January Blues

January is always a tough month for my family.    The excitement of Christmas has worn off, school is in full force again, and the winter weather is not going away any time soon.    I've got 4 bored little kids around here, and it doesn't help that we have made TV off limits on weekdays.    (They aren't sure they'll survive the torture, but I'm willing to take that risk;)    

To curb the boredom, Jessica has taken to odd and random craft projects.   One day she made a bouquet of flowers out of a Kraft dinner box, construction paper flowers, and uncooked spaghetti noodle "stems."   She had wanted to give this bouquet to her Aunt who was visiting, but it somehow mysteriously made it's way into the garbage before she had the chance to.    (I have no idea how that happened!;)        

This was a mouse she made one day after inhaling an entire can of mandarin oranges all on her own.     

She's taking our goal to "reuse and recycle" to a whole new adorable level!    I love her creativity!

Knowing that January is always a slow and sluggish month, I signed Abby and Sam up for Ultra kids (a running club offered to elementary aged boys and girls.)      This group actually began running back before Christmas, and though it has taken a few weeks for my kids to catch the vision of it, they have been running every day now!    On Saturday John even ran with them, and they doubled their miles!   (I've always known it helps to take a buddy along;)

And when all else fails-   when the crafts have all been done, and the kids have run their little hearts out - they have taken to dressing their little brother up in dresses and taking pictures.   

Say what!!!???   

I know I shouldn't be okay with this, and I do worry about what kind of permanent damage this might be causing....BUT...it brings the kids together on a common cause.  Not to mention the fact that Nate LOVES the laughter it invokes, and it buys me a few minutes of uninterrupted quieter then normal time.    Win Win!

It would appear as though my kids aren't the only ones suffering from a case of January boredom blues.    On Saturday morning, as we were having breakfast, our doorbell rang and this is what greeted us:

I seriously laughed until it hurt, as I clearly was not expecting this.    Apparently we laughed a little too much, because our poor neighbour went home upset, and came back later to tell us that "it isn't nice to laugh at people!"   And she is so.so.right!    I humbly apologized and tried to take her seriously from that point on.   It was pretty cute!

It has been a challenging couple of months as we have listed our house and then debated back and forth what it is we really want to do with it once we move.   Do we use it as a rental, or sell it?    I don't think I could handle the stress of being a landlord, but I also worry that I will regret giving this home up, and all of the neighbours that I love so much.    However, after a very helpful conversation with a member of my ward, (who conveniently happens to be a realtor) we have decided to stop being fence sitters and forge ahead.   

I'm already tired of trying to keep this house clean 24/7 and my kids think I'm the meanest mom ever, so here's hoping this home sells sooner then later!  

(sob...sob)   ;(

The kids' "worst day" ever!

My family had big plans to get together over the holidays for some cross country skiing.   Unfortunately, unforeseen circumstances, and sad events made it impossible for a couple of my siblings to join us, so we all but decided to postpone for another time.  

On the last day of our school break though Jewel and I decided to get our two families out there and give it a try.    John and I have been enjoying this sport for a couple of years now, but bringing kids along...?    Well, that's a whole other experience!!!!

At some point during the drive out I actually took a second to pray that we would see a wolf.    It was just moments later that we all pulled over to watch this little guy.   

...which actually turned out to probably be a coyote, but still - that's a prayer that was almost answered;)

Waterton that day was a little chilly.   As in, the thermostat on my brother in laws truck was registering at -18 kind of chilly!

But the cold weather made for a beautiful backdrop.  I actually think that the coldest days make for the prettiest days. 

It was a very pretty drive!

And I was immensely grateful for our warm van.   And hot chocolate;)

But eventually, the pretty drive had to come to an end, and we all had to get out...into the cold.  

I'm pretty sure that Jewel and Kendall appreciated having to stand around and wait for us to get all our kids bundled up, and wrangle Nathan into his sled.    (To say we had an unwilling participant would be an understatement.)     Finally though- we were off!!

...and 10 minutes later (at best) we were headed back the way we came.   

Cold.  Frozen.  Hungry.   Frostbit. and Frustrated.

But hey, I think it's remarkable that we braved the frigid temps that long.    Yay us!!!!

On our way down from the mountain the kids each took their turn volunteering just "why exactly" this day was the worst day ever.    And then.....

they all fell asleep!!!

I can hardly wait to get back up there again.   

(Though something tells me that it will most likely be sans children!!)