Snow Days... Blessings!

We had our first two snow days of the school year this week, yesterday and today.

 

More importantly, it was Jesse's FIRST experience with snow!

 

I kept the camera close by and documented all the fun things we have gotten into the last few days. We (Jesse and I) literally have not left the house since Saturday (nor have I worn anything but pajamas & yoga pants, ha!), so we have been busy making memories around the house. That said, cabin fever is starting to set in and I'm excited to see my second grade friends in the morning... but what a BLESSING it has been to have some extra, unexpected time off with my sweet baby boy. God is sooo good.

 

I ran into town to get a movie from the Redbox late Saturday night before the winter weather started  (we rented White House Down - GREAT movie!), and I took my camera along to get a picture of the town square all lit up with the Christmas tree. I would be that crazy woman crouched down - almost lying down - in the middle of the street to get the right angle, in between random bouts of car traffic. LOL. But the picture turned out great!

 

 

Sunday morning came around and church was cancelled because the snow was supposed to start during church hours. So I made a breakfast casserole - I'll have to share the recipe - it was DELISH. Then we just hung out around the house and enjoyed the day together as a family.

 

Jesse checked out the falling snow from the patio doors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Christmas tree glowed all day long :-)

 

 

And a certain little boy didn't want to leave the Christmas tree alone ;-)

 

 

 

 

Chasing after the kitty... poor cat, LOL

 

 

Jesse also spent some time wrestling and being silly with Daddy :-)

 

 

 

 

 

The snow stopped, and then the sleet and freezing rain began.

 

 

 Then we spent some time playing and watching movies in the basement.

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 Finally got ahold of kitty... she wasn't a fan.

 

 

 Our view of the driveway / front yard

 

 

 We were off school on Monday because of the ice. Today, we had more snow in the forecast so they cancelled schools again. I'm sure I'll be complaining in June when we have to go a couple of extra days in the summer for these snow days... but honestly, this extra time with my baby boy around the holidays is so, so special.

 

We ended up only getting a little bit of snow, and it had stopped snowing by lunch time. When the temps started warming a little bit, I bundled up my baby boy and took him outside in the snow. He didn't actually get IN the snow, but he got to check things out :-) ...And of course, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to have a little photo shoot.

 



 

 

 You might remember last year during a snow storm, I went outside with my tripod and remote and took these maternity pictures of myself:

 

 

 

 

 

....Well, I set up the tripod and remote and tried to get a few pictures of Jesse and I in the same spot. Let me just say that it's MUCH easier to do the whole tripod/remote thing by yourself than with a baby on your hip! Most of the ones I took were out of focus :-(  ...but we did get a couple of good ones.

 

 

 

 Well, all good things must come to an end. Back to work tomorrow... but on the bright side, we only have 3 more work days until the weekend! Sure have loved this extra time with my family.

 

Linking up:

 

 

 

The Blessing Box

So, I've been reading the Blessing Box entries on my Instagram friend Beth Ann's blog each week (click {{here}} to check out her super cute blog) and every week I make a mental note to participate the following week... and then that mental note gets lost in the shuffle of being a full time working mother, teacher, wife, blah blah blah, and I never get around to posting.

 

But. Here I am :-) I need to take the time to give God the glory for the good He's doing in my life! It's so easy to focus on how exhausted, overwhelmed, and just tired I am these days... but there's so much going right, and I can't lose sight of that.

 

Things I am especially thankful for today:

My husband.
He was recently out of the country for some work-related training, and you don't realize how much you miss someone until they aren't there! I really, truly missed having him around. We take each other for granted too much. We desperately need a date night, if anyone is interested in babysitting an adorable 6 month old ;-)

My son.
Jesiah Blaine. My heart and soul.

 

My family.

I have such an awesome family. My parents, brother, sister-in-law, and niece mean so much to me. I was also blessed to marry into an amazing family. My in-laws are such a blessing to me, and I couldn't have married into a better family.

 

My friends.

Beth. Melody. Steph. Becky. Abigail.

Thanks for being my go-to-girls :-)

 

 

My job as a teacher.

 I know I've had my share of complaints this year because of all the demands on teachers, and although I think we've been given way too much to do without the proper resources or time to do those things well, I still love to be a teacher. I love the moments when a child can ask a question, we can veer away from the lesson plan, and authentic learning can occur. Not just reading out of a scripted manual. Blah.

 

My coworkers.

I couldn't make it through the day without these people, my partners in crime.

Jen, Jen, Brianne, Gary, and Barb.

 

-inside joke-

...And it's 12:30am, which means I need to get up in 4.5 hours, so I better go get some sleep!

Hope to be back next week with a list of some less predicable things that I'm thankful for ;-)