The Last Week

First off, TGIF!!!
We had a long weekend for the MLK, Jr holiday.  
After some work around the house, it was warm on Monday so we went to a park in the afternoon.  

{Another kid was wearing a cape so Peter felt like he wanted to use his vest as his cape.}

{Other kids were walking under this hedge along the creek (a path we didn't know about before) so the kids quickly got in on the action- such a fun childhood thing to do- made me remember the fun of doing the same thing as a kid).  They both ended up with wet feet and then Peter eventually slid down onto his butt when he stepped on a slippery rock- so home we went, but with happy hearts.}

We changed clothes and then continued on for a hair cut and a grocery run.

After this pic, Peter slept the whole time in this car and Lily cried the whole time- keeping it real.

And then there was a "prediction" of snow so they cancelled school.  I was pretty bummed...  the temps were then supposed to stay below freezing for days so the snow would surely stick around for days, keeping us out of school longer.  We quick raced to a park with friends to get some outside time before the snow.

 It didn't snow til LATE in the day on the first day out... and only ONE INCH!  Now we are still home 4 days later, without having gone to school at all this week.  They also have this coming Monday off.

Its been a mixed bag.  Now that its Friday, its easier to see the week as just a week off and embrace it more, but in the midst of it, it was challenging.  Struggles with anger mixed with moments of joy.  The beginning and end of things seem easy, its the middle where it gets complicated.  School has been wonderful for Peter.  He loves the stimulation and he needs the structure and does well (I think) with the instruction of others.  So it was hard to adjust back to the less structure and stimulation.  And I worried that when he went back, he'd have forgotten.  So we worked on a few things at home.  He is also making good progress on reading. Hallelujah!
  I really want to embrace it but its the laying aside of (or lack of) my plans and agenda and exchanging that for the need for extra patience and being "on my toes" at all times for guidance and refereeing of squabbles and extra mess in the house.

The kids have thoroughly enjoyed the extra time together.  There is plenty of bickering mixed in but they can get into some pretend.  And in the meantime, pull out everything and jump from one set of things to another.  We've been trying to strike the balance of freedom to play but a conscious effort to clean up one thing before moving on.  And trying to get them to help me with the daily clean up of rooms & a slight sense of responsibility (does that exist?!).  

What has saved our sanity is afternoon activities every day!  Seriously, God's grace to us.

We've done tae kwon do, speech, dance, even "open gym" at church for me to socialize too.  And the weather has been so sunny and bright with snow on the ground!  Just cold. 

You know this mama doesn't play in the snow much... esp with a big belly.  So I've just let them tromp around a little when we are already out.  And Daddy played with them the first morning.

TGIF!!