Joyfully Weary

This post is part of weekly series inspired in part by Bob Bennett's song "Small Graces". these are the small graces, little moments when the miracles come... small graces leading me to the larger one... sometimes they slip by without notice sometimes they are very hard to see other times it's very clear when they are happening to me One of the changes we've made since the beginning of the New Year is that Jeremy now does Big Buddy's phonics/reading lesson with him before leaving for work. I'm not very good at letting go of duties. I hate the idea of failing. Even though, admitting that I need help doesn't mean failure - it just feels that way sometime. Jeremy's a great husband and dad though, and he noticed that this was a struggle for both Big Buddy and me. We weren't having any fun and most of the time we both ended up frustrated. Since Jeremy doesn't have early morning classes this semester, he offered to tak...

We've been lucky enough this winter to be blessed with a bunch of great snow days. You know, the ones where the sun is shining, the snow is packable, and the wind is calm. It feels like a crime to not make the most of these perfect winter days so I've made it a point to keep the kids busy outside.  building snowmen shoveling snowball fights spray paint snow * liquid watercolors (food coloring will work too) in a spray bottle fort/tunnel digging As you can see it's been fun, but it's also been HARD! Taking three (sometimes four) kids outside is not easy! Getting everyone bundled up is an event by itself. Once we make it outside, inevitably someone's boots, gloves, or hat starts causing discomfort. It's also rare that one of the kids doesn't decide they are too cold after a few minutes. Lets just say there a lots of reasons to whine and sometimes I'm very tempted to scream at them all to "shut-up and ha...