Preserving Snow Day Memories

Snow day log:

Day #1 - Woke up to an early morning call from the county announcing the cancellation of school. Stayed in PJ's all day. Watched various TV shows and movies. Had some reading time. Enjoyed another day of rest, much like Christmas vacation provided.

Day #2 - Much the same as day #1 with the addition of finishing various puzzles and an assortment of arguing from slightly cranky kids.

Day # 3 - No early morning call because the county decided to make the calls at 10:22pm the night before. (And I still woke up before 6am!)

Still slightly cranky kids who've had their fill of TV and movies. What's a mom to do?

Take a trip to the arctic!

Today we traveled on Arctic Airways from West Virginia to the Arctic. (Yes, just "The Arctic")

(Download printable airport play set here.)

 

We enjoyed some in flight entertainment (How to train your dragon 2) as well as an in flight meal (Turkey and cheese sandwiches, strawberries, pretzels).

We spent some time reading and learning about Alaska (Hello Aunt Mala!) as well as discovering various arctic animals.

After learning, we went exploring. Tracking all kinds of arctic animals in our own back yard.

After returning to the warmth of our "hotel" and some hot chocolate a friendly game of solitaire stack took place. (Then it turned into a not so friendly game in the end).

That's how we've spent our day (so far!) and thought we would preserve these memories for future reference.

I wanted to add an additional thought about sharing the wonderfully fun and exciting moments in life. This blog often chronicles the "best" of what we do in this house. We have fun, we connect, we make memories. We also argue, complain, isolate and make mistakes. There is nothing about our life that is picture perfect even when it appears to be.

When we compare the worst of what we know about ourselves, our families or our children to the best of what we see in others lives we are setting ourselves up to feeling like a failure. Whether snow days are aggravating or delightful to you, please don't let comparison into mix. Comparison steals rather than adds to your life. Each family has wins and each family has failures, let's not compare our lives to anyone else but rather seek to make each day it's own.

Thanks for reading. Blessings!

Christmas 2014

I thought I would pop on and share some pictures of our Christmas this year.

For the first time that I can remember, I was not involved in the Christmas Eve service at church. However, the sister gift exchange happened before church just the same.

This is the first year they didn't buy each other a toy or stuffed animal. They shared their love language of books.

After church, new PJ's with glow sticks in hand.

 Christmas morning stockings!

Emma (Alias: SK99) and her spy gear

Lydia (Alias: SK101) and her spy gear

We really went with a spy gear theme this year!

Scavenger hunt that ended with a laser beam obstacle course.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Summer Birthday's

Lydia and Emma celebrate their birthdays within a few weeks of each other so we often combine their celebrations.  One tradition I have is that I decorate their doors while they are sleeping so they wake up to something really fun.

The girls chose to have a "Frozen" themed birthday so  Emma's door is decorated as Anna and Lydia is Elsa.

The hall all lit up

Anna's spring colors

Elsa's frozen icicles

Anna's (Emma's) gifts

Elsa's (Lydia's) gifts

 

 Besides the new dress the girls get every year we had very few presents this year. Rather than the gift of more stuff we gave the gift of experiences. I will  share pictures of those in the next blog entry.

Summer Outing

Deplorable.

That one word describes how I've been keeping up with the blog through the summer months. However, we've had such a great summer that I want to actually share about what we've been doing. I've decided to start with this weekend and work my way back.

Justin celebrated his birthday this weekend and our family took a rather impromptu trip to PA for an overnight disc golf outing. Our family traveled to two beautiful parks and while Justin enjoyed the courses the girls and explored the sights, sounds and attractions at these beautiful destinations.


First up was Deer Lakes Park in Allegheny County. Beautiful lakes with waterlilies galore, splash park and playground. By far this is Justin's favorite disc golf course. Here are some pic of our time.

We spent the night as my dad's house and got an early start to Moraine State Park in Butler County. While Justin was spotting skunks and "chucking plastic" (disc golf lingo) the girls and I enjoyed the playground equipment and the lake front.

Getting ready for our August beach trip!

Swimming in the Lake

Rocking the car nap!

Enjoying a good book

We all had so much fun and would repeat the trip in a heartbeat. We all agreed that we could have spent far more time at Moraine with all the hiking trails and bike paths. This could easily become an annual event and made me appreciate having the margin in our lives to enjoy the time together.