Things that make me smile on a day like this

The view of the pristine, snow covered neighborhood first thing in the morning.

The feeling of accomplishment in the sight of my neatly shoveled walks and drive, still early enough to let the sun help melt away the remnants (At least, it would have been early enough, had the temperature risen above the single digits. Oh well.)

The sound of my brother-in-law's voice on the phone, asking if he can come and take my two oldest girls for the afternoon. He's pulling them around on a sled and playing with them in the fort he built as a surprise for them even as I type.

The knowledge that my mother-in-law has spent the day baking her fantastic array of Christmas cookies, and the hope that perhaps my children will come home with a few after they "help" her when the need to warm up from playing the snow.

Two tins of home made chex mix stowed way in the pantry toward the weekend.

A warm home, comfy clothes and a cold can of Coke.

I sound a little humbug when I talk about winter weather usually. The work of dressing kids is multiplied, as is the laundry and the mopping and other manual labor (read: shoveling). But I appreciate the beauty of this world God created in all its seasons. And there is so much to be thankful for. Something that is made crystal clear when the weather reminds us how hard life could be. Think of those poor pioneers who first settled this land! I cannot imagine what life must have been like for them. I think I'd be sad to live somewhere that had no snow. I'll try to stop complaining and enjoy it.

Check, check and check

Finished - a whole slew of over-the-top sugary treats for the kiddies at the party.

Finished - a big box full of home made cheesy breadsticks (which according to the directions can keep for up to a week at room temperature - PLEASE let that be true!)

Finished - the first of Ruth's two dental appointments to get cavities filled. Sad. Marianne lost her first tooth; Ruth got her first couple cavities.

You will realize that last one is a pretty serious accomplishment if you've seen the weather reports for this part of the country lately. I drove way to the south end of town (okay, so "town" isn't all that huge, but it was still a good 10 miles) to the dentist with my car sliding on the packed snow and in constant fear that I might not find enough traction to get rolling again after each red light. But I really want to get these dentist appointments done in 2009 so we can use the money in our medical savings account to cover the deductible.

I also managed to get in a darn good workout today, as I shoveled our walks and driveway not once, but twice! (I did it once yesterday afternoon as well). My back is aching and I'm contemplating the joys of a hot bath and a glass of red wine... but my craft project for the upcoming bible study gift exchange is calling to me. I think I'll compromise and have the glass of wine while I sew. My apologies in advance for any crooked seams.

Items of interest

Finished... A quadruple batch of "Spiced Beef Empanadas", made and frozen, to be cooked for our party next weekend. Recipes including words like "can be frozen for up to one month" and "bake from frozen" and "keep warm at 250 degrees" are my friends as I plan for this event. I'm trying to do as much ahead of time as possible to allow for the most enjoyment of my friends' company as possible.

Lost... One tooth. Somebody thinks she's big stuff now that her first one has come out. She wiggled it non-stop for about two hours, and her labors paid off.
See how tiny that gap is? That's because her teeth are jam packed in there. She had a dental cleaning yesterday, and the dentist reminded me for the third time that we should be setting some money aside now for the braces to come.

Keeping me up late... Other than the requisite fairy-ing required in response to the above "Lost" item, I've been sucked into some craftiness! I can't post pictures yet because the products are gifts-to-be. But I worked up one of these items, saw how easy and cute it was, and now I'm on a roll. I'm trying to whip up three of them for a gift exchange the day after our upcoming party. Brilliant, I know. I have a back up gift idea in case I can't pull the crafty fun off in time.

Brrrr!

At first, when Marianne and Ruth asked if they could go outside to play before quiet time, I said, "No way! It's freezing!" (Seriously, it's 23 degrees as I type). But then my brain started working and I realized that they weren't asking ME to play outside. So I told them to get their coats, hats and gloves and head out back. Some days, it's really nice to have kids old enough to do their own thing. Now I'm getting the kitchen cleaned, with Meg's "help", before quiet time, so I might actually get to rest a little this afternoon myself! Or get some appetizers prepped and frozen for the big party coming up.

I can hardly believe they're still out there, though. It's really stinking cold. This should assure good naps all around!

The best laid plans

I baked two big batches of cookies today and stashed them away in tins for my upcoming holiday bash.

The kid assigned to bring treats to God Teens tonight walked in empty handed (and I'm sure still has no idea that he missed his cue).

The downside is that I have to bake that many more cookies in the next week and a half.

The upside is that I don't feel too bad about having just a couple more while I work on our household finances tonight... because I'm going to have to bake some more anyway.

Copy-catting

Renee doesn't know this, but I'm doing a huge amount of my Christmas shopping by stalking her around etsy. She's such a cool sister-in-law to have. I'm not actually buying the exact same things she is (most of the time), but I like letting her do the hunting for me. She's way better at it than I am!

Okay, I'm not really doing ALL my shopping that way, but I did make my first etsy purchase a week or so ago from a site Renee recommended. And I've made several more purchases from etsy since. I get this good feeling inside from shopping etsy - like I'm helping some stay-at-home-mom be able to stay home. I'm sure that's not actually the case for most of the shops I've purchased from, but I like the feeling of buying things that are handmade by someone with whom I'm doing business, rather than made in a country thousands of miles away by small children.

I &hearts dinner guests

We had a coworker of Nathaniel's over for dinner tonight. She's the administrative assistant for his group and she's leaving in couple weeks for a new job. He thought it would be nice to invite her to dinner before she goes, as she's offered him a lot of support over the years. It was fun, but there are several reasons that I was especially happy about having her to our home!

For starters, it forced me to have the house tidy and the table set for dinner by the time Nathaniel got home from work. It probably sounds ridiculous to many of you, because I often feel like most of my mom-friends are way more organized than me, but for the past few weeks I've found it nearly impossible to have things together when Nathaniel gets home. Usually he walks in at the pinnacle of the day's chaos and I'm begging him to help clear the table and get dishes down because Meg is screaming for food and I'm in the throes of final dinner prep. I hate that. It makes me feel like a failure for the day overall, even if I've accomplished a lot of good things during the hours he was gone. It was refreshing to prove to myself that I CAN have it together.

Secondly, the house is tidy! I know that was sort of covered in the first point, but this time I'm excited because tomorrow is our God Teens meeting, and the house is already clean! All I have to do is keep the girls from playing in the living room or dining room all day, or from making a mess in the bathroom, and I'll be all set. How hard can that be?! Ha! If all else fails, there may be some extra afternoon cartoons tomorrow.

As an added bonus, I have a lot to get done in the next week and a half for a big Christmas party we're hosting. Having the clean house for God Teens taken care of will give me the day tomorrow to work on errands or food prep for the party. Hooray!

Having a dinner guest was a big win-win. Win. Win. All around. I love when I actually feel like I'm ready for the next day. Now I just have to get all the laundry folded before bed so I don't have that hanging over my head. Here's hoping it doesn't take more than an episode or two of some tv show via Netflix to get it done.

Why they love Grandma's house

This the To Do list that Grandma Sherri put together for the girls when they spent the weekend with her while Nathaniel and I traveled to Savannah. Notice that they did not get around to "Do Chores". Surprise surprise. Oh, and they actually did "Bake cookies", they just didn't get it crossed off the list. For the most part, they accomplished all the tasks they set for themselves. (Don't feel too bad for them that they didn't get around to #6, because they did #14 instead, which was really a better and cooler coffee shop experience for them).