A Night in the Snowflake House...

4 pm – leave work to pick up kids.

4:40 pm – get to house and switch out vehicles so crazy doesn’t deny the boys getting to leave in my car.

4:55 pm – pick up girls from school

5:01 pm – pick up boys from crazy’s house.

5:05 pm – drop Jr.Mr.S off at school for wrestling practice

5:22 pm – get home, sort mail, change clothes

5:35 pm – have Jr.Ms.S start homework; start dinner; read a book while cooking

A 2nd place kind of day

This weekend was fairly tame compared to many others. Friday evening and Saturday were pretty “normal’ for us. Sunday we had another wrestling tournament and football games to watch.

First the “good”: The boys all won second place at the Missouri Valley Wrestling Tournament. I didn’t get very many pictures since I was “coaching” matches ( I HAVE to earn mommy points for that).

The “bad” would be that the poor Vikings lost the NFC championship and now the *stupid* New Orleans Saints are going to the Super Bowl instead.

Oh well, it’s just football, right?

What did you do this weekend?

100 things that make me happy - the weather edition

Since the weather is crappy again (and school is out again), I thought I'd try to put a positive note on things and think about happy things.  Since all I'm thinking about is the crappy weather, I thought happy weather thoughts would be a good theme for today.
Here's my ten weather happy things:
1) Snow – in Colorado – while skiing.
2) That first warm spring morning when you walk outside in a jacket and realize you don’t need it.
3) When the sun is coming up or already up when I wake up in the morning for work.
4) When the sun is still up for hours after I get home from work.
5) The breeze that comes through the house when we get to leave the windows or deck door open.
6) The smell and sound of a nice spring rain.
7) Lightning
8) Watching the fireflies in the summer come out while sitting on the deck with my husband.
9) Snuggling by the fireplace
10) Sunshine

I'll take any kind of sunshine right now - even if there's snow in the picture
What makes you happy?

What did the pioneer children do?

Today is the 6th “snow day” in three weeks for my kids. They’ve been back to school three weeks since the Christmas holiday and have only attended 8.5 days (and only one day this week). Due to the ice storm we had Wednesday, the ice covered gravel/county roads and power being out to half the county still, they cancelled school again today (and it only took me two tries to get out of my slick driveway this morning – yay!).

Rain, rain, go away

I think I've changed my opinion on snow.  At least in snow you get some traction.  We had rain today and since we still have so much snow...it froze in a thick layer on my road and driveway.  It took me THREE tries to get up to the house tonight...grrr.

The Snowflake's Ice Rink - open for business

Busy, busy Snowflakes

As I wrote in my break-down post last night, it’s been a really busy week and a half around the Snowflake household. Here are a few highlights:

Last weekend, Mr. Snowflake asked his mom to babysit the girls so that we could finally have a date night. It was nice to have a few hours of time just to us; it’s been too long since we had an evening to ourselves. We caught a matinee showing of Sherlock Holmes (very good movie) and used some gift cards we got for Christmas and had drinks and dinner at Olive Garden (yum!).

If you can’t say anything nice…don’t say anything at all!

I’m breaking my mom’s rule from when I grew up.

I have lots of un-nice things to say today, but if I don’t say them and put them down, I’m going to burst. The last week or so has really, really sucked. Why I ever decided to get married, have kids, work at a job that I can’t leave at work… you fill in the blank… is why.

Welcome Baby Tristan!

Happy Birth Day baby boy!

I'm sure I'm just a little bit biased, but isn't he so cute?!

Al Gore had it right...but wrong

Al Gore is absolutely right about climate change....
                                                             ....but in the wrong direction.
We are NOT getting hotter...we're getting colder...
                                                                             WAY COLDER....

101 in 1001 Challenge

The Mission:
Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria:
Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on my part).

Why 1001 Days?
Many people have created lists in the past – frequently simple goals such as New Year’s resolutions. The key to beating procrastination is to set a deadline that is realistic. 1001 Days (about 2.75 years) is a better period of time than a year, because it allows you several seasons to complete the tasks, which is better for organizing and timing some tasks such as overseas trips or outdoor activities.

Start date: Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Complete date: Thursday, October 3, 2012

Top 25 New Year’s Resolutions Every Stepfamily Should Make

This is a new blog I’m following and I thought it was great for blended families like ours: The original post is at: blendedfamilysoapopera.com

Top 5 New Year’s Resolutions Every Stepmother Should Make:
1. I will carve out 30 minutes a day just for me. Whether it’s taking a walk, reading a book, relaxing in a bubble bath or watching my favorite television show, I will make sure to make some “ME” time.
2. I will resolve not to make EVERYBODY IN THE STEPFAMILY’S problems my own by focusing on “fixing” something that I didn’t break in the first place.
3. I will not force the issue of being one big happy family and instead, allow my relationship with my stepchildren to naturally evolve (whether that takes 2 years or 10 years).
4. I will support my husband and offer advice when and if necessary, but ultimately allow him to handle issues with his ex-wife and trust that he will make decisions that are best for our marriage and family.
5. I will not blame the ex-wife for issues that MY HUSBAND can control. For example, if he goes over to fix her kitchen sink, I won’t be upset with her for asking. I’ll be upset with HIM for going. (Not a problem in our house luckily)

Kicking off the New Year and Weighing-in

We rang in the New Year as a family this year. We spent NYE at a friend’s house with his family and had dinner and watched some bowl games. On our way home about 10 pm the boys mentioned they’d never celebrated NYE before, I couldn’t believe it, so I showed them what NYE was all about (I’ve always celebrated with the girls, even when they were tiny babies). We got home and all changed into PJs, then watched 9 to stay awake (boring movie – I fell asleep). The movie ended at about 11:50 and we switched the tv over to one of the NYE celebrations to watch the ball drop. I poured Sparkling White Grape Juice for everyone (even Mr. S and I) and we did the countdown together. After all the kissing and hugging – we were in bed by 12:05.