Warm day photos for a cold day

I spent the afternoon looking through old pictures ( yah...I know that won't help my funk).

Enjoy.

Funk

I've been in a funk for the past couple of days.

I guess it started after Simon decided to do a runner at Kohl's on Saturday. To make a short story even shorter. We got him back in one piece - safe and sound. I can now think about it without tearing up, but am stuck in the "what if's". We are going on a trip soon and don't trust the little bugger. I'm half tempted to get one of those dreaded kid leashes (really I'm not - I cringe every time I see a kid on one, but everyone has to make their own decisions).

That leads to the trip. I'm really looking forward to going away even if it is only for a short time. How am I going to keep two kids under 6 and one adult on anxiety meds. together in one place during the layovers?

The boys are really excited. We've got the luggage out and everyday they ask me if it is Sunday - because that is the day we are packing. They have requested certain clothes be ready - that means clean by then.

Remember that list I made a while back? Well, I think the only thing I got done was the Valentine's. My advisor did her job and advised me to think twice or maybe three times about trying to get my paper completely finished by the end of February. I agree with her. I was driving myself insane trying to complete it. I feel better BUT my procrastining genes are kicking in.

HEY taskmasters (you know who you are), I need some gentle but firm pushes to get moving on this thing again.

Spring???

This is what I came home to yesterday. The dog got into the garbage. This is only what was spread across the kitchen. It doesn't include the living room. So I dropped the backpacks and went back outside until I could deal with it! (Tell me again why we have a dog?)

It was beautiful outside. The snow on the side of the drive was soft enough to dig a big hole.
It was also warm enough to get out the bikes and take them for the first spin of the year.

The boys found their wheelbarrow and dug it out.

My "valentine" cactus (because I don't know if it blooms at Christmas OR Easter) has one blossom on it. It seems to like it by the back door.

The king's now spot. The new couch covers are corduroy and Eddie loves to lay under the light on the back.

They don't call it suicide hill for nothing...

Ok, first of all please don't get on my case for the name of the sledding hill. Apparently, kids in our town have been calling Suicide Hill for decades. It is not something new.
This is the hill. Image to the left side of the pic is the tallest part of the hill. The "big boys" build jumps at the bottom of the hill. It terrifies me to watch the kids go down this part of the hill. Terrifies me. When they are zooming down the hill, the boys are jockeying to get into position to hit the jump. Then they hit it and my heart skips a beat. If they are lucky their sled/tube will land right side up after a vertical launch of 3 plus feet . Both of the boys went down that section of the hill several times - I didn't. Just couldn't....
We had to get to the highest point of the other part of the hill. This meant starting in the pine trees.
Here's one of Ian taking a break. We went up and down and up and down. We stayed at the hill for almost 2 hours.
We haven't had this much fun in ages!

Thank you tech guy

I won't go into the whole story, but thank you internet tech guy for fixing our internet. I'm not sure what you did, but thank you for helping me get connected and get my "fix".

The next month...

I have been making a list of stuff that I absolutely positively have to get done in the next 30 days. It's kind of frightening and I know that I will get it done, but sometimes I can be a bit of a procrastinator (like what am I doing right now?)

So here goes...

• finish my final project. I'm about 1/3 of the way complete. I have actually figured out all of my "down" time during the first two weeks of the month and plugged in what I am going to do when.
• finish my valentines for my family and friends (wait till you see them)
• that final project...
• how to thank my husband for stepping it up, so that I can get that final project complete
• craft time HAH!!
• Can I start a new book? Which one do I start? The Last Lecture, Becky, A Thousand Splendid Suns OR do I just suck it up and not really read - maybe just a little before sleep
  
• work meetings
• school conferences
• that final project

I will get it all done - there aren't any other options.

Slow and steady (and stay away from the books, yarn, fabric........)

Mixed bag

Sorry for the blurriness of this one, BUT I had to share...We had the bird call cd in last night for dinner "music". Eddie was going nuts. All of those birds...the sounds were coming out of here, but he just couldn't get to them.


Simon has been working on his kung fu moves. In his version, he uses a big balloon to protect good from evil. He can really get going. Of course you will have to imagine Ian singing "Everyone was kung fu fighting, ooh ahh. Fast as lightening....".
We have been focusing on making better/healthier choices about what we do with our time. Exercise has been one of them. I love this one of Ian flexing and Simon working out.