Winter Break

This year I realized that when it comes to winter I have grown soft. I used to balk at my fellow Kentuckians when they referred to 20 degrees as "bone chilling" and laughed in their faces when they complained about the wind. (ok, I still do that.) I consistently rejoiced at the sign of a mere flake of snow and was sad when we did not have a white holiday season - from Thanksgiving through the New Year.

I am eating my words.

A typical winter in Kentucky starts in January with February being the worst month and is pretty well over by April. Our precipitation is more freezing rain than snow and people swarm the grocery stores to buy bread and milk. Seriously. Go the day after the threat of snow and try to buy a gallon of milk.

So far this season, Kentucky has had snow on the ground the majority of these two months and it has been cold. Just ask my parents. Even THEY thought it was cold and they still live in South Dakota! I mean absolutely no disrespect to my friends and family up north, but I'm sick of it. I have grown soft.

Today... oh glorious day of today. Right now the interwebs tells me it's 53 degrees. What am I doing inside writing this post?! I better hurry up.

When we learned of this day's beauty we went the park - Jacobson Park - to play on the best playground ever.

Miller loved the swings.

EVERYONE loved the swings.

And Sophie and Riley found such good hiding places that I couldn't find them.

Then, when it got too cold for Miller we bundled him up

and Sophie and Riley kept on keepin' on.

In truth, this made my spring fever spike to all new levels. But I don't care. It will be here soon enough. And in the meantime I'll keep myself inspired with the new Seed Saver's catalog that just came in the mail and "The Family Kitchen Garden" book that I was just too pregnant last year to embrace.

I suppose I will also embrace these last weeks (months? Hey, a girl can hope.) of cold because goodness me time is flying.

A Game of Memory

I've been trying to write this post for over a week. It's been written a sentence here, and thought there.

Finding the time to blog is hard. Finding the energy to blog is harder still. My son slept beautifully when he was born but for the past few months he's been waking every couple of hours and if he goes back to sleep, we're lucky. Roy and I switch off night and morning shifts and wander through our days with the bleary eyed look kept for the prestigious group of people known as parents.

To boot, Sophie is suffering slightly with some adjustment issues. She's very clingy and I can't seem to give her enough attention. She's waking in the night now too, asking for her back to be scratched and for someone to sleep with her. I also think the long winter we've been experiencing has dampened the spirit of a little girl who loves nature. She just wants to go to the pool, hang out at the park, and be outdoors.

Despite the exhaustion and seemingly lack of time, I need to blog. I need to write down the happenings of my family because oh my heavens, things change fast.

Sophie-isms that have made me laugh out loud in the past two weeks:
"Mommy, this apple is filthy for you."
"I'm going to squeeze this mushy cushion and you ask 'who farted?'"
After a discussion about Jesus, her statement that she likes Cheeses. We need to do some more talking in this area, apparently.

What Miller does that makes those sleepless nights completely worth it:
Reaches for me.
Sits by himself and plays with his toys.
Seems to have somewhat of an adventurous appetite, enjoying oatmeal cereal and sweet potatoes. Not so much the avocado.
Cries and vocalizes by trilling his tongue.
Laughs uproariously at his sister.

I'm sure there are more things but can I remember? No. My sleepy brain seems to use 97% of its capability for my job at the Library (which, thankfully, I love). The remaining 3% is parceled out between meal planning, remembering to start the van on freezing days so I can get the sliding doors open, to remember what happened in whatever book I happen to be reading, for Riley weekends, dentist and doctor visits, and those pesky bills that come up every month. And sometimes I even forget those until I go to turn on the water and nothing comes out. My brain is definitely not used to remember where I put my keys or my phone. Sigh.

This is what I want to remember.