February Highlights

With just a few hours left in February, I thought I'd do a little recap of some of the highlights of the month, which really flew by. It's rather nice when a cold winter month goes by quickly, as opposed to, say, dragging along because you are hunkered down just trying to stay warm. Aside from being a short month already, it was also just plain busy.

February started off with lots of excitement with an actual blizzard blowing through. The kids were very excited, and I will admit to being kind of excited too, considering I'd never experienced a blizzard before. In honor of the occasion we read a few chapters at the end of "On the Banks of Plum Creek", in which Laura Ingalls Wilder describes some of the many blizzards she experienced during her childhood. We stayed up listening to the wind howl, peering out the window in amazement at the whiteout conditions.

The storm came through on a Tuesday night, and on Wednesday morning the snow was still blowing. You can see it in this picture:

The great thing about the blizzard, was that in addition to shutting everything down (a rarity in Chicagoland), there were lots of fun drifts for the kids to play in.

Or make into snow caves.

Isaac did play out in the snow a lot. But also needed some breaks inside.

A couple of weeks after the blizzard we got to escape the cold somewhat with a visit to Southern Illinois for a weekend. It's always nice to catch up with family and friends there.

Then, the following weekend, it was a fun work/play getaway in Wisconsin Dells. Tom has helped with our church's student retreat there for the past few years, and the perk is that the kids and I get to tag along and play at the indoor water park. It's seriously one of the highlights of the year for our kids.

And with that, good bye to February. We are looking forward to Spring!

Piling Up

we even have piles of cars

Life right now is just piling up around me. Piles of papers on my countertop. Piles of books next to my chair. Piles of dirty dishes in the sink (while I wait for our dishwasher to get fixed). Piles of clothes that need to be put away. Even my phone is not immune. I have 72 notes (72!) on my phone. Shopping lists, random business ideas, blog posts that never actually make it to my blog. The oldest note is from April of last year: a list of baby boy names, before we knew Naomi was a girl.

And although it's a bit crazy-making, all these piles are actually a good thing. Life is full, and busy, and good. The kids are healthy and doing well. Our days are filled with learning, whether it looks like it or not. I am being stretched as a mom, but again, that is good. One day at a time, one pile at a time.

A New Quilt

Just the thing we needed! We've had a store-bought quilt on our bed that we got when we were newlyweds (almost 10 years ago!), and it was threadbare and falling apart, literally. My grandmother just gave us this one, which she hand-quilted on a pre-printed quilt top (no need to fuss with piecing). Perfect timing! And I expect it will last much longer than just 10 years.