Little Things That Make Me Happy

I'm not sure I can adequately express my love for wool socks. I've started keeping a pair by my bed so I can put them on any time my feet are so cold that I can't fall asleep. (This happens more often than you might think.) Also, I wear them pretty much any day with a high of less than 60 degrees. Since I'm having a crabby evening, now seems like the perfect time to make a list of some of the little things that bring joy to my life.

1. wool socks
2. the reading lamp on my nightstand (It has a red lamp shade and was a gift from my Grandma Betty. When I was younger I kept asking if I could have it when she died. Thankfully she's still with us and I've grown a little more tactful over the years.)
3. listening to my kids sing
4. books, books and more books
5. watching the steam rise from a cup of tea
6. afternoon naps
7. our gas fireplace
8. watching rain run down the window panes
9. hanging laundry up to dry
10. steaming hot showers
11. lip balm
12. cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg (and chai tea lattes!!!)
13. the piles of books my kids keep in and around their beds
14. cozy quilts
15. the few moments when I'm laying on my pillow and the pillowcase is still cold
16. trees
17. stars
18. fog
19.huge fluffy snowflakes
20. family game night

How about you? What are some little things that light up your life?

Winter Blues...Blah

What a long, trying afternoon and evening. I spent most of the morning tired and down, but managed to perk up before the kids got home from school, only to listen to them whine, cry, mope and fall apart for much of the late afternoon and evening. I spent almost all my energy remaining calm and patient and now they're in bed and I'm exhausted.

Jordan's issues included "we never do anything", "we never go anywhere" (my brother Seth was in town this weekend and we saw extended family three days in a row, so that's not true), "you're always working on the computer or doing housework and you never do anything with us" (I had already offered to do something with him but he didn't take me up on it), "you only do stuff with us separately and not with both Sasha and I together", "I don't know what to do", "I want to do something fun" (I'd given him a list of about 20 things he could do, most of which were fun things), "there's nothing to do", and "I have too many options of things to do and I can't pick one" (causing me to suggest that we get rid of some of his stuff).

Sasha went into meltdown mode because she wanted to play inside but the neighbor kids wanted to play outside, then when they finally were going inside to play it was too close to chore time for her to go in their house, and she didn't want to take bunny grahams to school for snack tomorrow, she wanted to take goldfish crackers, even though we didn't have enough for everyone.

Ugh! I think it's the weather. Too cold and not enough snow left to make it fun to go outside. Either no sun or sun so blinding you can hardly stand to look outside. Plus, we've all been sick on and off lately.

At least we made it through the evening and the kids even finished their jobs in time for a game of Scrabble. And we only had one Scrabble related meltdown. I'm going to try to plan a family fun night tomorrow, if I can find the energy.

Can't wait until spring!!!

Two Reasons I Love the Kids' School

1. They do fun and creative things like this to motivate the kids:

http://www.wkow.com/story/20378806/2012/12/19/flash-mob-as-a-teaching-tool

Posted: Dec 18, 2012 11:00 PM CST

By Greg Jeschke - bio | email

OREGON (WKOW) -- Elementary students in Oregon were surprised Tuesday with a break-out "flash mob" dance from their teachers.

Brooklyn elementary school was having an assembly and while the principal was reading a poem, the school's staff started dancing.

The principal says they are hoping the dance got students excited about learning.

"We're hoping that was kind of an inspiring event for them; that they want to learn the dance. And then we'll tie it to our expectations this week of keeping hallways clean. Each week we'll look at what should kids be working on next; playground behavior, bus behavior and so on," said principal Kerri Modjeski.

Staff members are hoping that by the end of the year the students will know all of the moves and that the whole school will be able to dance together.

2. The afternoon before the huge December snowstorm (we got 18-20 inches of snow here!), Jordan was in a panic. He left his boots on the bus, and the next day had already been declared a snow day. I called the school in a panic. They gave me the bus driver's cell phone #. I called him in a panic and left a message. (Are you sensing a theme here? Yep, panic it is!). An hour later he called me back, said he had the boots and would drop them off at our house in 5 minutes. And he did! Good thing too, because the kids had two snow days in a row and then Christmas vacation began. Can you imagine being a 10 year old boy with two weeks off of school, 20 inches of snow to play in and no snow boots?!?