Outside

Took advantage of the nice weather this afternoon. However I think we were a little late in the day for making a snowman, as it wasn't working too well for us (but we did manage a little one).

Fun with shovels

Anyone need their driveway cleared?

Leg warmers

Annika is still in her "dress/skirt/never-ever-jeans" phase, so that means that she wears thin leggings or tights every day. In this weather her legs get pretty cold, but it's too much of a hassle (and sometimes too hot) to put on snow pants every time we go out. So I knit her these leg warmers as a quick and easy way help keep her a little bit warmer. She picked the color - I call it "Snuggie blue", since it matches the color of my Snuggie exactly. ;)

If you're interested, you can find the pattern here. I made the 3-5 year old size, but made them a little longer than the pattern said. They're a little loose on her, so they'll fit for a while. 

Stay warm and happy new year!!

Winter concert

Tonight was Annika's school winter concert. The theme was "the Olympics" - there was absolutely no mention of any holidays at all, which I find a bit disappointing. However, the kids all did great and I left feeling very patriotic. ;) We were almost at the back so I couldn't really get a good picture, but here is one anyways (Annika is in the middle - red dress and white sweater). They did their song together with their grade 4/5 "book buddies."

Skating lessons recap

Annika's skating lessons finished last Friday night, and she passed to the next level (no parent next time)!  I'm so proud of how well she did, because she didn't really have any experience skating beforehand, and she was quite nervous about it before the lessons started.  But she worked really hard and she kept going even when it looked like she might get frustrated or tired.  She's not particularly fast or graceful (although she's a lot better than one kid in the class whose arms were constantly flailing all over the place), but slow and steady, she can do it.  And she even fell a few times and didn't cry about it!  She actually really enjoyed skating and she's sad that it's over, but excited for next year.

Getting ready to leave Carey in her dust!

Perspective

I've been feeling a little down lately.  The past few weeks have been bitterly cold (I've heard the words "minus 40-something with the windchill" far too often), and I have a cold that just won't go away (today is day 10 - Kleenex's stock should be going up by now from how often I've been blowing my nose).  It's easy to start complaining, or thinking "poor me".  But...

• I have a nice warm house, which is also large enough that we don't feel like we're cramped when we have to spend long days inside.
• I have warm clothes for when I do venture outside, and I have a reliable car to get me safely and warmly where I need to go.
• Cold weather = sun dogs, which always make me smile (I wish I had a picture to share, but I always seem to see them when I'm driving!).  They're like a special gift from God for those of us crazy enough to live in these cold places.
• I have a cold, which is annoying and frustrating, but it is not life-threatening.  It will eventually go away, likely without any medical intervention.
• Despite the fact that I've been hugging and kissing my kids (and sharing my germs with them), they are still healthy and happy.
• I've had several opportunities (when the kids were with Grandma or Annika was at school and Emmett was napping) to take some "sick time" and just rest and baby myself a little.  That doesn't happen very often for most moms.

So, I'll try not to complain, because really, life isn't so bad.
(1000 gifts #221-226)

First time skating!

We took the kids skating today - the first time for both of them!  Annika starts skating lessons on Friday, so we wanted to get her on the ice at least once before that, and our neighbours have a little rink in their backyard, so we were able to go skating in a nice, quiet spot.

 

 

Both kids preferred to skate with Carey - no wonder, he's much more stable than me!  I haven't skated for a few years, but I still remember how (just a little shaky).  Annika was quite nervous about skating (she said she was scared of falling), but once she got on the ice and got used to the feel of it, she said she was having fun (and we didn't let her fall).  Emmett wasn't a big fan of it (he actually fell a few times - oops), but I don't expect he'll be spending a lot of time on the ice this year.  Next year. 

Now.... bring on the skating lessons!

Winter activities

Well, all the presents have been unwrapped, the food has been eaten (except for a few treats still lying around to tempt us) and the tree and decorations have all been put away (although I think Annika will continue singing Christmas carols until about mid-February :P).  We had a good Christmas, but to be honest, I'm ready for life to move on.  Carey is back to work today after being home for 11 days (and he only went in to work once during that time!).  He actually took on a project at home after Christmas - insulating our garage - which has kept him busy for the past few days, otherwise I'm sure he would've gone back to work earlier.  It's not exactly the ideal time to be working outside, but he says that he doesn't mind the cold (he's the one who made the decision to start working on it now), and I'll be happy to have a warm garage once it's all done. :)

Annika is also looking forward to getting back into our routine - the past few days she's been asking when she gets to go back to school!  Other than school and Y Neighbours, we don't have too much going on for the next few months.  Annika will be starting skating lessons next week (she's never skated before!) and I'm going to make another attempt at taking Emmett to the library for story time on Friday mornings.  I had wanted to do this with him last fall, but with all our other activities and my issues with insomnia, it just didn't work out and we only went twice before "dropping out".  The other thing that I didn't like about it last fall was that he was still in the "baby" group (0-24m) and it just didn't seem like a good fit for either of us.  There was mostly younger babies there, and Emmett seemed like a giant compared to them (and I felt a bit out of place with all the first-time moms and their little babies).  Now he will be in the 2 year old group, with kids closer to his age and size.

Other than that, we don't have too much going on, which is nice for a change.  Our next "big thing" to look forward to is our winter family vacation - we've booked a trip to Phoenix!  It definitely helps to make it through those cold winter days when you can look forward to being somewhere warm.  Annika and I have already started counting down the days (although we'll be counting for a while yet!).

What are you busy with this winter?

Deep thoughts from snowman-making

Yesterday the weather was perfect for making snowmen, so Annika and I went outside while Emmett was napping and Carey was watching football.

I had a lot of fun playing outside with Annika, and I came to a realization - a bad sleep does not necessarily lead to a bad day (I had had a rough night on Saturday night and didn't get a lot of sleep).  After my last post about my insomnia, things seemed to be looking up and getting better.  However, last week took a turn for the worse and I had a few really bad nights (which meant some not-great days).  It was really discouraging for me, as it seems like the melatonin doesn't seem to be working so well anymore.  I'm so frustrated, and not sure what else I can be doing, but Sunday afternoon really encouraged me.  I can still have good days (or even just good moments in an otherwise hard day), even when I'm not getting a perfect 8 hours of sleep.  If you've ever dealt with insomnia you know that one of the thoughts that starts spinning around your head when you can't fall asleep is "I'm going to be so tired tomorrow.  How will I function?  Tomorrow is gonna suck..." - which of course doesn't make it any easier to fall asleep!  However, maybe if I can keep this day in mind, this moment, it can be a reminder to me that there are bright moments even when all seems dark.