Monday, January 27, 2014

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

I'm here again with the same old sob story.

Surprise! School is closed.  

Tomorrow is supposed to be worse.  According to those horrible, awful, no-good weather men.  

Just kidding.  I'm sure they're nice.  Especially Mr. Petoniak.  I like him.  

Yesterday, knowing full well that the coming days would be spent bundled inside, we decided to toss this kid outside for a few minutes.  


He could not believe we were letting him go outside.  He's only been begging since November.

The shoes.  I know.  Bad.  Please don't write hateful comments!
His boots were in the car.  The freezing, cold car.
Anyone know how it feels to put on ice cold boots? It's worse than wearing your shoes in the snow.  Really.
 You'll never guess how Carter chose to spend his 15 minutes outside!

:)


I have high hopes that tomorrow will be the last snow day of the school year.  Wishful thinking, maybe.  It's not that I don't love spending time with this sweet, silly boy.  Because I do.

But this weather hits, and the days drag on.  And on.  And on.  So we snuggle up to watch Sesame Street.  We play trains.  We read books.  We eat chips.  We play trains.  We play iPad.  We watch Sesame Street.  We read books.  We eat macaroni.  We play trains.

Wash.  Rinse.  Repeat.

You get the idea.


Someday, I'll beg for these days to come back.  I know.  

So here's a note to my future self: Ash - your kidlets are all grown now.  And you wish they were still babies.  Guess what?  It wasn't as idyllic as it seemed.  Days were hard.  It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.  But grown kids are good, too.  Find the good stuff.  It's there.  Do a fun project by yourself.  Take a nap.  Read a book.  Kick your feet up.  And toast your younger self.  Which would be me.  Toast me.  Because I'm watching a young child.  So I can't.

I end with this.  We're in a hard season.  Winter is hard, no doubt.

But it's only for a season, I promise.  And sometimes the seasons in our life seem never-ending and too hard and impossible to withstand.  

It's only for a season, though.  And soon, the sun with shine - the snow will melt - and things will be good again.

I promise!

One Thing I Know For Sure: As my Grannie said in her email this morning - "The sun shineth, and spring is coming" - she's endured many more winters than I, so she must know what she's talking about.

Monday, January 20, 2014

Mini-Adventure

Have you ever needed a little pick me up?  A quick getaway?  Some excitement in the midst of the monotony?

On Wednesday night, Jake said "What if I took off Friday and we went to the Tundra Lodge on Thursday night?"

"Umm....sure.  I guess?"

I didn't want to get my hopes up, but inside I was screaming "YESSSSS!!!  PLEASE!!!".

So he did.  And we went.

:)

We told Carter on Thursday morning that later we would go 'swim'.  Immediately, he started running around saying 'swiiim, swiiim!'.  I got out the picture schedule that we use (occasionally, definitely not consistently) and tried to make it clear that we were going much, much later.  Because really, for Carter, 10 hours is like an eternity.  Saying 'later' just wouldn't suffice this time :)

As soon as I picked him up from school "Swiiim! Swiiim! Dada, swiiim!".  Carter understands.  Don't let his lack of words fool you.

We arrived, and as soon as we got Carter out of the car, he was shouting 'Hooray!'.  Carter understands.

In true Carter form, he absolutely wowed us.  He was so brave, so sure of himself, so confident.


He tackled the steps, bridges, and little slides like a champ.  He showed no fear at all.  Jake and I just kept looking at each other in amazement.

We even went down the big kids water slide.  This is a moment I would be happy to forget.  Carter and I went down together, but he wouldn't sit in his own section (which is good, actually, because he would have slid right through!).  So we were both sitting in one section of a double tube.

Can you guess how this unfolds?!  Carter liked the slide part, but the going under water as we came out of the slide and flipped over part - not so much.  Part of me thought "That's it - we're done.  He's going to grab his shoes and say 'bye-bye' and run for the door."

Again.  Wowed us.  Jake came down the slide - we eased him into the next pool over, and that little stinker was saying "Up, up, up {the steps}! Slide!".  HA.  Such a brave boy.

Unfortunately for him, his mama didn't want to go again :)

Look at this big boy!



We decided that those 6 swimming lessons in the summer really paid off.  Remember our screaming sessions at the pool in Florida?  I DO!

I wish I could forget :)

Here, he went right to the steps and walked in himself.  Not clinging.  Not grabbing.  Not screaming.

Confident.  Sure.  Aware.  Excited, even.


So proud of this little (er...big) boy.  

Growing and changing in so many ways - always showing us that Carter can, & Carter will.  

++++++++

I learned many things during this little getaway of ours.  

I can't explain the look on the other little boy's face.  He's definitely giving Carter the stink eye.
Scrawny kid in the blue shorts, Carter is much bigger than you.  You're lucky he wouldn't hurt a fly.
He's much more tan, too.  Not your typical Eastern European!
For example: some women should never wear a bikini in public.  I just don't understand this.  If you will be grabbing for towels to cover yourself, or spend your time hiding behind large faux boulders or small children - then save yourself from an entire day of humiliation and just go for the one piece.

There, I said it.

Other things I learned:
(1) These water parks are a dang good way to recharge and refuel without taking a full-on vacation - well worth the money.
(2) The moms who bring books to read while their kids play get to me.
(3) I secretly long for the day that I am a mom who can read a book while my kids play.
(4) My kid looks even more adorable in swim trunks.
(5) I'm grateful that I can walk around in my suit without feeling uncomfortable - it made me sad to see grown women so self-conscious and anxious.  Moms - your kids are watching you.  And not just your little girls - but your little boys, too.
(6) Don't dry-shave 4 hours before you swim.  You'll regret it.
(7) Don't ever expect Carter to sleep in because he's extra tired.  Because he'll be up at 4:30a, begging to swim.  And the pool won't open til 9a.  True story.

That's it.

Oh yeah, (8) We're pretty lucky to have a guy who will take a vacation day at the last minute so he can whisk his family away for a mini-adventure.

One Thing I Know For Sure: Just go for the one piece.


Thursday, January 16, 2014

Speaking Of....

I'd really like to tell you about how wonderful the past few weeks have been, and maybe share some dreamy photos.  But that would all be a big fat lie.

Carter had 2 weeks off for Christmas break.  It was just long enough to enjoy each other.  I'm convinced that 14 days is the cut off.  By day 15, we were both tired of it and wanted our routine.

That's not all.  Monday, when Carter was supposed to return to school, we had a snow day.  Bummer. Oh well  - what's one more day, right?

Wrong.  Because, surprise!  Tuesday - snow day.

Carter went to school on Wednesday and Thursday.  He always has off Friday's.  No problem, he'll go back on Monday.

Wrong.  Because, surprise! Monday is an early release day, and now that Carter goes to school in the afternoon, he has no school on early release days.  It's okay, he'll be back tomorrow, and it will all be good. 

Wrong.  Because, surprise! Tuesday - snow day.

I couldn't make this stuff up.

He went to school yesterday.  Today he's at school.  All is well.

{I just looked at my calendar.  There's no school next Monday.}

-_-

Surprise.

++++++++

Speaking of surprise....

Here's another little sweet surprise.  I stopped at the house today, and - good golly - it's drywalled.  There is an end in sight, after all.



In a few days, we'll be celebrating 5 months of living with Jake's fam.  Five months.  That's about 3 months longer than we expected.  So really, is 'celebrate' the right word?  Let's ask them.

Or let's not :)

Either way, we will soon be celebrating lots of things in our new house, in our new town.  I can hardly wait....!

++++++++

Speaking of celebrating....except the opposite....

One year ago this week, sweet Moses was ushered into a little room at the vet, never to walk out again.

Waaah.

Jake and I were talking about puppies - how much fun Carter would have with one - how much work it would be for us - but it's okay because it would be fun - and we could get this kind - or maybe that kind - and we could name it this - ...and then we thought of Moses.  And got tear-y.  And said forget it.

I think we're not ready.

++++++++

Speaking of not being ready....

This new year sort of snuck up on me.  Last year, and the year before, I had a plan of attack.  In my head, I thought "This new year will look like this".  I had a theme.

This year, nothing.

I'm sort of in a funk.  And that's okay.  We all go through seasons of having it all together, and seasons of not really caring about having it all together.  I'm good with it.  Because soon, I'll be in a season called "Unpack all our earthly belongings and nest like a crazy woman in my new house".

So here I am, in this season of in-betweenness and waiting.

There's good stuff ahead.  I promise.

I know this to be true:

And this, a good remind for me as I wait:

What season are you in, friend?  Can you appreciate where you're at, even if it's not really where you want to be?  I hope so.  There's good to be found right here - and there's more ahead.  

One Thing I Know For Sure: "Look for the good, you will find it." {be the first to name the popular blogger who said this, for 1000 bonus points} :)

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