Gratitude Edition:February 2014

Sweatpants. Loving play-time. Dinner dropped off. Seeing M and M cuddle. Morning ski. Long nap time. Flexible friends. Honest conversations. Messes that get cleaned up. Grocery shopping with two kids. Micah resting. Flexible schedule. Efficient testing. PBS Kids. Reflecting. Colleen. A story to tell (M stuck in his room). Helpful neighbors. A warm home. Sarah's texts. Sarcasm. Nap time. A positive pick up. Laundry helpers. G's dance moves. EL Team help. M's excitement. Coming home. The library. Escaping through books. Mula hanging out with Mihretu. Ethiopian dinner with Jon. African dinner. Gemechu dancing. Naps. Art camp. Reminders of our story. Time with Kara. Dinner from Steph. M's concert. Ruth's frienship. Kim and Blake. Shelly's help. Tikki Masala. Time to rest. Jimmy Fallon. Text with Sarah - Ocean song. Doors that close. Easy lunches. Dinner from Britt. Micah. Sleep. Saltines and apples. Snow fall. Sweatpants. Comedy. Williams family. Making cupcakes with M. Birthday prep. Glancing at my 6 year old babe. My first babe C.M. turning 7! Love from Jon and Mula. G's long tongue licking frosting off his nose. Jamilla's help. Doctor. Micah's support. Anticipating visit with Colleen. M. finally sharing his heart.

Happy Birthday

Reflecting

This little man has a birthday tomorrow and I finding myself clinging to every last possible minute with him as a 6 year old. How can he be another year older already? This past year has been full of so many moments that weighed heavy on our hearts and brought a lot of major life changes. Tonight I am praying that his little heart recovers from it all and finds peace in the upcoming year. 

Wyoming Wind

This is the type of wind we are dealing with here people..... Grr.

Seeking Solitude

Tangerine Jam

A Morning to Remember

As if our mornings aren't often hectic enough, this morning was particularly challenging. I sent the little man to his room to get dressed while I finished up with the younger babes. Suddenly I hear yelling and pounding on the door, so I went to check on M. In the process of locking his brother out of the room, he had somehow locked himself in the room. I assess the situation and think to myself, "I've got this."

WRONG!

My first thought (Plan A) was to pop the door off the hinges, only to realize the hinges are on the other side. My second thought (Plan B) was to take the door handle off.....only to realize all of the screws are on the other side. I then started praying that the little man was strong enough to unlock the window, open it up and pop the screen off so I could shimmy into his room. This was a little bit of a struggle for him so I bundled up to brave the -30 degree weather as I stood on a step stool and talked him through what needed to be done. The little man is just a touch too small to reach the top of the screen so it was stuck in place. Plan C - hand him the screw driver and pray all those times of playing with toy tools pay off. Poor guy worked for a good 15 minutes on the screws before the handle came off (no need to panic, we only have 5 minutes until school begins). Only then did I figure out that the latch was jammed and there was no way to open the door!  Plan D - throw the littlest babes in the car, go back outside to the step stool and have M squeeze through the small opening (once he gets all his clothes on-how long does it take to put your freaking pants on?!)! By this point in time I was drawing quite a bit of attention from the neighbors, and I am sure they are all wondering why I have the window wide open on an especially cold winter day. 

After dropping the little man off at school and returning home, I attempted to occupy the littlest babes with Legos (why isn't duck tape legal?) and returned outside to pop the screen off and shimmy my way in armed with a variety of tools. By this time one of our neighbors confronted my atypical behaviors and proved they were friendly by offering to give me a boost. Together we removed the door from the hinges, popped the latch out and sealed up the window so we wouldn't freeze to death. 

This here is the result of our morning adventure and you can be guaranteed that after this little adventure, I loaded the kids up in the car and went and bought myself a special little coffee drink. After all a gal should be rewarded for dealing with such adventures before 8:30 in the morning right?

Waiting for Brother

How foolish for this mama to think that bundling them up for a few minutes of outside play while we wait for brother to get out of school was a good idea. 

Mama's Little Helpers

Vanishing Stress

Sometimes all it takes for the stress and worry of parenting to vanish is finding your two oldest babes cuddled up-for this I will take a thousand more days.

The First Ski

The little man was more than excited to get out and spend some time playing in the snow.

These littles, on the other hand, were much more reluctant and ready to just enjoy the hot chocolate in the car and call that enough adventure for the day. 

Sometimes it Happens

She Found the Dresses....

and G found Ababa's jacket

Setting an Intention