Thankful Thursday: Snow!

It finally snowed here in Kansas this week.  I'm thankful for the snow , for the moisture it brings and the fun it brings.  There is something so pleasing about it's brightness that cheered me this week.

Especially when the house is full of good food and I don't have to go anywhere. 

Oh the weather outside is frightful,

 but the fire is so delightful.

 Since there's no place to go. 

 Let it snow 

Let it snow

 Let it snow!

Brrr!

I have yet to turn on the heat. I know a but crazy.  I try to wait as long as possible to save money and do my part to reduce greenhouse gases.  We keep the heat pretty low all winter long too so the longer we wait the warmer 65 deg F feels.  I'm also inspired by the Yarn Harlot who has Furnace Wars each year with her family. 

But dang I'm cold. It's currently 58 deg F in the house. I'm wearing a hat, scarf, sweater, fingerless mitts and warm wooly slippers. If I was moving around and doing some housework, ha!, I might be warmer but I'm not. Now my nose feels cold and the key board is sucking the heat out of my fingers. 

It's less than 60 deg F in the house.  Why does it seem so cold? If this were spring we would have the windows open and enjoying a lovely day.  It may be warmer outside. Let me go check. Our out door thermometer reads 50 deg F and the newspaper says it's 41 deg F. So no it is warmer in the house. I think I'l go make tea.  I'm going to hold out a bit longer, atleast until halloween. I can do it. I can but I need some long underwear.

I'm still here, really

I'm alive and well.

There is something about this time of year that has me turning inwards. I've been thinking about this past year and how I would have liked to do things differently. I'm not thinking happy thoughts but they aren't unhappy thoughts either. I do tend to like to share joy and less about the negative. I truly strive to think of my life as half full rather than half empty. I've been feeling a bit out of sorts, and not so full. It's not a good feeling but I find I need to embrace it a bit.

I will be back. My head is clearing from the the holidays, from the joy AND the stress. I have all kinds of things I want to accomplish creatively and with my family.

I should be back soon. I have read many books in the last few weeks and want to share about that and about our holidays.

More Sledding

Sledding Again

We just can't seem to get enough of the sledding. I'm glad we got a chance to sled as a family. Stephen was able to get some pictures of me sledding too.

Mom and Dad cruise down the slopes

The kids still have fun sledding.

Today the snow is melting. No more sledding until the next snow.

Dashing through the snow

We had a great time sledding yesterday. The snow hasn't melted so the kids want to go again today. So that's the plan so far. Corbin is already up with is snow books on. I've got my coffee made and shoveled the front porch. I also retrieved all the snow gear left in the car. It will need a toss in the dryer before we leave or the kids will be wearing frozen stiff gloves and hats.

Jade heads down the hill. She crashes, she burns.

This is fun. Let's do it again!

I went out just in case anyone came to our homeschool groups MNO but the weather held many back so I was alone. My consolation was quiet time, reading, a cappuccino and some cheesecake. Even better when I got home Jade had baked a heart shaped chocolate cake for me. It was an I Love You Cake. Just before bed we were talking she said that Dec. 8th is a special I love you mommy day. She even sang me an I love you song just before we cut the cake. That sure lifted my spirits. Although we had a good day overall. I was on occasion a bit snippy with the kids with the stress of shoe shopping and sledding. Hopefully things will go more smoothly today. Maybe I will get another cake too:)

More Sledding

Going down is such a blast.

If you want to go down, you have to go up too.

We stayed for about 2 hours. I sledded as much as the kids. I was feeling a bit weary at the end. So were the kids. So maybe I'm not old after all, I was just tired. If there is snow tomorrow there are plans to go again and Dad's coming too. I'm so glad we homeschool. We have this opportunity to do what we want when the weather is perfect for sledding or making snowmen and creating our family holiday. We have are having fun making things celebrating now rather than waiting for a break. We are lucky, very lucky.

A Winter Wonderland

Some paper crafts I did yesterday and the kids helped some. I have been having fun learning how to make more complicated snowflakes. I really like how the coffee filter snowflakes turned out. I plan on filling up the green fabric with more snowflakes. So we will have a winter wonderland inside our house and outside too. I'm also fascinated with the snowflake geometry. I think I'm having more fun than the kids.

I took these pictures this morning. My favorites are the plants that used to be cosmos flowers and the the snow hats on the pumpkin and the trash cans. Snow can even make trash cans look beautiful. I also like the patterns of the snow on the green hammock.

The kids had lots of fun playing in the snow. Corbin likes to go outside and roll in it so he is covered in snow. He also went a bit crazy yesterday and ran out to get the mail with no shoes. They do have snow boots but we did go out and get some new boots that fit better. I got some too. So we are going to go sledding and snow boarding.

My computer has been hijacked

I haven't been able to post recently because my computer has been hijacked by the kids to watch dvds. Jade bought (with her own money !) a set of Astro Boy Anime. She was a bit disappointed to find out they were we not the 1960's Japanese black and white originals but they were the original 1980's versions done in color. We did learn that Astro Boy was the precursor to all Japanese animation and why most Japanime has the surprise eyed look. Jade hopes we will be able to get the 1960's originals eventually and do some comparisons. For now they are only available in Australia.

Later today we will be watching Star Wars because we are doing a Star Wars theme day. I came up with Star Wars day because I have been feeling a bit guilty not finding things to do with Corbin. Jade likes to take part in lots of what I like to do so we get connection time and talking time. Corbin likes more active and action figure type play that I just don't have the patience for but I can get into some imaginery play for a day.

We started the day coloring some Star Wars pictures and Corbin dressed up. We may get to making some TIE fighter ornaments. We are taking a break to play Monopoly. Too bad we don't have a Star Wars Version. (Just in case you were wondering...I won.)

We have been playing more games recently. I have been enjoying that especially when I am in a game playing mood. The kids most of the time enjoy playing for playing sake rather than for winning. And it's fun to see what they know from games like how they add and subtract large numbers.

We have also been busy doing things for the holidays too. I have finished my holiday cards. I need to get some mailed off soon. Jade and I made some snow flakes and some other paper ornaments. I made some paper cranes and some Santa Boots from Paper Gifts And Jewelry (The Paper Magic Series) by Florence Tomenko. I just found some more snowflakes ideas and some you can make with coffee filters.

Now on to Star Wars and doing our best to stay warm in bitter cold Kansas.