; Riley and I had a burger)!

Riley was scheduled to attend the Lowe's Kids Workshop with Mike on Saturday, but she has had a little cold for a few days, so Mike went to Lowe's and got the workshop kit so that she could build her Bank at home.

Somehow during his journey to get the free "build a bank kit" he managed to find Riley her own hammer, 

safety glasses, and a sturdy stool to stand on while working at the workbench!  They decided to keep the building momentum going by fashioning two finch and robin Birdhouses for the woods behind the house.

Busy, Busy, Busy!!!!

Our Bright, Big-eyed Beauty, whom we love a Bunch, always has a Blast just Being herself!

Remember Flat Stanley???

Well, meet Flat Frosty...

The original Flat Stanley had his picture taken in all sorts of cool and unusual places (and the teacher in me is thrilled to know that he is enjoying a resurgence)!  "Flat Frosty" was captured on our front walkway in northern Mississippi this morning enjoying the 12 degree temperatures!  

Our girl was thrilled at the idea of a "snow day", and wasn't letting the fact that her "first official snow day" only involved about 4 flakes of snow get her down.  It seemed the perfect day to jump on the "snowpoline" as she renamed it!

I can't tell you how many times I heard, "Mama, look at this ice!  Mama, look this is frozen!"  It made me remember to see things through her eyes.  Why do people have to grow up and get so...old?  She had more fun exploring the ice and frozen stuff during those freezing 35 minutes than you could imagine.  I was too cold to cry (although my nose was running off of my face), but  I had myself a little winter epiphany standing out there.  Her wide eyed innocence, her ability to see ONLY the good, her ability to accept the face value of ANY situation is such an inspiration to me!  (Of course, I am her mama, and a bit biased).  At what age does that go away?  Why are adults such prudes?  The everyday responsibilities of life shouldn't hinder our ability to enjoy the life we've been given!  NOT an easy sentence to type and BELIEVE when you lean toward the Obsessive Compulsive side of the pendulum.  Housework, jobs, labeling my Rubbermaid storage bins (I'm such a geek), are tasks that will be around forever, but my girl will only be 5 once and snow days don't come along that often in the great state of Mississippi! 


I'm so glad I'm a mama!  Thank you baby big girl for reminding your mama to stop and smell the roses!

Weeklong Celebration Part II

Ho Ho Ho!  We took Santa her list and asked him if he was a Tennessee VOL fan!

Riley has a friend named....Riley in our neighborhood.  Her friend's grandparents were in town for Christmas and her grandmother (a.k.a. MeMaw) invited our Riley over to make Christmas cookies.  Little did we know that she had also made the girls coordinating Christmas aprons to wear for the event!  They were SO cute in those things!  I had briefly met "Memaw" before, but she had NO IDEA just how "up my alley" those sweet little aprons were!  Adorable!

 

We spent Christmas Eve sharing a few snacks and games with our neighborhood friends before Riley had to get busy with her "evening events".  Boy was she a busy girl!

She had to leave milk and cookies for Santa and a carrot for Rudolph.

She scattered the "Reindeer Food" (oatmeal, green and red glitter) she made all over the front yard.

 

 She came inside and read "The Night Before Christmas"

 Then took one last look at NORAD (online Santa tracking) with Daddy

 

Followed by a little Luke Chapter 2.  (We saved the best for last)! :)

 

 She was in bed, quiet for about 10 minutes and called out, "Mama, is it morning yet"?

She woke us up around 6:30 Christmas morning and was honestly a little subdued (for her).  She did manage a squeal when she spotted the PURPLE DSi Santa left for her.  She was THRILLED beyond words with the Pass the Pigs game he left too!

 

Santa is a sneaky guy!  He left me a BRAND NEW, robin's egg blue, ULTRA girly bicycle on the back patio!  I was SO surprised!  I think he finally felt a little guilty b/c I have ridden a BOY'S mountain bike since 1998....YEP, I said 1998

.

I haven't named her yet, any suggestions?

 It was certainly a week filled with lots of love and fun!  It was REALLY different not being a stone's throw from family and old friends; but as I told someone tonight on the phone, one of the BIGGEST things I've learned from our move this summer is that FAMILY IS EVERYTHING!  I'm just such a lucky duck because the one God gave me is awesome!

Although I LOVE my new bike, Starbucks travel mug, and electronic label maker (my Rubbermaid storage tubs have NEVER looked better)....these two are what made my first Christmas in Mississippi special!

Our weeklong celebration! Part I

We started Friday, the 18th after I had the pleasure of attending Riley's classroom Christmas party.  We are so thrilled that she is in a school that still allows Christmas trees to be decorated (we contributed a pig ornament), ANY type of Christmas book to be read aloud, and the very same carols we sing at church are belted out there too!  

 

We hit the road around 1:00 and this is what the back of my car looked like:

About 45 minutes into our trip the back seat had a little different look:

God watched over our journey and we had several "fun stops" (you wouldn't believe the fun these two can have at a rest area)! 

We had plans to have breakfast with Granny and Papa Saturday morning.  Riley loved her new jacket and her Legos were a HUGE hit!  A good time was had by all!

After way too many waffles, we headed back to Grammie and Poppy's house to play with Elley, Owen, Uncle Jeff and Aunt Briana while they were in town!

So, our actual celebrating with family wasn't on the 25th of December, but there was enough love in my little heart during those 3 days to carry me through the rest of the year!  I know the song says, "big girls don't cry", but being a "big girl" is HARD WORK sometimes!  Sniff, Sniff! 
Stay tuned for Part II of our weeklong celebration!