Snow Much Fun

Two days ago I awoke to the sound of little feet pattering their way into my bedroom. As I was still recovering from a sinus infection and on decongestants, the sound was somewhat akin to the stampeding of elephants. Nevertheless, it was a welcome sound. Ryan scrambled his way up into the bed to give me a hug and kiss, sitting still for approximately 1/1000 of a second before scampering away while yelling "come on, Mommy. Get up!" He then ran to the front window in the living room, ducked underneath the blinds to peer out the window, and realized how much the world had changed while he was asleep. He danced his way back, shouting his excitement, "Mommy, it's snowing. It's snowing! It's a BIG snow!"
Later that afternoon, amid squeals of excitement from both children and dog, I proceeded to get everyone ready to go outside. Being the dutiful (read into it overprotective if you want) mother that I am, I of course layered them in turtlenecks, snow bibs, hats, scarves, and the hoods on the coats. By the time I had crammed squirmy children into those layers, I was sweating. But talk about being worth the wait. The sled was difficult since the amount of snow meant it tipped whenever the children were off balance. And a 3 y.o. and a 1 y.o. don't keep their balance very well... But we got some good laughs.
This was William's first true experience in the snow and he loved it. I wasn't sure what to expect from the child who didn't like grass the first time around. Poor little guy had difficulty walking as the snow was up to his little thighs, but he made do with crawling. And tasting. And eating the snow until his little face was red and I had to take him inside, much to his disappointment. He kept wanting to go everywhere big brother went.
Ryan's activity seemed to be making snow angels. Or exploring. He was never still the entire time we were outside. His big scientific discovery for the day was the fact that it is hard to slide down a slide covered in ten inches of snow. And that snow blowers are loud, which he pointed out to me numerous times.
I had to drag both children inside to get warm, both under great protest. As we regaled Daddy with tales of the day Ryan leaned forward and said "That was fun. Can we go in the snow again, Please?"

More Freebies and cost-saving sites

You are allowed to view your credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus for free. Annual credit reports help you to ensure that your credit has not been stolen.

Freecycle is established in different communities. Members of the group offer items that they own that they no longer want. Other users can then arrange to take the items of they want. Money is not allowed to change hands, the items must be free. The goal of the group is to help people save money, clean out their attics, and keep the landfills from further filling up.

Angel Food Ministries is a non-profit, non-denominational organization whose goal is to contribute to food relief throughout the United States. Go to the website, enter your ZIP code to find the nearest distribution center and order through them. You are able to purchase for a very small price (significant savings) a box of groceries full of canned items, fresh fruit and veggies, fresh meat, and dessert.

Debt Proof Living is a website chock full of money-saving, and debt-managing resources. Who doesn't need this in the current economy???

The Grocery Game. This website scours the sales in your community and helps you find all the money saving grocery deals--even the ones that aren't in the store circulars! Start off with a four-week trial for just $1.

At The Organized Christmas website you'll find a Christmas countdown, simple craft ideas, and tons of free ideas to simplify the holidays. Sorry that I didn't list this before Christmas...

Second time around

My son has a shoe fetish. I'm not concerned--not because I'm unconcerned about what other children will think about him, or how he'll grow up, or any of those reasons. I'm actually kind of proud of him and happy for the photo opportunities. He's 16 months and he has just learned that shoes can easily be placed on and taken off feet. He has even figured out that someone other than Mommy is capable of doing such a feat (no pun intended.) Consequently, he has been trying on anyone's shoes that happened to be left outside of the closet. He has not mastered and gets quite frustrated by Daddy's cowboy boots. Once his legs grow longer than the boots he might have a bit more success. He likes mommy's shoes ok, but he really has taken a shine to his big brother's. Little William is capable of placing one of big brother's shoes on his feet, and since they're not enormously big like clown shoes, can actually walk quite well in them. They even fit over his footed pj's. I looked down this morning and he had my right tennis shoe on his left foot and Ryan's right shoe on his right foot. I found my other tennis shoe under his crib, but Ryan's other shoe is still in hiding.

I always wonder if things like trying on shoes are developmental milestones. I remember things that my oldest did and wonder whether the youngest will do that too. And if so, how will his personality change the same actions? Even though the exploratory stages are repeated, it's far from being a Groundhog Day scenario. William gets a little bit more frustrated than his older brother did when he can't get a shoe on. But he's more determined, possibly because he wants to be like the rest of the shoe-wearing household. I'm proud of him for noticing those strange contraptions that go on the feet, and prouder still that he sometimes says "sssooes" to go along with it. Ryan rarely displays such interest in shoes other than his own anymore, which is fine as he was starting to do dangerous tricks like jump in my heels. He's on to bigger and newer things like wondering snow is and why his carved pumpkin turned mushy before it disappeared. So I'm enjoying watching the curiosity of a little one exploring his shoe world. Now to find Ryan's missing shoe. Oh yeah, and hide my high heels.

Coupon sites

My aunt sent me this list of websites featured on the Today show. They're all designed to help you save money! Take some time, and you can probably find a coupon or deal on just about anything. :)
http://www.coupons.com/
http://www.couponmom.com/
http://www.couponmountain.com/
http://www.dealtaker.com/
http://www.retailmenot.com/
http://www.restraunt.com/
http://www.wow-coupon.com/
http://www.redplum.com/ (fun site)
http://www.proceprotector.com/
http://www.walletpop.com/
http://www.cybermonday.com/ (online Monday after Thanksgiving)

Feel free to leave your own sites that you've found.

Calming the anxiety

This was originally posted on my Myspace blog, but since I bare use that anymore, I decided to repost so that I don't forget it.

The day could have actually been a lot worse, I suppose. I got some of the laundry done, managed to get Ryan to his grandmother's house without forgetting anything, I had actually made it to work on time (and without getting a ticket).We met all our selling goals at work, got all of shipment finished, and nobody called in sick, Somehow I still felt more stressed after I clocked out than when I had started the day this morning. The drive home is actually a pretty nice drive and the deep rumble of the truck is usually soothing. Tonight, though, the rumble was irritating as it meant that I had to sit in an empty parking lot for 10 minutes to wait while the diesel warmed to a safe driving temperature.

Wait, while my son sat in his aunt's arms instead of mine. Wait, while the dishes sat in the sink. Wait, while my dog thinks that I've forgotten him and I can't even remember the last time I had half an hour to spend with my husband. Wait, and with all that time to think, I still can't figure out how to change any of the problems in my life. Wait, while I sit and calculate how much sleep I'm actually going to get after rocking Ryan to sleep and then waking up early to take him to his grandmother's so that I can open the store the next day.

The engine raised its pitch, signalling that it was ready for action. I greeted the change in tone much like a child greets the bell at the end of a school day, eagerly putting it into gear. It was dark and I had the lonely country roads all to myself. The speaker system in the truck is quite nice and was blaring all sorts of jarring commercials with quality. Do the radio stations program commercials in sync? Tired of flipping uselessly, I settled on a station to wait (again) until music came on. The drive was definitely not soothing my nerves.

Then cutting through the background noise with a commanding quietness, I heard these words sung softly"I'm finding myself at a loss for words /And the funny thing is it's okay. The last thing I need is to be heard /But to hear what You would say." The spinning in my head slowed a bit. "Word of God speak/ Would You pour down like rain /Washing my eyes to see Your majesty"

After rounding a corner, I leftt behind the knots of trees planted by the road. With not a cloud in sight, the entire sky opened up to reveal the stars displayed in a deep, velvet darkness. It was breathtaking, humbling, and inspiring at the same time. "To be still and know /That You're in this place /Please let me stay and rest In Your holiness"To be still, soul and all. To calm my frazzled emotions. To rest in my Savior and Sustainer. "I'm finding myself in the midst of You Beyond the music, beyond the noise" My grip on the steering wheel had relaxed by now, as had my shoulders and jaw. "All that I need is to be with You /And in the quiet hear Your voice" If I can just learn to be still and listen to His voice... I know that's possible... For tonight, for a few moments, I relaxed in His love, thanked Him for what He's provided and let go of my expectations. Tomorrow, as I have been reminded, I have someone to help me through it all.

Are you kidding me???

Erik's family celebrated Christmas together on December 21 this year since that was when everybody was off work. Ryan ran into my mother-in-law's living room, grabbed the biggest present and proceded to start opening it! We had to remind him to wait and that the present wasn't even his anyway... It was a great family time, but it got the kids in the mood to open gifts. Since we had four days left until Christmas, I spent a considerable amount of time telling the kids that it wasn't time yet to open the presents under our tree! I seemed to constantly be finding a bow that William would have stripped off a gift and be returning it to the rightful box. I finally started returning errant bows to the rubbermaid storage container.

Christmas Eve Ryan and I had a conversation where he kept asking why we couldn't open the presents and I had to remind him that Christmas wasn't until tomorrow. Christmas morning Erik went into the boys' bedroom to wake them up. Ryan snuggled into Erik's lap and when greeted with "Merry Christmas" responded "No, Daddy. Mommy said Christmas is not until tomorrow." Erik laughed and replied that it was indded Christmas morning and time to open presents. The wonderful little three-year-old started to get hopeful, but almost couldn't believe it and out came "Are you kidding me?!?"

Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas! What a wonderful time of year! Yes, I have to admit, I love presents. I love shopping for them, wrapping them, watching my loved ones open them, and yes, opening mine! Christmas decorating, spending time with family, and eating fudge all top my list of favorite things. Best of all, is the reminder of the most wonderful gift of all: God's son Jesus. This year was very special because I was able to do advent activities daily with the boys. Ok, so confession: Ryan and I frequently did them while William was taking a nap because it was easier with the tornado out of the way... We have a wonderful advent wreath with miniatur nativity characters and each day one is revealed and hung on the calender. Ryan thorougly enjoyed opening the little doors and would ask "What is it" when something new appeared. And each day we reviewed the story and he even learned that angels say "Glory to God!" Then we would light the advent candles and read the Christmas story from the Bible with the Little People nativity set helping to tell the story. (BTW, that was one of the best gifts ever--they're practicly indestructible, and this way the children have some Christmas item that they're actually allowed to play with). We have tried very hard to teach the children that Christmas is about Jesus and not about being greedy and getting presents. I hope that they found the special times of learning together just as special as I did.