Grace in small things, January 1, 2016
- Cooking yesterday morning, the disco Christmas trees on the mantle getting hit by just the right angle of sunlight and throwing a confetti of sparkles onto the wall...
- Torchlight parade and fireworks early yesterday evening on the mountain...
- Our traditional New Year's Eve: Kids in new PJs--Luke's: dinotrux; Zo's: donuts--and hats and mittens, their faces glowing from the sparklers they're waving in the minus eight degree air on the porch...
- Snuggles on the couch watching Sarah & Duck
- Lazy, mellow Friday...aside from whipping up some Julia Child... :)
Happy New Year!!
XOXO
Cousins on the mountain
We went up in the gondola yesterday--right behind the Russian ski team--to meet Jaimie and Bailee and Bodie for lunch. We got invited to join their whole family, which was lovely. Bubs was so worn out from all the holiday activity that he fell asleep mid-grilled cheese sandwich. :)
XOXO
6/50 and grace in small things...
Monday of New Years week...about 10:30 at Gondola Square...crowded--so crowded--this is the line to get on the gondola...it wrapped all the way around behind the building, this picture doesn't do it justice...and cold...I heard it was MINUS 24 this morning...
Long story short, I only got one run in today...but that one run was super fun.
And, here are some other lovely things that happened:
- So fun having my brother and his family here with us...
- Kids had a great play date this morning...without Mommy there, which is pretty unusual for us...
- Lambie (Zo's favorite toy) got left behind at said playdate...but luckily at my husband's insistence we have a backup lambie...which I explained was so white and puffy because she had been to the spa...a story that Zo readily accepted...although she did poke Lambie's face a few times and say that it was way puffier than normal...
- John Denver on the stereo while I did the afternoon's housework...
- I took the kids to the post office this afternoon to mail Papa his iPad...there was a long line and they were behaving so badly I had to step out of line and take them back to the car...and we had a talk...and then we went back in to try it again and they did better but were still very difficult to keep under control...but I did my best and there was a man who looked homeless that passed by me as he left and said to me, "Thanks for your hard work, Mama." I teared up right there in the post office...it's one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me...
XOXO
Grace in small things, December 23, 2015
- Wow, is making marshmallows from scratch ever messy! (Shirts are off because they were covered in marshmallow.) We had such fun though...love making homemade gifts...
- Done with work for the week...things have been slow but it's been great to have that time for other things...and I'm not too bad on billing for the month...
- My TO DO list is looking pretty reasonable for once...
- Getting the house clean, last few gifts wrapped, parts of meals made, listening to Christmas carols on the radio, a full-on blizzard happening outside with snow blown all over our porch...so festive...so fun...
- Company starts to arrive tomorrow...I absolutely cannot wait... :)
XOXO
Happy Winter Solstice!
The crazy snow continues up here...19 inches in the last 48 hours, with up to another foot expected tonight and tomorrow...I've never seen so much snow in my life! And alas...I am without childcare, so I can't go to the mountain...but that's OK, because there's lots to get done to get ready for Christmas and also these lovely things happened/are going to be happening around the house today:
- Luke getting up before Sis from naps (truth be told, he didn't nap at all)...and I set him up with stickers, and what did he want to make? An Xmas card for his Sis...so sweet...
- And she loved it when he gave it to her...
- I have french onion soup simmering on the stove, and we're going to have roast beef sandwiches too...and I'm going to light every candle we own for dinner because it's the solstice...
- Got all my last-minute errands done today...
- And tonight after the kids go down my husband and I will cuddle up under the electric blankets out on our deck...bring some of the candles out...drink some champagne...toast to the days starting to get longer...
XOXO
Grace in small things, December 21, 2015
- These two cuties playing beautifully together today, including this wrestling match...
- Zo's insistence on doing her hair "Unicorn Horn" style, meaning her bangs in a ponytail (can be viewed in the pictures above)...
- Feeling pretty sane about Xmas being here in a few days, thanks to a tremendous amount of help from my husband, a very light workload, keeping expectations reasonable (eg, not every item for every meal has to be made from scratch, it's OK that we missed the Holiday event at the mountain yesterday, etc...)
- Big fluffy snowflakes all morning...and knowing I didn't have to leave the house today...
- Kids eating all their vegetables at lunch...apparently if you call red pepper strips "yumblats" they are much more appetizing...hmmm...I see lots of vegetables getting lots of silly names in the near future...
- Doing drawings/collages/letters for Grammy and Papa this morning
- Kids actually napping today...
- Kids are signed up for ski school! They start January 7th!
- I'm experimenting with working out at home (eg, squats, lunges, sit-ups, pushups, running up and down our two flights of stairs a bunch of times), with the kids participating when they want to jump in, playing nearby otherwise. The best part of my workout this morning? Sissy insisting that the last part of it needed to be us hugging each other. :)
- Feeling so happy and grateful and blessed and relaxed...
4/50 and a day in the life...
December 17, 2015:
6 AM: I'm up and working so there's time to snowboard later. :)
8 AM: Kids up. Mumpho Elphie (their Elf on the Shelf) is the first thing they look for...and..."Look, Mommy, he's in the same place! He hasn't moved!" And while I'm trying to think of a cover story (eg, "he really likes that spot! He came back to it!"), they come up with their own: "We didn't tell him about things we wanted yesterday," Luke says. "So he didn't need to go see Santa. We'll tell him about some thing today."
8:15 AM: Kids gently touch Christmas tree ornaments, I make breakfast: bagels, cream cheese, grapes, juice. Juice gets spilled first by Zo then by Luke and cleaned up. I walk the dog in 6 inches of new powder. Kids watch cartoons ("Blaze").
9:15 AM: Kids watch the snowplow make their snow mountain even bigger. Zo tells Mumpho Elphie she wants "a ballet dress with pink stripes for me and for Lambie. And another chocolate Santa please."
9:30 AM: Kids get dressed.
10 AM: Play in the snow, including making a sled run on the man-made snow mountain that continues to grow in our front yard:
11 AM: Getting warm by the fire, lunch (I didn't write it down and I have no idea what I made the kids for lunch yesterday, lol), housework. Play time with boxes and bubble wrap (those 2 items will keep the kids entertained longer than anything else).
12:30 PM: I make dinner (chili in the crock pot), kids play hide and seek.
1 PM: Kids play upstairs, I do a conference call.
1:30 PM: Dog walked, stories for the kids, kids put down for nap. (Zo sleeps, Luke doesn't.)
2 PM: Grandma takes over with the kids and I go snowboarding:
4:30 PM: Groceries and a beautiful sunset:
5 PM: Play with the kids...what we play in their words: "The pet baby whales are having a birthday party!" (They often refer to themselves as pet baby whales, I have no idea where it came from.) "Mommy, let's meditate!" (That didn't go too smoothly.) "Your bed is a dance floor!"
6 PM: Kids get letters and stickers (smiley faces, bears) from Grammy in the mail. I finish dinner while kids play "pirates" and then "pillow fight," which involves each holding a couch pillow to their chest and then running into each other from a distance, giggling hysterically, especially when one or both of them ends up knocked down.
6:45 PM: Daddy's home and plays pillow fight and forklift with the kids.
7 PM: Dinner--chili and salad and bread (kids get piles of individual salad ingredients minus the lettuce instead of salad). Luke gets sent to his room for playing with his food and in trouble again for throwing books down the stairs. Zo shows off her dance moves for us.
8 PM: Zo picks out her outfit for the next day, kids take individual baths and play "Zoo," which involves the one out of the bath coming by to take a look at the other kid, who is a zoo animal in the bath.
8:45 PM: PJs and tooth brushing.
9:00 PM: Short cartoon and goodnight to Grandma and Daddy.
9:15 PM: Short story for each kid, warm Duckie for Luke, a chat about what tomorrow's plans are, bedtime.
9:30 PM: My husband and I start our Christmas wrapping.
11 PM: A small whiskey for me and "Stitchers" on TV. (I fell asleep before it was finished.)
What joy our days are filled with...
XOXO
3/50
A foot fluffy snow last night, 2 feet in the past 5 days = crazy powder up here. Great afternoon...my first time to the top of Storm Peak and on some blacks today which felt so good.
A few other lovely things that happened today:
- Luke this morning with his trains: "Mommy, will you play with me?" Love hearing this...know he won't want to play with his Mommy forever...
- Delivering cookies to neighbors...
- Cleaning and laundry...tangible results are so satisfying...
- Getting my year-end business tasks done...I've also scheduled a "business day" for myself once a month...need to stay on top of this stuff and I'm pretty terrible about it...figure some actual scheduled time might help...
- Pictures drawn/letters written to Grammy and Papa...
XOXO
Walk, Snow Fort, Bubble Wrap
1. Yesterday's walk along the river.
2. Zo helping me build a snow fort aka igloo aka ice castle in the yard. (We just got a start today. We have grand plans for it.)
3. My husband's work Xmas party, where they covered the dance floor entirely in bubble wrap. Made for happy kids for sure. :)
XOXO
Grace in small things, December 14, 2015
- Girls day with Sis yesterday with a long soak in the hot springs, the sandwich shop for lunch and coming home and doing our nails...Bubs and Daddy went to breakfast and the hockey rink and Xmas shopping, where Bubs, totally unprompted, wanted to get a gift for his Sis...
- Beautiful walk with my husband on the core trail along the river, cold snow blanketing everything, late in the day...
- How excited my kids are about Christmas...
- Shaun the Sheep. Especially the song at the end with the credits...
- Feeling like the holidays are rushing by...so much happening, and all I want to do is hang out with my family...so this morning we're going to play in the snow in the yard, despite my mile-long to do list...
XO
Grace in small things, December 11, 2015
- Ah, "Mumpho Elphie," you delightful Elf on a Shelf you...you've got the kids sharing cookies--cookies--with each other (among other good deeds), so that you can report back to Santa that they were nice...
- We cleaned out unused/outgrown clothes and toys and books and stuffies from the upstairs kid space and have some room now for some new...it's so clean and organized up there...love it...
- Snow, snow, snow and more snow, (8 inches today, up to 9 more expected in the next 24 hours) and this weekend includes snowboarding with my husband...yay...plus a visit to Santa and girl time with Sis and a date night...going to be a good (busy) weekend...
- The craft at the library today was gingerbread men...Luke made such a cool, kind of cubist interpretation in blues and browns and whites...and Zo, she decided towards the end that what she really wanted was a gingerbread jellyfish and proceeded to add tentacles to her gingerbread head...am LOVING the creativity that girl is showing at craft time...
- The kids have been telling Mumpho Elphie what they want for Christmas, but they won't share it with me...they tell me it's a secret...what's a Mom to do when it's present buying time lol? But today we wrote letters to Santa and I finally got a good inkling what they're wishing for for Christmas...
- Christmas cards in the mail...love receiving them...
XOXO
2/50
- Second day on the mountain...it was a bit inconsistent today with some icy and bare patches, but when it was good it was gooooood...like this...one of my last runs of the day...all to myself...love it. One of the guys Jeff works with was telling me today 2:30's a good time to get on the mountain, because a lot of people are getting off...
- Luke and Zo wrapping their arms and legs around each other and hugging tight at nap time. "I'll save you from nap!!!" they promised each other, giggling like crazy...
- Me waking at 4 AM (not on purpose) = getting my work done before anyone else is even awake and having time to play this afternoon...
- Throwing bread to the mallards in the river this morning with the kids, over by the library where the sulphur springs come in, ducks were so happy...
- Took our dog Newton to the vet today, his eye's going to be fine...