i feel a haiku coming on!

cookies will be made
tonight to prepare for the
snowed-in band of crazies.

you know, cause what's better to help ease the time of homeboundness than a sugar rush? that's right - nothing! cookies are the perfect snowed-in food - they're bribes for good behavior, currency for some mama alone-time, and rewards for a whole hour of not hitting, squishing, poking, or crowding anyone. long live the cookie!

cacophony is the word of the day...

...which i totally had to look up to make sure it meant what i thought it meant (it does, but i had spelled it wrong). cacophony means "harsh discordance of sound" as well as "frequent use of discords of a harshness and relationship difficult to understand" - both are appropriate to describe the hacking coughs resounding off our walls. and who is the crazed woman chasing children with tissues in hand to prevent the unthinkable (someone wiping their nose with their hand and then getting it somewhere near their eyes)? oh, yeah, that's me. do you wish you were here? not so much.

prayers and thankfulness

i read this post today, and it totally sums up my feelings about what's happening in haiti. it hurts my heart to think of the families who are grieving or searching. i'm also immensely grateful to be a part of this church and its ongoing efforts to help. excuse me for a minute, i feel the need to go smother my children with kisses and look them in the eyes and say "love you," and hope they know just how much i mean it.

back to normal-ish

hey, there, peeps!
sorry to have been in absentia for so long, but james took off for the tropics! for almost a whole week! and, while james was enjoying this:

the kids and i were "enjoying" this:

but, don't worry, we had provisions:

actually, said provisions were distributed to a few other families, since me + cookies + snowstorm = no sharing + lots more junk in the trunk. seriously. anyhoo, we got 2 inches of snow and the kids had 4 days off of school! with a weekend in the middle! so really 6 days off of school! for 2 inches of snow! so weird, but the kids did pretty well at getting along and rolling with an early-ish bedtime every night. (gotta keep my sanity!) so, now james is home (yay!) and we're getting back into the 40's (double yay!), so everything is good all around. happy day!

happy new year!!

happy new year!
we hope your year is filled with love and laughter!