Sunday, November 16, 2008

The First Snowfall of Winter.....

The first snowfall of winter is gently floating down,
It doesn't seem to settle, only hover over town.

And in the quiet stillness, unbroken silent sound,
A snowflake wanders slowly to it's
Place upon the ground.
(Part of a song I sang in the Logansport Children's Choir 16 years ago. I loved this song.)

We had our first snowfall today, and it was exactly like the description in this song. Light, fluffy, lazy flakes. Magical. We noticed them when we went outside to go to church this morning. Anna was not amused by it one bit, oddly enough. How exciting for the first snowfall of the year, right?

Anna: "Get these bugs off of me." Me: "Bugs?" Anna: "Snow bugs." Me: "It's just snow sweetie. You know what snow is." Anna: "It's not real snow, it's just pretend snow. Snow bugs." Then, Anna vigorously wipes off all the snowflakes that she sees on herself. Hmmm, crazy girl.

This evening I had a bit more understanding into her reasoning, when the snow started to stick to some trees and cars. We were looking out her bedroom window at the falling snow and Anna said, "Now it's real snow, mom." Apparently it's only real snow if it sticks to the ground. The stuff flying through the air...snow bugs. Of course.



Guess what Anna is doing/pretending in this picture? The not so short answer: Ethan and I took the kids to the mall Saturday because it was cold and rainy. The mall has a fun play area for kids, cool things to look at, and escalators. What more could you ask for? Anna had a blast, and I found a cute new pair of shoes on clearance. Yay! As an added bonus, I guess, Santa was there. It seems a bit early in my opinion, but it worked out well for us. It was the middle of the day, and the middle of November, so there were no lines. Anna went and had a little chat with Santa, not on his knee, but she did give him a hug. She received a book from Santa that was all about a little girl (Anna) who goes to the North Pole to help Santa make toys and deliver presents to all the kids. So, the picture is of Anna acting out that story. I was Santa, until Daddy got home from studying, and Ben-Ben was the reindeer. We'd "make" toys, put them in the bag, climb in the "sled", fly around the world, and deliver presents down all the chimneys. Good times. Eventually I had to cut her off from this game.

The picture of Benjamin is not significant. Unless you count the fact that he is growing up way too fast, and looks more like a little boy than a little baby, as significant. (I do.)



Here are a couple sweet pictures of Anna and Ben with their Daddy. We really miss him. He has a pretty busy schedule this semester, which is what we can expect for the next three years. He leaves around 8 or 9 am most mornings and doesn't get home until just after 6pm. Except Fridays when he gets home at 4pm, which is very, very exciting! I know this doesn't sound extreme to most people, but we were used to much different circumstances until now. His undergraduate schedule wasn't as intense. There was a lot less studying to do, and we lived close enough to campus for Ethan to come home on his various breaks throughout the day. And the latest he was gone was until 5pm. Now he uses his breaks during the day for studying or a workout. So, he comes home at 6-ish, has dinner with us, plays with the kids, and then Anna and Ben go to bed at 7:30, sometimes 8pm. It's goes by very quickly too, the family time. After the kids are in bed, we hang out for a bit, and then he studies for a few more hours.
Fridays we have a date night. Yipee!!! We don't get a babysitter, but Eth doesn't study (since that would be a pretty lame date) and we rent a movie or just hang out. We make up for the week days with the weekends. Lots of family time. Ethan does study for a few hours Saturday afternoon, and then a few more hours Saturday evening once the kids are in bed, but mostly we just try to find fun things to do together. And of course Sunday is a family day...once we get home from church. So in case any of you were wondering the exact details of our not so exciting schedule, there you have it.
This schedule has had some positive influences: It's forced me to become more domestic. :) I do all the cooking and almost all the cleaning now (I know, it's crazy), not to mention taking care of Anna and Ben all day. It has also helped us to focus more on making family time more meaningful. We definitely cherish it more. Anna and Ben get so excited when Ethan gets home from school. They LOVE their Daddy. It's so sweet to watch them. I love my little family and I'm so proud of Ethan for all the hard work he's doing!

2 comments:

Dewey and Susan said...

Nice to read such a detailed blog, since you never talk to me.

Dad

Diana said...

What a sweet post. The beginning poem is great. I thought you wrote it and I was thinking wow is Angela talented.